WSL Error 0x80070426 – The service has not been started

When you start wsl.exe, the error 0x80070426 may occur. The following is the error message verbatim:

The service has not been started.

Error code: Wsl/Service/CreateInstance/CreateVm/ConfigureNetworking/0x80070426

However, the list of distros is correctly displayed when you run the wsl -l -v command.

NAME STATE VERSION

* Ubuntu Stopped 2

When you install a Linux distribution (e.g., Ubuntu) or run it, a similar error occurs:

Installing, this may take a few minutes...
WslRegisterDistribution failed with error: 0x80070426
Error: 0x80070426 The service has not been started.

(or)

The service did not respond to the start or control request in a timely fashion.
Error code: Wsl/Service/CreateInstance/CreateVm/ConfigureNetworking/0x8007041d
Press any key to continue...

The issue occurs even though the “Hyper-V Host Compute Service” (vmcompute) service is running.

Cause

The error code 0x80070426 (“ERROR_SERVICE_NOT_ACTIVE“) means “The service has not been started.”

The error code 0x8007041D (“ERROR_SERVICE_REQUEST_TIMEOUT“) means “The service did not respond to the start or control request in a timely fashion.”

The above errors occur if the DNS Client Service is disabled or in a pending start state.

Resolution

To resolve the WSL error 0x80070426, set the DNS Client service startup type to Automatic.

1. Start the Registry Editor (regedit.exe)
2. Go to the following branch:

   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Dnscache

3. Double-click “Start” and set its data to 2.
4. Exit the Registry Editor.
5. Restart Windows.

After the restart, the DNS Client service should start correctly. This, in turn, should fix the WSL error.