WSL Configuration Reference

Two config files control WSL2 behavior. They live in different places and serve different purposes.

/etc/wsl.conf (per-distro, inside WSL2)

Lives inside each WSL2 distro. Controls distro-specific settings.

[boot]
systemd = true                    # Enable systemd as PID 1
command = service ssh start       # Run as root on distro start

[network]
generateResolvConf = false        # Don't auto-generate /etc/resolv.conf
hostname = wsl-dev                # Custom hostname (optional)

[automount]
enabled = true                    # Mount Windows drives under /mnt/
root = /mnt/                      # Mount point root
options = "metadata,umask=22,fmask=11"  # Default mount options

[interop]
enabled = true                    # Allow running Windows executables from WSL
appendWindowsPath = true          # Append Windows PATH to WSL PATH

Apply changes

wsl --shutdown    # from PowerShell
# then restart WSL

%UserProfile%\.wslconfig (global, on Windows)

Lives at C:\Users\<username>\.wslconfig. Controls the WSL2 VM and all distros.

[wsl2]
memory = 16GB                     # Max RAM for WSL2 VM (default: 50% of host)
processors = 8                    # Max vCPUs (default: all)
swap = 4GB                        # Swap file size
vmIdleTimeout = -1                # Never auto-shutdown VM (-1 = disabled)
networkingMode = mirrored         # Share host network interfaces
dnsTunneling = true               # DNS tunneling (mirrored mode)
firewall = true                   # Apply Windows Firewall to WSL traffic

[general]
instanceIdleTimeout = -1          # Never auto-terminate distro instance

[experimental]
autoMemoryReclaim = disabled      # Don't aggressively reclaim WSL memory
sparseVhd = true                  # Auto-compact virtual disk

Memory Recommendation

The RTX 4060 PC likely has 16-32 GB RAM. For ML workloads, give WSL2 a generous allocation. If the host has 32 GB:

[wsl2]
memory = 24GB
swap = 8GB

This leaves 8 GB for Windows + Tailscale + desktop compositing.

Apply changes

wsl --shutdown    # from PowerShell
# then restart WSL

Key Interactions

Setting	File	Impact
systemd=true	wsl.conf	Enables systemctl, services auto-start
command=...	wsl.conf	Runs at distro start (as root)
generateResolvConf=false	wsl.conf	Prevents DNS file overwrite
networkingMode=mirrored	.wslconfig	WSL2 shares host network
instanceIdleTimeout=-1	.wslconfig	Distro stays alive when idle
vmIdleTimeout=-1	.wslconfig	VM stays alive when all distros stop
memory=...	.wslconfig	RAM cap for GPU/ML workloads