The only way to do that is to move the linux distrubition you installed on wsl. I installed Ubuntu on windows as wsl and I showed how to move it step by step.
1.Check WSL 2 installations that are already installed in your computer.
wsl --list -v
If the installation you want to move to another drive is still running we have to stop it with following command. In my case, I want to move Ubuntu, so I am terminating Ubuntu.
wsl -t Ubuntu
2.Export to a folder. (Here exporting Ubuntu as ubuntu-ex.tar to D:\wsl\wsl_export)
wsl --export Ubuntu "D:\wsl_export\ubuntu-ex.tar"
3.Unregister previous WSL installation. When you unregister it will remove Ubuntu from the wsl2 list that we saw earlier.
wsl --unregister Ubuntu
4.import your WSL installation to a folder. This step also re-registers the ubuntu.
wsl --import Ubuntu "D:\wsl_import\ubuntu" "D:\wsl_export\ubuntu-ex.tar"
Here’s a breakdown of the command:
-
wsl --import: The base command to import a new Linux distribution. -
Ubuntu: The name you are giving to the new imported distribution. -
D:\wsl_import\ubuntu: The directory where the new distribution will be stored. -
D:\wsl_export\ubuntu-ex.tar: The tar file containing the exported distribution that you want to import.
Latest comments (24)
saved my life, thank you so much, 2025 check
thank you
That works fine for me. Thank you a lot.
If I want to move my ubuntu distro on wsl from C drive to say, F, does the F drive have to be empty? I have nearly half of it used on my native Windows OS.
Thank You! <3
2 years later still useful. Legend.
Thank you !
Great Post!!!
Amazing thanks! Just want to point out:
2.0: Go to D:\ and create a directory wsl_export
Can I set path on initial install?