WSL2 Cannot List Windows Drive Root Directories (Windows 11 Insider Build 26200)

[Victory-Hugo]

WSL2 Cannot List Windows Drive Root Directories (Windows 11 Insider Build 26200)

Environment

• WSL Version: 2.6.1.0 (also tested with 2.3.26.0)
• Kernel Version: 6.6.87.2-1 (also tested with 5.15.167.4-1)
• WSLg Version: 1.0.66 (2.3.26: 1.0.65)
• Windows Version: 10.0.26200.6901 (Windows 11 Insider Canary Channel)
• Linux Distribution: Ubuntu 24.04.2 LTS (Noble Numbat)
• Filesystem Type: 9p (drvfs)

Issue Description

ls command in WSL2 returns empty results when listing Windows drive root directories (e.g., /mnt/c/, /mnt/d/, /mnt/f/), but subdirectories can be accessed normally through absolute paths.

Reproduction Steps

# 1. Navigate to mount point
cd /mnt/c

# 2. List directory contents - returns empty
ls
# (no output)

ls -la
# total 4
# drwxrwxrwx  1 root root 4096 Dec 26 09:08 .
# drwxr-xr-x 11 root root 4096 Dec  7 21:43 ..

# 3. But subdirectories work fine via absolute path
ls /mnt/c/Users
# Administrator  All Users  Default  Default User  Public

# 4. Windows commands can list the contents
cmd.exe /c "dir C:\ /b"
# .superId
# DrvPath
# inetpub
# ... (13 items total)

Affected Drives

• C drive (/mnt/c/) - root directory ls empty
• D drive (/mnt/d/) - root directory ls empty
• F drive (/mnt/f/) - root directory ls empty
• All other drives show the same behavior

Note: All subdirectories are accessible via absolute paths.

Current Mount Information

WSL 2.6.1.0 (before rollback)

C:\ on /mnt/c type 9p (rw,noatime,aname=drvfs;path=C:\;uid=1000;gid=1000;metadata;umask=22;fmask=11;symlinkroot=/mnt/,access=client,msize=65536,trans=fd,rfd=6,wfd=6)

WSL 2.3.26.0 (after rollback)

C:\ on /mnt/c type 9p (rw,noatime,dirsync,aname=drvfs;path=C:\;uid=0;gid=0;symlinkroot=/mnt/,mmap,access=client,msize=65536,trans=fd,rfd=4,wfd=4)

Configuration Files

/etc/wsl.conf (original)

[boot]
systemd=true

[user]
default=BigBig

[automount]
enabled = true
root = "/mnt/"
options = "metadata,umask=22,fmask=11,cache=none"
mountFsTab = true

/etc/wsl.conf (simplified - still doesn't work)

[boot]
systemd=true

[user]
default=BigBig

[automount]
enabled = true
root = "/mnt/"

Troubleshooting Attempts

All attempts failed to resolve the issue:

Solution	Result	Date
Modified wsl.conf with cache=none	❌ Failed	2025-12-26
wsl --shutdown and restart	❌ Failed	2025-12-26
Manual umount and mount -t drvfs	❌ Failed	2025-12-26
Different mount options (uid/gid/metadata)	❌ Failed	2025-12-26
Rollback to WSL 2.3.26.0 (kernel 5.15.167.4)	❌ Failed	2025-12-26
Simplified wsl.conf (removed all mount options)	❌ Failed	2025-12-26
Created new mount point without options	❌ Failed	2025-12-26
Used root privileges for ls	❌ Failed	2025-12-26

Rollback Test Details

# Manually installed WSL 2.3.26.0
msiexec.exe /i wsl.2.3.26.0.x64.msi /qn
wsl --shutdown

# Verified version
PS> wsl --version
WSL 版本： 2.3.26.0
内核版本： 5.15.167.4-1

# Issue still persists
PS> wsl ls /mnt/c/
# (empty output)

Technical Analysis

Confirmed Working

• ✅ Subdirectories accessible via absolute paths (/mnt/c/Users, /mnt/f/OneDrive)
• ✅ Windows commands can list root directories (cmd.exe /c "dir C:\")
• ✅ File system permissions appear correct (verified with icacls)

Confirmed NOT Working

• ❌ ls /mnt/c/ returns only . and ..
• ❌ sudo ls /mnt/c/ also returns empty
• ❌ Problem persists across WSL versions (2.6.1.0 and 2.3.26.0)
• ❌ Problem persists across kernel versions (6.6.87.2 and 5.15.167.4)

Root Cause Hypothesis

This appears to be a compatibility issue between Windows 11 Insider Build 26200.6901 and WSL's drvfs/9p filesystem at the system call level:

1. The readdir/getdents64 system call seems to return empty results for drive root directories
2. The issue is NOT caused by WSL kernel version (tested multiple versions)
3. The issue is NOT caused by mount configuration (tested multiple configurations)
4. Directory traversal works at subdirectory levels but fails at root level
5. inode lookup works (can access subdirectories), but directory enumeration fails at root

Expected Behavior

ls /mnt/c/ should list all files and directories in the Windows C: drive root, similar to:

.superId  DrvPath  inetpub  PerfLogs  Program Files  Users  Windows  ...

Actual Behavior

ls /mnt/c/ returns empty (only shows . and ..).

Impact

• Users cannot list Windows drive root directories from WSL2
• Scripting and automation that relies on listing drive contents is broken
• Users on Windows 11 Insider builds are significantly affected

Workaround

Until this is fixed, users can:

1. Access files via absolute paths (e.g., /mnt/c/Users/...)
2. Use Windows commands: cmd.exe /c "dir C:\" or powershell.exe -Command "Get-ChildItem C:\"
3. Create bash aliases:

alias lswin='powershell.exe -Command "Get-ChildItem | Select-Object -ExpandProperty Name"'

Related Issues

• Possibly related to Windows Insider filesystem or security changes
• May be related to 9p protocol changes in recent Windows builds

System Information

PS> wsl --version
WSL 版本： 2.6.1.0
内核版本： 6.6.87.2-1
WSLg 版本： 1.0.66
MSRDC 版本： 1.2.6353
Direct3D 版本： 1.611.1-81528511
DXCore 版本： 10.0.26100.1-240331-1435.ge-release
Windows 版本： 10.0.26200.6901

PS> wsl uname -a
Linux LAPTOP 6.6.87.2-microsoft-standard-WSL2 #1 SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC Thu Jun  5 18:30:46 UTC 2025 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

---

Thank you for looking into this issue! This is a critical bug affecting Windows Insider users with WSL2.

[github-actions]

Logs are required for review from WSL team

If this a feature request, please reply with '/feature'. If this is a question, reply with '/question'.
Otherwise, please attach logs by following the instructions below, your issue will not be reviewed unless they are added. These logs will help us understand what is going on in your machine.

How to collect WSL logs

Download and execute collect-wsl-logs.ps1 in an administrative powershell prompt:

Invoke-WebRequest -UseBasicParsing "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/microsoft/WSL/master/diagnostics/collect-wsl-logs.ps1" -OutFile collect-wsl-logs.ps1
Set-ExecutionPolicy Bypass -Scope Process -Force
.\collect-wsl-logs.ps1

The script will output the path of the log file once done.

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Once completed please upload the output files to this GitHub issue.

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[Victory-Hugo]

WslLogs-2025-12-26_09-27-48.zip

[github-actions]

Diagnostic information

.wslconfig found
	Custom kernel command line found: 'vsyscall=emulate'
Detected appx version: 2.3.26.0
Found evidence of HcnCreateNetwork failure: HcnCreateNetwork {"Success":false,"Error":" ","ErrorCode":2147947410}. HResult: 0x80071392

[OneBlue]

Thank you @Victory-Hugo. Can you share if you have an /etc/fstab configure in your distribution ?

Can you also show the output of findmnt / ?

[Victory-Hugo]

Thank you, I have run
➜ Administrator cat /etc/fstab

UNCONFIGURED FSTAB FOR BASE SYSTEM

➜ /mnt findmnt /
TARGET
SOURCE FSTYPE OPTIONS
/ /dev/sdd ext4 rw,relatime,discard,errors=remount-ro,data=ordered

[OneBlue]

It looks like you're remounting / in the fstab, which could explain the symptoms you're seeing. Does removing the / entry in the fstab solve the issue ?

[Victory-Hugo]

Here is the information you requested.

Output of /etc/fstab:

UNCONFIGURED FSTAB FOR BASE SYSTEM

Output of findmnt /:
/ /dev/sdd ext4 rw,relatime,discard,errors=remount-ro,data=ordered

There is no / entry configured in /etc/fstab.
The issue still persists even with the default fstab.
Please let me know if you need additional logs.

Reminder: Under this configuration, listing /mnt/c root still returns empty,
but accessing subdirectories like /mnt/c/Users works normally.