WSL2 Boots Before Windows Services (And How to Fix It)

Here’s a fun edge case: WSL2 can boot faster than Windows services start. Your boot script tries to mount a network drive? Fails. Connect to a VPN? Not running yet. Access a Windows service? Still loading.

The Race Condition

WSL2 starts almost instantly when Windows boots. Windows services? They take their sweet time. If your WSL boot script depends on them, you’ll get random failures on startup.

The Fix: Retry Loop

Instead of hoping the service is ready, add a retry loop with exponential backoff:

#!/bin/bash
MAX_RETRIES=5
RETRY=0

while [ $RETRY -lt $MAX_RETRIES ]; do
    if mount_network_drive; then
        echo "Mounted successfully"
        break
    fi
    RETRY=$((RETRY + 1))
    sleep $((2 ** RETRY))  # 2, 4, 8, 16, 32 seconds
done

Takeaway

WSL2 boot scripts can’t assume Windows is fully ready. Add retries with backoff for anything that depends on Windows services. Your future self will thank you when it works on the first boot after a restart.