Systemd user session fails to start on OracleLinux_8_10 if it is not the first distro started

[jayartee]

Windows Version

Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.26200.7171]

WSL Version

2.6.2.0

Are you using WSL 1 or WSL 2?

• WSL 2
• WSL 1

Kernel Version

6.6.87.2-1

Distro Version

Oracle Linux 8.10

Other Software

No response

Repro Steps

1. Install wsl on Windows 11 (wsl --install)
2. Install Ubuntu (if not already installed) and run first user setup
3. Install OracleLinux_8_10 (OEL 8.10) from MS Store and run first user setup
4. Enable systemd on OEL 8.10 (/etc/wsl.conf [boot]\nsystemd=true)
5. Shut down wsl (wsl --shutdown)
6. Launch Ubuntu (wsl -d Ubuntu)
7. systemd user session is ok (systemctl status --user)
8. Launch OEL 8.10 (wsl -d OracleLinux_8_10)
9. see error "wsl: Failed to start the systemd user session for 'user'. See journalctl for more details."
10. systemd user session is not good (systemctl status --user) gets error "Failed to connect to bus: No such file or directory")

Reversing the WSL instance start order (OEL 8.10 first then Ubuntu) will result in both instances having working systemd user sessions.

Note this worked fine on WSL 2.4.13.0

Expected Behavior

systemd user session operates successfully regardless of distribution launch order.

Actual Behavior

systemd user session fails to start in OEL 8.10 unless it is the first distribution to be started

Diagnostic Logs

WslLogs-2025-12-07_17-33-01.zip

[jayartee]

This was previously raised on #13534 which was closed to #13186 which was also close. Issue still persists through to WSL 2.6.2

[github-actions]

Diagnostic information

Detected appx version: 2.6.2.0