WSL2

Reclaiming disk space

All data of WSL2 Distros and Docker is stored in .vhdx files under the current user's “AppData” directory. The problem is that the virtual hard disk files size will not shrink when disk space in freed on the WSL2 distro. This issue has already been discussed on GitHub: https://github.com/microsoft/WSL/issues/4699 but currently the only solution is to manually optimize the virtual hard disk to reclaim disk space.

Locating the virtual hard disk files

Example with “DinDirStat” the two virtual hard disks are clearly visible in purple.

The easiest way to locate them is to use “WinDirStat” it will show the files clearly and allows copying and pasting the path.

Without “WinDirStat” the files can be found under C:\Users\<User>\AppData\Local\Docker\wsl\data\ext4.vhdx for docker and C:\Users\<User>\AppData\Local\Packages\<Distro>\LocalState\ext4.vhdx.

Reclaiming space

First, be sure to shut down all WSL2 distros by running wsl --shutdown inside a PowerShell. After that, executing wsl --list --running should print out There are no running distributions..

After shutting down all WSL2 distros, you can run optimize-vhd -Path <Path> -Mode full in a PowerShell with administrator privileges. The optimization process will take a few minutes to complete.