Importing Debian 11 distro from .tar file gives "Unspecified error Error code: Wsl/Service/RegisterDistro/E_FAIL"

[HJTDM]

Windows Version

Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.22631.3880]

WSL Version

2.2.4.0

Are you using WSL 1 or WSL 2?

• WSL 2
• WSL 1

Kernel Version

5.15.153.1-2

Distro Version

No response

Other Software

No response

Repro Steps

wsl --import Debian11 .\WSLStorage\Debian11\ .\debian11.tar

Expected Behavior

Expected to successfully import Debian 11 (the image was exported from docker "debian:bullseye-slim) from .tar file?

Actual Behavior

Unspecified error
Error code: Wsl/Service/RegisterDistro/E_FAIL

Diagnostic Logs

WslLogs-2024-07-16_15-51-56.zip

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Please view the issues below to see if they solve your problem, and if the issue describes your problem please consider closing this one and thumbs upping the other issue to help us prioritize it!

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Diagnostic information

Detected appx version: 2.2.4.0
Detected user visible error: Wsl/Service/RegisterDistro/E_FAIL

[OneBlue]

Thank you @HJTDM. Looking at the logs, it looks like file you're trying to import is not a valid tar:

Microsoft.Windows.Lxss.Manager	GuestLog	07-16-2024 13:52:21.023	"	"	"text: 	""bsdtar: Error opening archive: Unrecognized archive format ""
vmId: 	{6b442224-569f-4e8e-9437-9274083c689b}"				7408	4628	5		00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000		

Does wsl --install -d debian work for you ?

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This issue has been automatically closed since it has not had any author activity for the past 7 days. If you're still experiencing this issue please re-file it as a new issue.

Thank you!