I'm using Windows 11 24H2. I installed VSCode on it before I upgraded from Win 10. The VSCode version is 1.93.1. I used to have the WSL extension in VSCode, but I uninstalled it. Still, every time I start VSCode, it keeps popping up a terminal window asking me to "update" WSL. Even though, WSL itself is also no longer installed on my PC (anymore).

This is what I see in the pop-up:

Windows Subsystem for Linux must be updated to the latest version to proceed. You can update by running 'wsl.exe --update'.
For more information please visit 

Press any key to install Windows Subsystem for Linux.
Press CTRL-C or close this window to cancel.
This prompt will time out in 60 seconds.

But if I run separately:

wsl --status
The Windows Subsystem for Linux is not installed. You can install by running 'wsl.exe --install'.
For more information please visit 

All the extensions I have in VSCode now are these:

Any idea what is going on here?

I'm using Windows 11 24H2. I installed VSCode on it before I upgraded from Win 10. The VSCode version is 1.93.1. I used to have the WSL extension in VSCode, but I uninstalled it. Still, every time I start VSCode, it keeps popping up a terminal window asking me to "update" WSL. Even though, WSL itself is also no longer installed on my PC (anymore).

This is what I see in the pop-up:

Windows Subsystem for Linux must be updated to the latest version to proceed. You can update by running 'wsl.exe --update'.
For more information please visit https://aka.ms/wslinstall

Press any key to install Windows Subsystem for Linux.
Press CTRL-C or close this window to cancel.
This prompt will time out in 60 seconds.

But if I run separately:

wsl --status
The Windows Subsystem for Linux is not installed. You can install by running 'wsl.exe --install'.
For more information please visit https://aka.ms/wslinstall

All the extensions I have in VSCode now are these:

Any idea what is going on here?

• visual-studio-code
• windows-subsystem-for-linux
• vscode-remote

• 1 May I suggest to go through similar issues and/or log a new one VS-Code-Issues - github/microsoft/vscode/issues/233618. But before this please try to Search for any settings related to WSL or Remote-WSL and remove or disable them from File > Preferences > Settings. Delete the .vscode folder in your user directory (e.g., C:\Users \[YourUsername]\.vscode). And Navigate to C:\Users\[YourUsername]\AppData\Local\Programs\Microsoft VS Code\extensions and look for any folders related to WSL or Remote-WSL and delete them. Restart VSCodeand check if the issues still exists. – Sharad Paul Commented Dec 8, 2024 at 12:06
• 2 @SharadPaul Thanks! That helped. It hadn't occurred to me. Indeed, in the settings I found Terminal > Integrated: Use WSL Profiles. And after I deactivated that, the issue went away. Thank you again. – Louis Nichols Commented Dec 9, 2024 at 13:56

1 Answer 1

I faced the same problem with popup in vscode everytime even though I never used WSL before. After updating to the latest version this happened; I had been using windows 11 from quite a while.

The fix was to disable WSL from Windows Features:

Press Win + S, type Turn Windows features on or off, and open it. Uncheck Windows Subsystem for Linux. Click OK and restart your computer.