Internet access not working in Windows Subsystem for Linux

Question

I tried sudo apt-get update in the new Windows Subsystem for Linux, but I get the following error:

The most relevant parts seem to be the "could not resolve" lines about Ubuntu servers, like:

Could not resolve 'archive.ubuntu.com'

Answer 1

There is an open GitHub issue about this error.

It appears that the most likely problem is that /etc/resolv.conf didn't get generated correctly. Make sure it contains a nameserver line for a valid DNS server, preferably one on your local network. Many routers provide DNS services to their networks; on my network, I would add this line:

nameserver 192.168.1.1

If there are entries that don't correspond to valid DNS servers, remove them.

If you use a third-party antivirus product, try disabling its firewall - there are reports that some such programs interfere with Bash's connectivity.

Answer 2

Create /etc/apt/apt.conf to add proxy configuration.

sudo nano /etc/apt/apt.conf

Add this line to your /etc/apt/apt.conf file

Acquire::http::Proxy "http://proxyaddress:port";

Save it with Ctrl+X, Y and retry:

Now run the below command

sudo apt-get update

I tried and verified.

Answer 3

It looks like your DNS settings are incorrect or you could have a gateway/netmask incompatibility.

use ip link to verify that an interface is listed as 'up' and then ifconfig to for the settings of that interface. you may also need to cat /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth? to look at the settings of the interfaces.

try traceroute -d 8.8.8.4 to see if you can reach google's public DNS server. That will verify you are getting out to the outside network. If it works with -d but fails to resolve the IP's to names when run without the -d then a quick fix would be to add 8.8.8.8 & 8.8.8.4 to your DNS Settings for the interface that is up, and then issue a service network restart to restart the network services and make the DNS changes active.

I forgot if you don't have a gui interface configured yet, you can easily edit the interface configs with system-config-network. Navigate with arrow keys,tab, esc, and enter

Answer 4

In my case it was the ZoneAlarm firewall. I snoozed it for 5 minutes and internet access was established immediately from Ubuntu. So I added Ubuntu as "trusted" application in Zone Alarm.

Answer 5

Try downgrading from WSL2 to WSL1.

For example: wsl --set-version Ubuntu 1

This fixed all of my connectivity issues.

Answer 6

In my case this was actually caused by Norton "Smart" Firewall (ironic name). Disabling firewall brought the internet to life without editing any system files (WSL 2, Ubuntu 18.04). However setting nameserver to 8.8.8.8 fixed other issues

Answer 7

Works for CentOS/RHEL/Fedora:

Please set the proxy using the following command:

Command to set the proxy:

export http_proxy=http://SERVER:PORT/

Command to verify whether proxy is set or not:

echo $http_proxy

Answer 8

In my case it was Kaspersky. I have given a detailed explanation here: https://github.com/microsoft/WSL/issues/4275#issuecomment-674480761

[EDIT]

Contents of the above link:

Apart from adding routes and nameservers, Kapersky was causing the issue for me. Stoping it was not working either probably it was making changes to some system files to prevent access to WSL application. I found this to be helpful:

Go to: More Tools -> Manage Application -> Application Control -> Manage Application -> 'your WSL app name' -> click on network(green arrow) -> Change value to allow.

Attaching screen shot of same: