fix_wsl2_networking

Permanently fix DNS connectivity issues in WSL2.

Table of Contents

Click to collapse/expand

1. About
2. How it works
3. Getting Started
4. Usage
5. License
6. Contact

About

WSL2 regenerates /etc/resolv.conf on each restart, overwriting any manual DNS configuration. This causes recurring connectivity failures, particularly in corporate or VPN environments where the automatically injected nameservers are unreachable or incorrect.

fix_wsl2_networking sets static DNS nameservers of your choice and makes the configuration files immutable, preventing WSL2 from reverting them on restart.

Tested on

• Debian
• Ubuntu
• Kali Linux

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How it works

The script makes two changes:

1. /etc/wsl.conf

Sets generateResolvConf=false under the [network] section to tell WSL2 not to regenerate /etc/resolv.conf on startup.

2. /etc/resolv.conf

Replaces the file with a static configuration pointing to the DNS nameservers of your choice.

Both files are then marked immutable with chattr +i, which prevents WSL2 from modifying or replacing them even if generateResolvConf is ignored. Any existing files are backed up with a timestamp before modification.

To revert, run the script with --undo: this removes the immutable flags and deletes both files, allowing WSL2 to regenerate them on next restart.

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Getting Started

Download

Download the latest release from PowerShell:

Invoke-WebRequest `
  -Uri "https://github.com/franckferman/fix_wsl2_networking/releases/latest/download/fix_wsl2_networking.sh" `
  -OutFile "$env:USERPROFILE\fix_wsl2_networking.sh"

Then from WSL2, copy from the Windows filesystem and run:

cp /mnt/c/Users/<YourWindowsUsername>/fix_wsl2_networking.sh ~/
chmod +x ~/fix_wsl2_networking.sh
sudo ~/fix_wsl2_networking.sh

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Usage

sudo ./fix_wsl2_networking.sh [OPTIONS]

Options

Option	Description
--dns <provider>	Use a specific DNS provider (non-interactive)
-y, --yes	Skip confirmation prompt
--undo	Remove immutable flags and delete config files
--dry-run	Preview changes without modifying anything
-h, --help	Show help message
--version	Show version number

DNS providers

Provider	Primary	Secondary
Cloudflare	1.1.1.1	1.0.0.1
Comodo	8.26.56.26	8.20.247.20
Digitalcourage	85.214.20.141	46.182.19.48
DNSWatch	84.200.69.80	84.200.70.40
FDN	80.67.169.12	80.67.169.40
Google	8.8.8.8	8.8.4.4
Mullvad	194.242.2.9	194.242.2.2
OpenDNS	208.67.222.222	208.67.220.220
Quad9	9.9.9.9	149.112.112.112

Examples

Interactive mode (select DNS provider from a menu):

sudo ./fix_wsl2_networking.sh

Non-interactive mode with a specific provider:

sudo ./fix_wsl2_networking.sh --dns Cloudflare --yes

Preview changes without applying them:

sudo ./fix_wsl2_networking.sh --dry-run

Revert to automatic DNS configuration:

sudo ./fix_wsl2_networking.sh --undo

Once the script completes, restart WSL2 for the changes to take full effect:

wsl --shutdown

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License

Licensed under the GNU Affero General Public License v3.0. See LICENSE for details.

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Contact

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