How to enable the Virtual Machine Platform Windows feature in EC2 instance?

Question

When trying to install Windows Subsystem for Linux ("WSL") on an EC2 instance running Windows Server 2022 Base, I get the following error message.

```
PS \> wsl --install
Ubuntu is already installed.
Launching Ubuntu...
Installing, this may take a few minutes...
WslRegisterDistribution failed with error: 0x80370102
Please enable the Virtual Machine Platform Windows feature and ensure virtualization is enabled in the BIOS.
For information please visit https://aka.ms/enablevirtualization
Press any key to continue...
```

How can I enable the Virtual Machine Platform Windows feature on my EC2 instance?

kranthi putti · Answer

hello,

To enable the Virtual Machine Platform Windows feature and install WSL on an EC2 instance running Windows Server 2022, follow these steps:

1.For WSL 1 on Virtualized Instances:
* Run the following command to install WSL 1

```
wsl --install --enable-wsl1

```
* Restart your EC2 instance.
* Set WSL 1 as the default version:

```
wsl --set-default-version 1

```
2.For WSL 2 on Metal Instances:
* Ensure you are using a .metal instance type.
* Run the following command to install WSL 2:

```
wsl --install

```
Note that nested virtualization required for WSL 2 is only supported on .metal instance types in EC2. Virtualized instances can only use WSL 1.
For detailed information, refer to the  Document

https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSEC2/latest/WindowsGuide/install-wsl-on-ec2-windows-instance.html

i hope this will be helpful to you

Riku_Kobayashi · Answer

Hello.

Is it WSL1 that you are trying to install?  
In that case, I think you can install it by following the steps in the document below.  
https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSEC2/latest/WindowsGuide/install-wsl-on-ec2-windows-instance.html

For WSL2 you need to use a metal instance.

Zen · Answer

Hello, according to the document, you can only run nested virtualisation on a *.metal instance type:
https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/compute/running-hyper-v-on-amazon-ec2-bare-metal-instances/

How to enable the Virtual Machine Platform Windows feature in EC2 instance?

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