---
title: Move WSL 2 Safely to another Drive
date: 2020-12-31 19:07
tags: [wsl, wsl2]
category: development
description: 'It is real pain when you have small SSD and Windows Subsystem for Linux
(WSL) is growing exponentially in size. There is no easy way to move the
WSL installation to another drive. Here in this blog I will discuss how
to tackle this problem with bite size steps.'
---

# Move WSL 2 Safely to another Drive

It is real pain when you have small SSD and Windows Subsystem for Linux
(WSL) is growing exponentially in size. There is no easy way to move the
WSL installation to another drive. Here in this blog I will discuss how
to tackle this problem with bite size steps.

1. Open a PowerShell or Command Prompt with *Admin* access. For this you can
use WinKey + X shortcut and select **Windows PowerShell(Admin)**.
2. Check if the WSL 2 installation you are planning to move is is
currently running/stopped.

  ```powershell
  PS C:\\Users\\Avinal> wsl -l -v
  PS C:\\Users\\Avinal>
    NAME      STATE           VERSION
  * Ubuntu    Running         2
    Kali      Stopped         2
  ```

3. If its running then you must stop the particular WSL distribution.
(*Ubuntu* used as example)

```powershell
PS C:\\Users\\Avinal> wsl -t Ubuntu
```

4. Export to some folder. (Here exporting *Ubuntu* as *ubuntu-ex.tar*
    to *Z:wsl2*)

```powershell
PS C:\\Users\\Avinal> wsl --export Ubuntu "Z:\\export\\ubuntu-ex.tar"
```

5. Unregister previous WSL installation

```powershell
PS C:\\Users\\Avinal> wsl --unregister Ubuntu
```

6. Create a new folder and import your WSL installation to that folder.

```powershell
PS C:\\Users\\Avinal> New-Item -Path "Z:\\wsl2" -ItemType Directory

    Directory: Z:\\

Mode                 LastWriteTime         Length Name
----                 -------------         ------ ----
d-----        31-12-2020     21:03                wsl2

PS C:\\Users\\Avinal> wsl --import Ubuntu "Z:\\wsl2" "Z:\\export\\ubuntu-ex.tar"
```

7. Check after import is complete

```powershell
PS C:\\Users\\Avinal> wsl -l -v
PS C:\\Users\\Avinal>
  NAME      STATE           VERSION
* Ubuntu    Running         2
  Kali      Stopped         2
```

8. Mark one of your WSL distribution as *(default)*.

```powershell
PS C:\\Users\\Avinal> wsl -s Ubuntu
```

9. After exporting your default user will be set as
    <i style="color:red">root</i> , to change it to your desired
    username, run following command

```powershell
PS C:\\Users\\Avinal> ubuntu config --default-user user_name
```

10. Finally run `wsl` and you have successfully moved your WSL 2
    installation to another drive.