Failed to start container environment
Fix Degraded State errors -2 and -3, where Salad's Linux container environment can't be imported into WSL or its service won't start.
What it means. Salad runs container jobs inside its own Linux environment ("Salad Enterprise Linux") under WSL 2. Error -2 means the environment couldn't be imported into WSL; error -3 means it imported but the service inside it failed to start. Either way, container jobs can't run until it's fixed.
Why it happens. Nearly always one of these, most common first:
- A custom
.wslconfigfile. In particularnetworkingMode=mirroredand customkernelCommandLinesettings break the environment's networking, so its service fails on every start. - A VPN client or security product (Tailscale, Cisco AnyConnect, Kaspersky, Norton and similar) holding a network address the environment needs when it starts.
- A damaged WSL package or an incomplete earlier import.
- Virtualization turned off in the BIOS, or another virtualization product (some Android emulators, VirtualBox with Hyper-V disabled) taking it over.
- Not enough free space on the C: drive for the environment to be created.
What to do
Reset .wslconfig to Salad's defaults
Open C:\Users\<your user>\.wslconfig in Notepad. Keep only the [wsl2] section with the memory= line Salad wrote
and remove everything else, especially networkingMode and kernelCommandLine. Save, then run wsl --shutdown in
PowerShell. Full steps:
Restoring .wslconfig to Salad default.
Start Salad with VPNs disconnected
Disconnect VPN clients and pause the network protection module of third-party antivirus, then Exit Salad from the tray
icon, run wsl --shutdown, and start Salad again. If that fixes it, add an exclusion for Salad and WSL (vmmem,
wslservice.exe) in the security product.
Check virtualization and conflicting software
Confirm virtualization is enabled (how to check) and close Android emulators (known conflicts).
Remove a half-imported environment
If the environment shows up in wsl -l -v as Installing or won't start, remove it so Salad can import it fresh. In
PowerShell as Administrator:
wsl --shutdownwsl --unregister salad-enterprise-linuxThen start Salad and leave it for 15-20 minutes. Everything inside the environment is Salad's; nothing of yours is lost.
Repair WSL itself
Run wsl --update as Administrator and reboot. If WSL commands print "The file cannot be accessed by the system",
repair the package: Settings > Apps > Installed apps > Windows Subsystem for Linux > Advanced options > Repair, or
reinstall it from Microsoft's WSL releases.
Last resort: reinstall Salad
Only after the steps above: uninstall Salad, reboot, reinstall from salad.com/download.
Still stuck?
Send Salad Support a screenshot of the notification with the error number, the contents of your
.wslconfig, which VPN or security products are installed, and your logs folder zipped
(how to find it).
Last updated on
Failed to update container environment
Fix the "Failed to update container environment" / "WSL kernel updates are required" Degraded State notification, including the cases where wsl --update already says you're up to date.
Failed to start workload
Fix the "Failed to start workload" Degraded State notification (errors -1, -4, -5, -7, -10), where the container environment runs but a job can't be downloaded or started.