Windows Subsystem for Linux shows "no installed distributions" in run-as-Administrator PowerShell window

I have successfully installed WSL 2 and Ubuntu on my Windows machine.

My user account is not an administrator account.

If I start PowerShell and type bash it successfully starts bash, and wsl --list shows the Ubuntu distribution.

However if I run PowerShell as Administrator and type bash I get the following message:

Windows Subsystem for Linux has no installed distributions.
Distributions can be installed by visiting the Microsoft Store:
https://aka.ms/wslstore

and the wsl --list command shows the same message.

Worst part is that I'm pretty sure this worked yesterday(!)

Solution 1:

You have installed the linux distro using the ordinary user credentials. If you start the powershell as normal user, you should see the correct info. wsl state and installed apps seem to be specific to a user account.