Ddev-hostname and ddev-wsl2 documentation (and Windows Installer failure with 'failed to copy script')

[nickchomey]

I just saw the new blog post. The hostname and wsl2 improvements sound great!

But I don't see any mention of them in the docs. Moreover, the wsl2 docs still say to install the windows version. Perhaps this should be updated?

Also, I think it would be helpful to explain what to do if you already installed ddev windows - does it need to be uninstalled somehow? What happens to gsudo etc?

[rfay]

Can you please give links to the docs you're referring to that need improvement?

For reference, the blog is https://ddev.com/blog/ddev-hostname-security-improvements

The Windows install section explains the installer: https://ddev.readthedocs.io/en/stable/users/install/ddev-installation/#ddev-installation-windows

[rfay]

Also please temporarily disable virus checker (Windows Defender?), Firewall, VPN, thanks! You may want to pick up in #7485 which looks exactly the same.

[rfay]

And in that issue the problem was solved by going to NAT mode instead of Mirrored mode, which is very odd, hopefully it will be reproducible.

[nickchomey]

Sorry for the delay. Here's the requested info:

wsl --version
WSL version: 2.6.0.0
Kernel version: 6.6.87.2-1
WSLg version: 1.0.66
MSRDC version: 1.2.6228
Direct3D version: 1.611.1-81528511
DXCore version: 10.0.26100.1-240331-1435.ge-release
Windows version: 10.0.26120.4741

wsl --update
Checking for updates.
The most recent version of Windows Subsystem for Linux is already installed.

I am already using nat (default) in .wslconfig. I'm also hesitant to mess with any of the wsl2 networking stuff, because I have had significant issues with this in the past, and it seems to be "working" right now.

wsl -d Ubuntu2404 -u root bash -c "ls -l /tmp/check_root_user.sh && cat /tmp/check_root_user.sh"
-rwx--x--x 1 root root 216 Jul 28 15:03 /tmp/check_root_user.sh
#!/bin/bash
set -eu -o pipefail

# Get the user ID, handling any WSL translation warnings
id=$(id -u 2>/dev/null | tail -1)
if [ "$id" -eq 0 ]; then
  echo "The user running this script must not be root."
  exit 1
fi

It is interesting that the script is owned by root, when the default user is nick. Evidently your installer is running as root.

[nickchomey]

I just ran sudo chown nick:nick /tmp/check_root_user.sh and re-ran the windows installer, and it worked. It might be kludgy, but perhaps something like that could be done in your installer?

Here's the install log

20250728.151329
=== DDEV Installer Debug Log ===
Log location: C:\Users\nick_\AppData\Local\Temp\ddev_installer_debug_20250728.151329.log
Installer started at: 2025-07-28 15:13:29
Debug log initialized at: C:\Users\nick_\AppData\Local\Temp\ddev_installer_debug_20250728.151329.log
Command line parameters: 
Set default to WSL2 with Docker CE based on previous installation
Stored installation type: wsl2-docker-ce
Starting DistroSelectionPage...
Creating dialog...
Dialog create result: 526624
=== Starting GetUbuntuDistros ===
Checking registry key HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Lxss...
Registry key exists and is accessible
Found 1 total WSL distributions
Found distribution: Ubuntu2404
Found Flavor field for Ubuntu2404: 'ubuntu'
Found Ubuntu distribution (Flavor-based): Ubuntu2404
Registry enumeration complete. Final list: [Ubuntu2404]
Got distros: [Ubuntu2404]
Creating label...
Creating radio buttons...
Previously selected distro: Ubuntu2404
Adding radio button: [Ubuntu2404]
Selected distro: Ubuntu2404 (previous choice)
Added 1 radio buttons
About to show dialog...
Getting selected distro...
Selected distro: Ubuntu2404
Stored selected distro: Ubuntu2404
Copying all scripts to temp directory...
All scripts copied to temp directory
Starting GitCheckPage...
Skipping Git check for non-traditional install: wsl2-docker-ce
Starting DockerCheckPage...
Skipping Docker check for wsl2-docker-ce install (Docker CE will be installed)
Setting up mkcert.exe (Windows) for trusted HTTPS certificates...
Running mkcert.exe -install to create certificate authority...
mkcert.exe -install completed successfully
Setting up mkcert certificate sharing with WSL2...
CAROOT directory: C:\Users\nick_\AppData\Local\mkcert
EnVar::Delete CAROOT result: 0
EnVar::AddValue CAROOT result: 0
WSLENV cleaned and updated: [] -> [CAROOT/up]
mkcert certificate sharing with WSL2 configured successfully.
Adding DDEV installation directory to system PATH...
PATH before addition: C:\Python313\Scripts\;C:\Python313\;C:\Python312\Scripts\;C:\Python312\;C:\Python311\Scripts\;C:\Python311\;C:\Python39\Scripts\;C:\Python39\;C:\Python310\Scripts\;C:\Python310\;C:\Windows\system32;C:\Windows;C:\Windows\System32\Wbem;C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\;C:\Windows\System32\OpenSSH\;C:\Program Files (x86)\NVIDIA Corporation\PhysX\Common;C:\ProgramData\chocolatey\bin;C:\tools\BCURRAN3;C:\WINDOWS\system32;C:\WINDOWS;C:\WINDOWS\System32\Wbem;C:\WINDOWS\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\;C:\WINDOWS\System32\OpenSSH\;C:\Program Files\dotnet\;C:\Program Files (x86)\dotnet\;C:\tools\php80;C:\tools\php74;C:\Program Files\Calibre2\;C:\tools\gsudo\Current;C:\Program Files\DDEV;C:\Program Files\Tailscale\;C:\Program Files\NVIDIA Corporation\NVIDIA App\NvDLISR;C:\Program Files\Git\cmd
EnVar::AddValue result: 0
PATH addition completed with result: 0
Starting WSL2 Docker installation for Ubuntu2404
Checking WSL2 version...
WSL version check output:  
WSL version check exit code: 0
Checking selected distro Ubuntu2404...
Checking WSL2 kernel...
WSL kernel version: #1 SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC Thu Jun  5 18:30:46 UTC 2025

WSL2 detected successfully.
Converting Windows TEMP path to WSL format...
Checking for root user in selected distro...
=== Checking for root user in distro: Ubuntu2404 ===
Installing script check_root_user.sh to WSL2 distro Ubuntu2404...
Using script check_root_user.sh from temp directory
Successfully installed script check_root_user.sh to /tmp/check_root_user.sh in distro Ubuntu2404
Running check_root_user.sh...
Root user check passed for distro Ubuntu2404 - output: 
Root user check passed
WSL(Ubuntu2404): Removing old Docker packages if present...
WSL(Ubuntu2404): Updating package database using apt-get update...
Please be patient - updating package database...
WSL(Ubuntu2404): Installing required linux packages...
Please be patient - installing required linux packages...
WSL(Ubuntu2404): Setting up keyrings directory...
WSL(Ubuntu2404): Adding Docker repository key...
WSL(Ubuntu2404): Adding Docker apt repository...
WSL(Ubuntu2404): Adding DDEV apt repository key...
WSL(Ubuntu2404): Adding DDEV apt repository...
WSL(Ubuntu2404): apt-get update...
Please be patient - updating package database...
WSL(Ubuntu2404): Installing essential packages (1/4)...
Please be patient - installing essential packages...
WSL(Ubuntu2404): Installing Docker components (2/4)...
Please be patient - installing Docker components...
WSL(Ubuntu2404): Installing WSL utilities (3/4)...
Please be patient - installing WSL utilities...
WSL(Ubuntu2404): Installing DDEV (4/4)...
Please be patient - installing DDEV...
WSL(Ubuntu2404): Overwriting DDEV binaries with bundled version...
WSL(Ubuntu2404): Overwriting ddev-hostname binary with bundled version...
WSL(Ubuntu2404): Overwriting mkcert binary with bundled version...
WSL(Ubuntu2404): Overwriting ddev-hostname.exe with bundled version...
WSL(Ubuntu2404): Overwriting mkcert.exe with bundled version...
WSL(Ubuntu2404): Getting username of unprivileged user...
WSL(Ubuntu2404): Adding user 'nick' to docker group...
Successfully added user 'nick' to docker group.
Verifying DDEV installation with 'ddev version'...
Setting up mkcert inside WSL2 distro: Ubuntu2404
Windows CAROOT environment variable: C:\Users\nick_\AppData\Local\mkcert
Installing script install_temp_sudoers.sh to WSL2 distro Ubuntu2404...
Using script install_temp_sudoers.sh from temp directory
Successfully installed script install_temp_sudoers.sh to /tmp/install_temp_sudoers.sh in distro Ubuntu2404
Running temporary sudoers installation...
Temporary sudoers created successfully
Installing script mkcert_install.sh to WSL2 distro Ubuntu2404...
Using script mkcert_install.sh from temp directory
Successfully installed script mkcert_install.sh to /tmp/mkcert_install.sh in distro Ubuntu2404
Running /tmp/mkcert_install.sh in WSL2 distro: Ubuntu2404
mkcert_install.sh script exit code: 126
mkcert_install.sh output: '/bin/bash: /tmp/mkcert_install.sh: Permission denied
'
Removing temporary passwordless sudo...
Temporary sudoers entry removed successfully
Performing final validation of DDEV installation...
Configuring WSL2 security settings to prevent Windows executable warnings...
Configuring WSL2 security settings...
Adding file://*.wsl.localhost to Local Intranet security zone...
WSL2 ZoneMap Internet Domains settings configured successfully via registry
Marking installation as complete...
DDEV installation completed successfully
Cleaning up temporary files...
All done! Installation completed successfully and validated.
Installation completed successfully

Now i can see both ddev and ddev-wsl2 apt packages installed. Is that expected/desired? I was under the impression we only need ddev-wsl2 .

I also still have a C:\Program Files\DDEV folder, and the files didnt seem to have changed (i copied it before installation and did a diff on them). Again, I was under the impression that nothing on the Windows side was necessary when we have ddev-wsl2.

Can I clean anything up manually?

[nickchomey]

I also now wonder whether I messed things up with chown, since the installer is evidently running as root and I essentially bypassed the installer's safety check for it...

in particular, i see this in the log

mkcert_install.sh script exit code: 126
mkcert_install.sh output: '/bin/bash: /tmp/mkcert_install.sh: Permission denied
'

Though I then did this:

export WINDOWS_CAROOT="C:\Users\nick_\AppData\Local\mkcert"
sudo chown nick:nick mkcert_install.sh
nick@wsl2:/tmp$ ./mkcert_install.sh
WINDOWS_CAROOT=C:\Users\nick_\AppData\Local\mkcert
The local CA is already installed in the system trust store! 👍
The local CA is now installed in the Firefox and/or Chrome/Chromium trust store (requires browser restart)! 🦊

/mnt/c/Users/nick_/AppData/Local/mkcert

[rfay]

Oh, you're using a pre-release version of WSL, WSL version: 2.6.0.0

Would it be possible to downgrade to current stable? It's pretty easy. I found that 2.6.0.0 didn't work at all for me (for anything, not related to installer)

You just download the artifact and install it, I didn't have any trouble, https://github.com/microsoft/WSL/releases/tag/2.5.9

[rfay]

I think the screenshot is telling you that you have 2.6.0.0 installed, not that that's the stable release. But thanks for trying that.

[nickchomey]

My point is that it seems unlikely that they'd release something unstable via the channel that their least sophisticated users use. Still, I don't know how to square that with the pre-release label in the Github releases. (edit: it seems to be because I use the Windows Insider update channel)

Anyway, if you have other ideas about how to debug this, I'm happy to try it.

Likewise, if you have insights on if/how I can clean up the Windows side and the ddev apt package, that would be great.

[rfay]

To answer your question about your Windows machine in general, I would just do this:

sudo apt update && sudo apt install ddev-wsl2

I don't think you should need to do anything else unless you are having some kind of trouble.

[nickchomey]

So I should just leave the ddev apt package as well as the windows C:\ProgramData\DDEV folder? Or should I try removing them and see what happens?

[rfay]

The existing DDEV folder (normally in Program Files) does no harm, and the ddev-wsl2 package provides the things you would have needed from that in /usr/bin inside the distro. So ddev-hostname.exe and mkcert.exe are available (and first in path) in /usr/bin inside the distro.

[rfay]

I just found a good reason that we should figure out how to delete an old ddev.exe during the install process.
Inside the distro, C:\Program Files\DDEV is in the $PATH. If ddev is not installed in the distro, running ddev inside the distro will pick up the ddev.exe, making us all completely crazy.