# Connection to WSL fails with recent update

**URL:** <https://forum.cursor.com/t/connection-to-wsl-fails-with-recent-update/175790>\
**Category:** Bug Reports\
**Tags:** windows, wsl\
**Created:** [October 22, 2026, 3:52pm UTC](https://forum.cursor.com/t/connection-to-wsl-fails-with-recent-update/175790 "2026-10-22T15:52:22Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Pristo\_X](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/cursor1/user_avatar/forum.cursor.com/pristo_x/32/124247_2.png) [@Pristo\_X](https://forum.cursor.com/u/Pristo_X)\
**Post date:** [October 22, 2026, 3:52pm UTC](https://forum.cursor.com/t/connection-to-wsl-fails-with-recent-update/175790/1 "2026-10-22T15:52:22Z")

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### Describe the Bug

Unable to connect to WSL via Cursor ,which was working but stops working with recent update.

### Steps to Reproduce

JUst try to connect to remote WSL from cursor

### Expected Behavior

fails with failure message :  
Connection to Cursor server failed: [wsl exec: installServerScript] Command failed with exit code 4294967295: stdout: Catastrophic failure Error code: Wsl/Service/E\_UNEXPECTED

### Operating System

Windows 10/11

### Version Information

3.26.16 (user setup)

### Does this stop you from using Cursor

No - Cursor works, but with this issue

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Colin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/cursor1/user_avatar/forum.cursor.com/colin/32/90452_2.png) [@Colin](https://forum.cursor.com/u/Colin)\
**Post date:** [October 22, 2026, 4:03pm UTC](https://forum.cursor.com/t/connection-to-wsl-fails-with-recent-update/175790/6 "2026-10-22T16:03:18Z")

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Hey @Pristo_X,

That error comes from Windows’ WSL service rather than from Cursor: `Wsl/Service/E_UNEXPECTED` (“Catastrophic failure”) means `wsl.exe` refused to start the command Cursor asked it to run, before anything ran inside your Linux distro. The part of Cursor that connects to WSL hasn’t changed in this update, and this error usually means WSL itself got into a bad state (often after sleep or hibernate, or a pending Windows or WSL update), so the timing with the update is most likely coincidence.

These usually clear it, in order:

1. Quit Cursor completely.
2. In PowerShell, run `wsl --shutdown`, wait a few seconds, then reopen Cursor and connect to WSL again.
3. If `wsl --shutdown` itself errors, or the connection still fails, restart Windows.
4. Run `wsl --update`, then `wsl --shutdown` again, and reconnect.

To check whether WSL itself is the problem, run `wsl -d <your distro name> echo ok` in a plain PowerShell window (outside Cursor). If that fails with the same error, the WSL service is down and the steps above (or a reboot) are the fix.

If `wsl` works fine on its own but Cursor still can’t connect, please reply with the output of `wsl --version` and the WSL log from Cursor’s Output panel (View \> Output, then pick “Remote - WSL” in the dropdown) so we can dig in. This also looks like the same error as [this earlier thread](https://forum.cursor.com/t/connection-to-cursor-server-failed-wsl-exec-installserverscript/156709).