Dev Containers Extension doesn't run in WSL

Bug Reports
1

Describe the Bug

I need Dev Containers Extension to run in WSL because it’s where my projects and docker are installed. I can open Cursor in WSL, I can use wsl terminal within Cursor, but every single time I try to use Dev Containers I have the absolute same result:

Checking for exec server for SSH authority: wsl+Ubuntu
No remote exec server found for SSH authority: wsl+Ubuntu
No remote exec server found for authority: wsl+Ubuntu; using local
Spawned process undefined: ‘docker’ ‘info’
Failed to run docker info:Error: [docker info] Command failed with exit code 1: spawn docker ENOENT: stdout:

Steps to Reproduce

Install docker in WSL. Install the following extensions in Cursor:
anysphere.remote-containers
anysphere.remote-ssh
anysphere.remote-wsl
ms-azuretools.vscode-containers
ms-azuretools.vscode-docker
Open a new window in WSL, make sure that all those extensions are also installed in WSL.
Go to Remote Explorer > Dev Containers or go to Output and select Remote - Dev Containers to see the logs

Expected Behavior

Me and my team are trying to migrate from VSCode. In VSCode, after installing the extensions the next step should be only to execute Dev Containers: Reopen in Container for the environment to be set, and that is what we were expecting here, but clearly the extension is not running in WSL and causing internal errors. I don’t know if it is indeed a bug or if I just need to learn the right settings for this to work, but right now we’re completely lost and we don’t want to give up on Cursor just yet.

Screenshots / Screen Recordings

Screenshot 2025-06-17 164159.png
Screenshot 2025-06-17 164159.png1920×1035 99.7 KB

Operating System

Windows 10/11

Current Cursor Version (Menu → About Cursor → Copy)

Version: 1.1.3 (user setup)
VSCode Version: 1.96.2
Commit: 979ba33804ac150108481c14e0b5cb970bda3260
Date: 2025-06-15T06:55:04.603Z
Electron: 34.5.1
Chromium: 132.0.6834.210
Node.js: 20.19.0
V8: 13.2.152.41-electron.0
OS: Windows_NT x64 10.0.26100

Additional Information

WSL version: 2.5.7.0
Windows version: 10.0.26100.4349
All extensions are in the latest version as of 2025-06-17T19:47(UTC)

Does this stop you from using Cursor

Yes - Cursor is unusable

3

Hi @vini_dmc,

Thank you for raising this issue – this is indeed a bug. We’re working on a fix to properly translate the paths when running inside a WSL environment.

In the meantime, would you be able to git clone in Windows, and then reopen in a container from within a native (non-WSL) environment?

I’ll post an update here when the new build is out that doesn’t require this workaround.

1 Like
4

Hi @vini_dmc, we just released Anysphere WSL 1.0.4 and Anysphere Remote Containers 1.0.8, which (together) support dev containers for repos cloned within WSL. Could you try upgrading to these versions of the extensions and share whether that works for you?

2 Likes
5

Thank you very much for this response, I just got desperate after trying your newly added features from 1.7 (Container Switching and Container Names), just to think that I still cant use them due to a lack of WSL support, but just as I wanted to write another Feature Request I found your answer :slight_smile: I didnt even notice you also had an in-house WSL Extension ^^

Thank you so much for your awesome work (and your Team I assume), really happy the Extensions are developed at such a rapid pace!

1 Like
7

Thanks, it worked!! Looking forward to making Cursor our official IDE

1 Like