WSL provisioner times out on `wsl.exe -l -v --all` — Docker Desktop fails to start backend

[henfircreo]

Expected behavior

Docker Desktop starts and the Linux engine becomes available.

Actual behavior

Docker Desktop fails to finish starting. The UI surfaces:

getting WSL provisioner: listing WSL distros: running WSL command wsl.exe C:\Windows\System32\wsl.exe -l -v --all: context deadline exceeded

The backend pipe (\.\pipe\dockerDesktopLinuxEngine) never comes up, so docker info fails:

error during connect: Get "http://%2F%2F.%2Fpipe%2FdockerDesktopLinuxEngine/v1.50/info":
open //./pipe/dockerDesktopLinuxEngine: The system cannot find the file specified.

Information

• Docker Desktop / Engine: 28.2.2 (build e6534b4)
• OS: Windows 11 Pro, 10.0.26200
• WSL version: 2.5.7.0 (kernel 6.6.87) — both meet Docker's ECI requirements per the diagnose log
• Settings of note: WslEngineEnabled: true, UseContainerdSnapshotter: true, NetworkType: gvisor

Diagnostics ID

B194194D-9715-4A44-9728-58C1F2DB043C/20260423041721 (uploaded)

Steps to reproduce

1. Launch Docker Desktop on a fresh session.
2. Wait for the WSL provisioner step.
3. Startup hangs, then fails with the wsl.exe -l -v --all: context deadline exceeded error above.

Running wsl.exe -l -v --all from outside Docker Desktop for comparison would help narrow this down — will add that output if it's useful.