WSL update failed after updating Docker to version 4.29.0
I have exactly the same issue. When I lauch Docker Desktop version 4.29.0 (149282), I cannot start the docker engine because wsl update failed. Here is the error :
On the screenshot you see that docker tries to run the following command :
wsl.exe --update --web-download
But the problem is that the --web-download argument does not exist. You can check by running :
wsl --help
I have also tried to update wsl manually but this message keeps popping up when I start Docker Desktop
Is there a known solution…? Or does the version simply not work
Thank you for your answers
I did that and still got the same error and the same window of error. i reinstalled docker after updating wsl and still got the same error.
@rimelek how do we disable the wsl --update mis-feature?
I have never had a problem with WSL2, but I rarely use it. I have almost the latest version of Docker Desktop on Windows for occasional testing purposes, but that’s all. I don’t even know when it is supposed to try to update or when it isn’t, but if it fails to update, the WSL version must be wrong for Docker Desktop so it would probably not work anyway. My WSL2 version is 2.1.5.0 and I have the --update flag.
You can look for existing issues on GitHub and add your comments. I’m sure there are plenty of WSL update issues 
Or you could check if you can find something useful in the documentation, FAQ or troubleshooting guide
Thanks for your reply.
My problem has less to do with a failed update and more to do with the unwanted UAC prompt (not great when you’re scripting a restart of Docker Desktop). But even if the WSL update failed, Docker Desktop should just continue to start—but that’s apparently not what’s happening for other people. In other words, Docker Desktop’s error handling is very lacking.
I would not argue with that, although they seem to try to improve it, but why would Docker Desktop continue to run when it wants to update WSL for compatibility reason? Assuming it tries because of that.
I also trued the wsl --update --web-download command. The --web-download command does not appear in the wsl help output, but works. It updated wsl to v2.2.4.0, but it was not ran by Docker Desktop so I can’t reproduce the issue. GitHub can be the place where the developers can tell you what’s going on.
For sure, it runs the update no matter what: even after a successful update, restarting Docker Desktop will give that UAC prompt—and if I cancel that prompt, it’ll say something like: failed wsl --update.
But yes you’re right, I’m sure they enforce update to avoid compatibility issues and avoid superfluous customer support issues.
Yeah dunno how to handle this.
Sorry, as much as I would like to, I can’t help you much regarding Docker on Windows, but if you want to ask for a feature, you can try on GitHub
Or you can report it as an issue in the repository I shared in one of my previous post. Currently, I don’t think you could disable this behavior of Docker Desktop. If you could, I don’t know about that.