[Solution] WslRegisterDistribution failed with error: 0x80370102 VM on Mac

If you have installed Windows 10 or 11 (22H2) on a Virtual Machine on your M1/M2 Mac using Virtualization tool such as Parallels or UTM and when you try to install Ubuntu (Linux) on it you get an error like below,

Installing, this may take a few minutes...
WslRegisterDistribution failed with error: 0x80370102
Please enable the Virtual Machine Platform Windows feature and ensure virtualization is enabled in the BIOS.

For information please visit https://aka.ms/enablevirtualization
Press any key to continue...

[process exited with code 1 (0x00000001)]
You can now close this terminal with Ctrl+D, or press Enter to restart.

Well the reason for this error is that you are trying to run WSL2 "Virtual Machine Platform" inside another virtual machine, this is called a "Nested Virtualization" situation.

Solution to WslRegisterDistribution failed with error: 0x80370102

One easy way to fix this error on Parallels or UTM (QEMU) is that use WSL1 instead of WSL2.

Simply run the below command in the Windows 10/11 Terminal/CMD.

wsl --set-default-version 1

The operation completed successfully.

Next you can try to launch Ubuntu to complete the installation.

PS C:\Users\Sam> ubuntu

Installing, this may take a few minutes...
Please create a default UNIX user account. The username does not need to match your Windows username.
For more information visit: https://aka.ms/wslusers
Enter new UNIX username: dev
New password:
Retype new password:
passwd: password updated successfully
Installation successful!
To run a command as administrator (user "root"), use "sudo ".
See "man sudo_root" for details.

Welcome to Ubuntu 22.04.2 LTS (GNU/Linux 4.4.0-23545-Microsoft aarch64)

 * Documentation:  https://help.ubuntu.com
 * Management:     https://landscape.canonical.com
 * Support:        https://ubuntu.com/advantage

This message is shown once a day. To disable it please create the
/home/dev/.hushlogin file.

This is not an AI-generated article but is demonstrated by a human on a Windows 11 on a Virtual Machine on a M1 Mac running macOS Sonoma 14.0.

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