Unusual disk space occupied by wsl (ubuntu 20) in windows 11 system

thegame · July 17, 2024, 6:29pm

I have installed WSL (Ubuntu 20.04) on my Windows 11 system with a 1TB SSD. After working with the WSL setup for a couple of weeks, I’ve noticed that WSL occupies almost 620 GB of disk space, whereas the home folder inside WSL occupies around 270 GB, which is understandable. I’m unsure how Ubuntu is occupying the additional ~350GB on the disk. I have tried to examine the WSL folders one by one but haven’t found any questionable folders that could explain this unexpected usage, except for the /mnt/wslg folder, which is 210GB in size. I have attached a picture of the /mnt/wslg folder below.

Is it okay to delete this folder, and if I do, will it affect the home folder? Additionally, I would like to know any other tips to clear out this ghost space occupation on the disk. When I delete something, is it stored somewhere equivalent to the Windows Recycle Bin, or is it a permanent delete (like Shift+Delete) in WSL?

There are too many questions, but I appreciate your time. Thanks!

Danilo · July 18, 2024, 5:05am

Hi,

This is an interesting topic, but how is ROOT involved?

Cheers,
D

thegame · July 18, 2024, 11:35am

Not super related, hence the Windows tag in the post. But I thought people here who are using WSL2 might have faced this issue and have some suggestions for it.

Danilo · July 18, 2024, 2:56pm

I see. I hope someone can chip in !

thegame · November 24, 2024, 9:45pm

If anyone else is still dealing with this problem, here’s how to remove the ghost space:

Locate the ext4.vhdx file and note its absolute path. (should be LocalAppData%\Packages\ under a subfolder specific to the distribution. For my Ubuntu install, the folder was CanonicalGroupLimited.Ubuntu20.04LTS_79rhkp1fndgsc . Once in that folder, open LocalState and you’ll find your VHDX file.)
Follow the instructions provided in this comment: https://github.com/microsoft/WSL/issues/4699#issuecomment-627133168.