Windows Version

Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.26200.7171]

WSL Version

2.6.2.0

Are you using WSL 1 or WSL 2?

• WSL 2
• WSL 1

Kernel Version

6.6.87.2

Distro Version

Ubuntu 25.10

Other Software

No response

Repro Steps

1. Enable systemd in WSL.
2. Install/use a distro that uses NetworkManager.
3. Boot WSL.

Expected Behavior

WSL boots without delay or error.

Actual Behavior

WSL boot is delayed, and the following error eventually appears:
wsl: Failed to start the systemd user session for 'username'. See journalctl for more details.

Diagnostic Logs

This issue is similar to the one addressed in PR #13611 regarding systemd-networkd-wait-online.service.

Since WSL interfaces are unmanaged by systemd/NetworkManager, this service waits for an event that never happens, causing a 60-second timeout during boot.

I was able to workaround this by configuring NetworkManager to stop managing devices via /etc/NetworkManager/conf.d/exclude.conf:

[keyfile]
unmanaged-devices=*

Per the discussion in PR #13611, it is suggested to mask NetworkManager-wait-online.service by default in WSL to avoid this delay.