A simple method to install WSL on a non-system drive

By default, WSL is installed on the system drive. If there is insufficient space on the system drive, you can install WSL on a non-system drive using the following steps:

Step 1: Install a WSL distribution as usual:

wsl --install -d Ubuntu

Step 2: Export the distribution’s hard drive:

wsl --export Ubuntu D:\WSL\Ubuntu\ext4.vhdx --vhd

Step 3: Uninstall the recently installed distribution:

wsl --unregister Ubuntu

Step 4: Re-establish WSL on the exported hard drive in place:

wsl --import-in-place Ubuntu D:\WSL\Ubuntu\ext4.vhdx

Step 5 (optional): After the above operations, the default login user will be root. To switch back to a non-root user:

ubuntu config --default-user <username>