Initial implementation for CreateContainer() #13791

OneBlue · 2025-11-26T22:54:56Z

Summary of the Pull Request

This change introduces an initial "native" implementation of CreateContainer(), along with --container and --debug-shell options for wsl --wsla.

A lot still needs to be done in WSLAContainer, but this is a good starting point.

This change is based on @ptrivedi's initial CreateContainer PR: #13758

PR Checklist

Closes: Link to issue #xxx
Communication: I've discussed this with core contributors already. If work hasn't been agreed, this work might be rejected
Tests: Added/updated if needed and all pass
Localization: All end user facing strings can be localized
Dev docs: Added/updated if needed
Documentation updated: If checked, please file a pull request on our docs repo and link it here: #xxx

Detailed Description of the Pull Request / Additional comments

Validation Steps Performed

Co-authored-by: Copilot <175728472+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>

…oft/WSL into user/ptrivedi/create-cont

…ptrivedi/create-cont

…crosoft/WSL into user/oneblue/create-container

src/windows/common/WslClient.cpp

src/windows/wslaservice/exe/WSLAContainer.cpp

src/windows/wslaservice/inc/wslaservice.idl

ptrivedi · 2025-12-02T15:11:17Z

src/windows/common/WSLAContainerLauncher.h

+    IWSLAContainer& Get();
+
+    WSLA_CONTAINER_STATE State();
+    ClientRunningWSLAProcess GetInitProcess();


nit: It would be good to add a GetPid() either here or in ClientRunningWSLAProcess(). Otherwise, to get Container's entry process pid, we would be doing a RunningWSLAContainer->GetInitProcess()->Get()->GetPid(). Could do that in a followup PR, oc

The PID can be retrieved today RunningWSLAContainer.Get().GetPid().

We could add a convenience method to make it a bit easier though

test/windows/WSLATests.cpp

src/windows/common/WSLAContainerLauncher.cpp

benhillis · 2025-12-02T16:33:49Z

src/windows/wslaservice/exe/WSLAProcess.cpp

    RETURN_HR_IF(HRESULT_FROM_WIN32(ERROR_INVALID_STATE), !socket.is_valid());

    *Handle = HandleToUlong(common::wslutil::DuplicateHandleToCallingProcess(socket.get()));
+    WSL_LOG(


was this just for debugging?

It originally was, but I'd like to keep it for now, since it helps diagnose hangs

Copilot

Pull request overview

This PR introduces an initial native implementation of CreateContainer() for the WSLA (Windows Subsystem for Linux Architecture) service, enabling container creation and management through the WSL infrastructure. The implementation builds on nerdctl as the underlying container runtime and extends the WSL service with new APIs and client-side launcher classes.

Key Changes:

Added CreateContainer() implementation with support for basic container lifecycle operations
Introduced --image and --debug-shell command-line options for the WSLA shell
Extended IDL with new container-related APIs including OpenSessionByName(), updated container/volume structures, and GPU flags

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 21 out of 21 changed files in this pull request and generated 20 comments.

Show a summary per file

File	Description
test/windows/WSLATests.cpp	Added comprehensive test for CreateContainer with multiple scenarios including environment variables, stdin/stdout, and ARM64 conditional skipping
src/windows/wslaservice/inc/wslaservice.idl	Updated API structures: made Executable optional, renamed ContainerHostPath to ContainerPath, changed InitProcessOptions from pointer to value, added GPU flags and OpenSessionByName method
src/windows/wslaservice/exe/WSLAUserSession.h/cpp	Implemented OpenSessionByName to find sessions by display name
src/windows/wslaservice/exe/WSLASession.h/cpp	Updated CreateContainer to use new WSLAContainer::Create factory method with proper validation and locking
src/windows/wslaservice/exe/WSLAProcess.cpp	Fixed OnVmTerminated to properly signal exit event and added logging for GetStdHandle
src/windows/wslaservice/exe/WSLAContainer.h/cpp	Implemented container creation using nerdctl run with support for stdin/tty detection, environment variables, entrypoint override, and GPU flags
src/windows/common/WSLClient.cpp	Added container and debug-shell support to WslaShell with unified optional process handling
src/windows/common/WSLAProcessLauncher.h/cpp	Made RunningWSLAProcess and ClientRunningWSLAProcess movable, removed std::move on return
src/windows/common/WSLAContainerLauncher.h/cpp	New launcher class for creating and managing container instances through the WSLA session
src/windows/common/ServiceProcessLauncher.h	Made ServiceRunningProcess movable to support container process management
src/windows/common/WslCoreFilesystem.cpp	Changed VHD extension validation from assertion to exception for better error handling
src/windows/common/wslutil.cpp	Added ERROR_INVALID_SID to common error map
src/windows/common/CMakeLists.txt	Added WSLAContainerLauncher source and header files
src/shared/inc/defs.h	Introduced DEFAULT_MOVABLE macro for declaring default move semantics
msipackage/package.wix.in	Added temporary wslarootfs.vhd to MSI package for x64 development
CMakeLists.txt	Fixed OFFICIAL_BUILD condition to evaluate boolean correctly

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Copilot · 2025-12-02T16:41:25Z

src/windows/wslaservice/inc/wslaservice.idl

+    WSLA_CONTAINER_FLAG_ENABLE_GPU = 1
+} ;
+
+


[nitpick] Extra blank line between line 136 and 138. While not critical, this is inconsistent with the formatting style used elsewhere in the file (single blank line between structures).

Suggested change

Copilot · 2025-12-02T16:41:25Z

src/windows/wslaservice/exe/WSLAContainer.cpp

+    if (hasStdin)
+    {
+        // For now return a proper error if the caller tries to pass stdin without a TTY to prevent hangs.
+        THROW_WIN32_IF(ERROR_NOT_SUPPORTED, hasTty == false);


[nitpick] The condition hasTty == false should use the more idiomatic !hasTty for consistency with C++ best practices.

Suggested change

THROW_WIN32_IF(ERROR_NOT_SUPPORTED, hasTty == false);

THROW_WIN32_IF(ERROR_NOT_SUPPORTED, !hasTty);

src/windows/common/WSLAContainerLauncher.cpp

Copilot · 2025-12-02T16:41:26Z

test/windows/WSLATests.cpp

+        if (result.Code != expectedResult)
+        {
+            LogError(
+                "Comman didn't return expected code (%i). ExitCode: %i, Stdout: '%hs', Stderr: '%hs'",


Typo in error message: "Comman" should be "Command".

Suggested change

"Comman didn't return expected code (%i). ExitCode: %i, Stdout: '%hs', Stderr: '%hs'",

"Command didn't return expected code (%i). ExitCode: %i, Stdout: '%hs', Stderr: '%hs'",

Copilot · 2025-12-02T16:41:26Z

test/windows/WSLATests.cpp

            VERIFY_ARE_EQUAL(hresult, expectedError);

-            return process;
+            return std::move(process);


[nitpick] The std::move() is unnecessary here. When returning a local variable, the compiler will automatically apply copy elision (RVO/NRVO) or move semantics. Explicitly using std::move() can actually prevent RVO optimization and may reduce performance.

Suggested change

return std::move(process);

return process;

That's not true. This fails with:

repos\wsl\test\windows\WSLATests.cpp(452,13): error C2280: 'std::optional<wsl::windows::common::ClientRunningWSLAProcess>::optional(const std::optional<wsl::windows::common::ClientRunningWSLAProcess> &)': attempting to reference a deleted function

Copilot · 2025-12-02T16:41:28Z

src/windows/wslaservice/inc/wslaservice.idl

+    LPCSTR ContainerPath;
+    BOOL ReadOnly;


In the IDL definition, ContainerHostPath has been renamed to ContainerPath, but the field ReadOnly was added. This is a breaking change to the API structure. If this is intentional for the new implementation, ensure that any existing usages of WSLA_VOLUME are updated accordingly.

Copilot · 2025-12-02T16:41:28Z

src/windows/common/WSLAProcessLauncher.cpp

    }

-    return process.value();
+    return std::move(process.value());


[nitpick] Similarly, std::move() is unnecessary here. The compiler will automatically apply move semantics when returning a local variable.

Copilot · 2025-12-02T16:41:29Z

src/windows/wslaservice/exe/WSLAContainer.cpp

+    args.push_back(options.Name);
+    if (options.ShmSize > 0)
+    {
+        args.push_back("--shm-size=" + std::to_string(options.ShmSize) + 'm');


The shm-size argument is constructed as "--shm-size=" + std::to_string(options.ShmSize) + 'm'. However, the 'm' suffix is a char literal, which will be converted to its ASCII value (109) and concatenated as a number. To append the character 'm', use a string literal: "--shm-size=" + std::to_string(options.ShmSize) + "m".

std::format might be better anyway

Copilot · 2025-12-02T16:41:29Z

src/windows/common/WSLAContainerLauncher.h

+    This file contains the definition for WSLAContainerLauncher.
+
+--*/
+#include "WSLAprocessLauncher.h"


This header file is missing include guards (#pragma once or traditional #ifndef/#define/#endif). Without include guards, this header may cause compilation errors if included multiple times in the same translation unit.

Copilot · 2025-12-02T16:41:29Z

CMakeLists.txt

 endif()

-if (NOT DEFINED OFFICIAL_BUILD AND ${TARGET_PLATFORM} STREQUAL "x64")
+if (NOT OFFICIAL_BUILD AND ${TARGET_PLATFORM} STREQUAL "x64")


The condition DEFINED OFFICIAL_BUILD was changed to OFFICIAL_BUILD without checking if it's defined first. If OFFICIAL_BUILD is not defined, this will cause a CMake warning or error. The correct pattern should be if (NOT DEFINED OFFICIAL_BUILD OR NOT OFFICIAL_BUILD) or keep the original if (NOT DEFINED OFFICIAL_BUILD ...) form.

ptrivedi · 2025-12-02T17:52:14Z

src/windows/wslaservice/exe/WSLAContainer.cpp

+
+Microsoft::WRL::ComPtr<WSLAContainer> WSLAContainer::Create(const WSLA_CONTAINER_OPTIONS& containerOptions, WSLAVirtualMachine& parentVM)
+{
+    // TODO: Switch to nerdctl create, and call nerdctl start in Start().


Will have to look a bit more into this, but we may have to end up calling nerdctl run in Start(). nerdctl start options are very limited

Co-authored-by: Pooja Trivedi <poojatrivedi@gmail.com>

ptrivedi

Looks good, approving so we can make progress and keep adding functionality to this.

Pooja Trivedi and others added 16 commits November 21, 2025 14:31

Implement CreateContainer method

1220fbe

Build fixes

0920c52

Implement CreateContainer method

3d5fa8b

Update src/windows/wslaservice/exe/WSLAContainer.cpp

3a8a669

Co-authored-by: Copilot <175728472+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>

Fix nerdctl host networking parameter

b8c5b8c

Prototype CreateContainer()

cff1cd2

Format

29971ac

Merge branch 'user/ptrivedi/create-cont' of https://github.com/micros…

9c18826

…oft/WSL into user/ptrivedi/create-cont

Format

cdf7c46

Start writing tests

3b5c028

Fix various issues

2a4f8d0

Add new files

9dd34f2

Test cleanup

292707e

Test cleanup

0eda07f

Merge remote-tracking branch 'origin/feature/wsl-for-apps' into user/…

e4822ba

…ptrivedi/create-cont

Prepare for PR

987b1b7

OneBlue requested a review from a team as a code owner November 26, 2025 22:54

OneBlue and others added 11 commits November 26, 2025 15:12

Fix ARM build

a4ed4b2

Add copyright header

ee948d5

Update cmakelists.txt

08d5929

Use ifdefs

2c28e53

Format

52aa7f8

ifdef ARM64

9c5ed51

Install the test .vhd in the MSI

8d9e9cb

Merge branch 'feature/wsl-for-apps' into user/oneblue/create-container

e786943

Update the stdin test

0760be6

Format

70ac182

Merge branch 'user/oneblue/create-container' of https://github.com/mi…

dcc0f5f

…crosoft/WSL into user/oneblue/create-container

OneBlue mentioned this pull request Dec 2, 2025

Refactor the session creation logic to match the new API #13814

Merged

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ptrivedi reviewed Dec 2, 2025

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benhillis reviewed Dec 2, 2025

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src/windows/common/WSLAContainerLauncher.cpp Show resolved Hide resolved

benhillis reviewed Dec 2, 2025

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benhillis requested a review from Copilot December 2, 2025 16:34

Copilot started reviewing on behalf of benhillis December 2, 2025 16:35 View session

Copilot finished reviewing on behalf of benhillis December 2, 2025 16:39

Copilot AI reviewed Dec 2, 2025

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ptrivedi reviewed Dec 2, 2025

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OneBlue and others added 6 commits December 2, 2025 11:18

Update src/windows/wslaservice/exe/WSLAContainer.cpp

6d2831f

Co-authored-by: Pooja Trivedi <poojatrivedi@gmail.com>

Update src/windows/wslaservice/inc/wslaservice.idl

2c7c305

Co-authored-by: Pooja Trivedi <poojatrivedi@gmail.com>

Update test/windows/WSLATests.cpp

4acb3a4

Co-authored-by: Pooja Trivedi <poojatrivedi@gmail.com>

Update src/windows/common/WSLAContainerLauncher.cpp

61bca24

Co-authored-by: Pooja Trivedi <poojatrivedi@gmail.com>

Apply PR feedback

6fc68e8

Format

912af10

ptrivedi approved these changes Dec 2, 2025

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benhillis approved these changes Dec 2, 2025

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OneBlue merged commit 2a41fe2 into feature/wsl-for-apps Dec 2, 2025
6 checks passed

	THROW_WIN32_IF(ERROR_NOT_SUPPORTED, hasTty == false);
	THROW_WIN32_IF(ERROR_NOT_SUPPORTED, !hasTty);

	"Comman didn't return expected code (%i). ExitCode: %i, Stdout: '%hs', Stderr: '%hs'",
	"Command didn't return expected code (%i). ExitCode: %i, Stdout: '%hs', Stderr: '%hs'",

Initial implementation for CreateContainer() #13791

Initial implementation for CreateContainer() #13791

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OneBlue commented Nov 26, 2025

Summary of the Pull Request

PR Checklist

Detailed Description of the Pull Request / Additional comments

Validation Steps Performed

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Pull request overview

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