WSL - stop a specific distro (terminate, shutdown)

In this short article, we would like to show how to stop a specific distro on WSL.

Quick solution:

wsl --shutdown YOUR_DISTRO_NAME_HERE

Simple example

WSL Ubuntu termination example:

wsl --shutdown Ubuntu

Full example

In this section you can find example of stopping Ubuntu disto with checking the disto status before and after termination.

Simple steps:

1. Open any command line, e.g. PowerShell
2. View the list of distros and states (Ubuntu is Running):

   PS C:\Users\john> wsl -l -v
     NAME                   STATE           VERSION
   * docker-desktop         Running         2
     Ubuntu                 Running         2
     wsl-vpnkit             Running         2
     docker-desktop-data    Running         2

3. Terminate Ubuntu disto:

   PS C:\Users\john> wsl --shutdown Ubuntu

4. View the list of distros and states, again (Ubuntu is Stopped):

   PS C:\Users\john> wsl -l -v
     NAME                   STATE           VERSION
   * docker-desktop         Running         2
     Ubuntu                 Stopped         2
     wsl-vpnkit             Running         2
     docker-desktop-data    Running         2