WSL cannot load NVIDIA OpenGL.

[haoran215]

Windows build number:

10.0.26100.3476

Your Distribution version:

24.04

Your WSL versions:

1.When I try to use hardware acceleration, my WSL can't find file libnvidia-gl.so

~$ ls /usr/lib/wsl/lib | grep nvidia
libnvidia-encode.so
libnvidia-encode.so.1
libnvidia-ml.so.1
libnvidia-opticalflow.so
libnvidia-opticalflow.so.1
nvidia-smi

2.WSL is not using your NVIDIA GPU for OpenGL/Vulkan.
glxinfo | grep "OpenGL renderer" → Shows D3D12 (Intel UHD Graphics) instead of RTX 4060 and I can't change it manuly.
vulkaninfo | grep "GPU id" → Shows LLVM software renderer, meaning hardware acceleration is missing.

3.WSL does not have full NVIDIA library support:
nvidia-smi works, but only sees CUDA, not OpenGL.

4.Segmentation fault (core dumped) when running OpenGL apps:
glxgears crashes, meaning MESA+NVIDIA are not working together.

5.WSL may be using an outdated or incompatible driver:
WSL reports NVIDIA-SMI 570.124.03, but Windows reports 572.60.
Possible mismatch between Windows and WSL driver versions.

6.Vulkan driver is broken:
vulkaninfo | grep "GPU id" → "ERROR_INCOMPATIBLE_DRIVER"
Likely due to missing /usr/share/vulkan/icd.d/nvidia_icd.json.

Steps to reproduce:

1. nvidia-smi in WSL

WSL logs:

wlog.log

WSL dumps:

No response

Expected behavior:

No response

Actual behavior:

WSL installation does not have the full NVIDIA driver stack for OpenGL and Vulkan.
missing libnvidia-gl.so, which is needed for OpenGL rendering.

NVIDIA GPU is detected (nvidia-smi works), but OpenGL is still using Intel GPU (D3D12).

Vulkan also fails with ERROR_INCOMPATIBLE_DRIVER, meaning WSL is not correctly using the NVIDIA driver.

[lzlrd]

EDIT: See https://gist.github.com/lzlrd/0d9b757d2122f551794fd00c7f0752d6 as there are a few updates there (inc. fixing Wayland). I won't be updating the message below going forward.

So I got this working on both Ubuntu, and Arch. First, start with a fresh install (of archlinux from https://gitlab.archlinux.org/archlinux/archlinux-wsl or Ubuntu from wsl --install Ubuntu or https://apps.microsoft.com/detail/9pdxgncfsczv).

For Arch:

1. Clone https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/directx-headers-git and https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/mesa-wsl2-git.
2. Build directx-headers-git using makepkg -rsi. You may need to set up as per https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Makepkg.
3. cd into mesa-wsl2-git.
4. Edit PKGBUILD to remove all instances of =18.1.8.
5. Build mesa-wsl2-git using makepkg -rsi.
6. Run echo "export GALLIUM_DRIVER=d3d12" | sudo tee /etc/profile.d/wslg.sh.
7. Run echo "L+ /tmp/.X11-unix - - - - /mnt/wslg/.X11-unix" | sudo tee /etc/tmpfiles.d/wslg.conf. (Thanks to Init /tmp/.X11-unix is overwritten by mounts #43 (comment) for this.)
8. Restart WSL with wsl --shutdown from CMD/PowerShell and you should see the following (given you install the relevant packages):

$ glxinfo | grep Device
    Device: D3D12 (NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER) (0xffffffff)

$ vulkaninfo | grep "GPU id"
WARNING: dzn is not a conformant Vulkan implementation, testing use only.
                GPU id = 0 (Microsoft Direct3D12 (NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER))
                GPU id = 1 (llvmpipe (LLVM 19.1.7, 256 bits))
                GPU id = 0 (Microsoft Direct3D12 (NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER))
                GPU id = 1 (llvmpipe (LLVM 19.1.7, 256 bits))
                GPU id = 0 (Microsoft Direct3D12 (NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER))
                GPU id = 1 (llvmpipe (LLVM 19.1.7, 256 bits))
GPU id : 0 (Microsoft Direct3D12 (NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER)):
GPU id : 1 (llvmpipe (LLVM 19.1.7, 256 bits)):

For Ubuntu:

1. OpenGL should already be working. We'll add Vulkan support.
2. Go to https://ppa.launchpadcontent.net/kisak/kisak-mesa/ubuntu/pool/main/m/mesa/.
3. Look for mesa-vulkan-drivers_*.deb.
4. You'll see ...<LETTER>_<ARCH>.deb. The letter corresponds to your Ubuntu version codename. In your case, "n" for Noble.
5. Copy the link for the right package, https://ppa.launchpadcontent.net/kisak/kisak-mesa/ubuntu/pool/main/m/mesa/mesa-vulkan-drivers_25.0.1~kisak1~n_amd64.deb in your case.
6. Run wget https://ppa.launchpadcontent.net/kisak/kisak-mesa/ubuntu/pool/main/m/mesa/mesa-vulkan-drivers_25.0.1~kisak1~n_amd64.deb anywhere you have write access to on the Ubuntu WSL instance.
7. Run sudo apt install <PACKAGE> (in your case, sudo apt install mesa-vulkan-drivers_25.0.1~kisak1~n_amd64.deb.
8. You should see the following (given you install mesa-utils and vulkan-tools):

$ glxinfo | grep Device
WARNING: dzn is not a conformant Vulkan implementation, testing use only.
WARNING: Some incorrect rendering might occur because the selected Vulkan device (Microsoft Direct3D12 (NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER)) doesn't support base Zink requirements: feats.features.logicOp have_EXT_custom_border_color have_EXT_line_rasterization
    Device: D3D12 (NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER) (0xffffffff)

$ vulkaninfo | grep "GPU id"
WARNING: dzn is not a conformant Vulkan implementation, testing use only.
                GPU id = 0 (Microsoft Direct3D12 (NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER))
                GPU id = 1 (llvmpipe (LLVM 19.1.7, 256 bits))
                GPU id = 0 (Microsoft Direct3D12 (NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER))
                GPU id = 1 (llvmpipe (LLVM 19.1.7, 256 bits))
                GPU id = 0 (Microsoft Direct3D12 (NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER))
                GPU id = 1 (llvmpipe (LLVM 19.1.7, 256 bits))
GPU id : 0 (Microsoft Direct3D12 (NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER)):
GPU id : 1 (llvmpipe (LLVM 19.1.7, 256 bits)):

The reason we're using just the Vulkan driver from Kisak's repo. is that the mesa package causes llvmpipe to be used instead of D3D12. Maybe overring GALLIUM_DRIVER would work - I didn't try.

Update: Documented at https://gist.github.com/lzlrd/0d9b757d2122f551794fd00c7f0752d6, as well.