2026-05-04 — Session Memory

WSA Troubleshooting (Day 3) — MAJOR PROGRESS

Starting point

Previous days: WSA crashed with c0000409 (CFG violation) in WsaClient.exe + wsldevicehost.dll
After replacing wsldevicehost.dll → crash pattern changed
Clean image on 05-03 WORKED (Play Store + apps ran fine)
Old userdata.vhdx (125GB) did NOT work → key clue

Today's session (21:33–22:31 UTC)

Event log analysis (system_events + app_events at 21:36)

Window: 21:08–21:34 UTC (4-5 min active trigger ~21:31)
Hyper-V + WSL switch booted clean at 21:08
Laptop resume at 21:24 (Kernel-Boot + Hypervisor init second time)
21:31:35 DCOM 10016 — WSA package (WindowsSubsystemForAndroid_2407.40000.4.0) → AppInfo Launch permission denied
After 21:31:35: total silence — no Hyper-V-Worker events, no WsaClient crash, no WsaService events
Conclusion at that point: VM didn't boot at all; launcher failed pre-boot

Root cause found (via PowerShell diagnostics)


Get-AppxPackage MicrosoftCorporationII.WindowsSubsystemForAndroid
→ Status: Ok
→ PackageUserInformation: {}   ← EMPTY!

Package installed at machine level but NOT registered to user eng_w. Likely caused by KB5083631 reprovisioning AppX packages (confirmed Remove/DeStage ops on Solitaire, ScreenSketch the same minute).

Fix attempted


Add-AppxPackage -Register "D:\Dropbox\Apps2\WSA install\WSA_2407.40000.4.0_x64\AppxManifest.xml" -DisableDevelopmentMode -ForceApplicationShutdown

First run from elevated PS → didn't stick (empty PackageUserInformation). Second run → SUCCESS:


PackageUserInformation : {S-1-5-21-3529794412-2400977817-1085944576-1005 [eng_w]: Installed}

Current state (end of session)

✅ WORKING:

WSA Settings (green window) opens from Start Menu
VM boots fully (new VM ID 9E4684D4-0261-4878-B375-FDBC3D2AC051)
All 9 virtual PCI devices negotiate successfully
Android 13 running inside
sys.wsa.boot_completed: true
adb connects to 127.0.0.1:58526
adb shell works, all packages listed (Play Store, Amazon, WhatsApp, Telegram, Instagram, Chess, Claude, Perplexity, Gemini, Wolfram, etc. — ALL intact)
userdata.vhdx 125GB PRESERVED
am start / monkey inject intents successfully (Events injected: 1)
dumpsys shows activities RESUMED (FilesActivity, Settings both focused inside Android)

❌ NOT WORKING:

No Android windows render on Windows desktop
WsaClient.exe process running but MainWindowTitle/MainWindowHandle empty
mCurrentFocus = null in Android's window manager (no Windows-side surface attached)
User confirmed: he has NEVER seen any Android window today (only the green Settings window)

Dr. Wael's KEY insight (which is correct)

"On 05-03 a clean image worked, old userdata didn't. If the bug were KB × WSA code, clean image would also fail. So the problem is IN userdata."

Conclusion: KB5083631 changed WsaClient↔SurfaceFlinger/HWC handshake. Fresh userdata boots with default state compatible with new handshake. Old userdata has stale display/window cache state from pre-KB era that new WsaClient silently refuses to render. This is NOT a crash — it's a silent render refusal. That's why logs show zero errors.

Dr. Wael's decisions

❌ REJECTED rollback (doesn't want to miss security patches, doesn't want to repeat each Windows Update cycle)
❌ REJECTED migrating to fresh image (won't lose apps/settings/data — primary goal is preserving data)
✅ ACCEPTED surgical cleanup approach (path 3) with FULL BACKUP FIRST

PLAN FOR TOMORROW (2026-05-05)

Phase A — Backup (mandatory before any surgery)

1. Turn off WSA completely via WSA Settings 2. Copy userdata.vhdx to TWO locations: - D:\Dropbox\Apps2\WSA install\WSA_2407.40000.4.0_x64\userdata.vhdx.backup_20260504 - D:\WSA_backups\userdata_20260504_safe.vhdx (outside Dropbox) 3. Verify both copies complete (125GB × 2)

Phase B — Surgical cleanup (via adb, ORDER: lightest → strongest)

SAFE to touch:

/data/system/displays/

/data/system/window_manager/
/data/system/graphicsstats/

/data/misc/display/

/data/misc/wmtrace/

FORBIDDEN (never touch):

/data/data/ (app data)
/data/user/0/ (user data)

/data/app/ (installed apps)
/data/media/ (media)

Attempt 1 (lightest): clear window/display state only

/data/system/window_manager/
/data/system/displays/

/data/system/graphicsstats/

Attempt 2 (if 1 fails): clear SurfaceFlinger/HWC cache

/data/misc/display/
/data/misc/wmtrace/

Attempt 3 (if 2 fails): reset framework UI

wm clear-overrides
wm density reset
DisplayManager property reset

Between each attempt: stop WSA, start WSA, test if Android window renders on Windows.

Phase C — Fallback

If all surgical attempts fail:

Restore backup → back to current state, zero data loss
Explore: hybrid data migration tricks, temporary pause of Preview updates only, wait for MustardChef WSA patched build

Tools ready

adb at C:\Temp\platform-tools\adb.exe (Android Debug Bridge 1.0.41, Platform Tools 37.0.0)
Connection: 127.0.0.1:58526
Developer mode needs to be ON in WSA Settings for adb

Hardware/OS (unchanged)

GPD Win Max 2 (2025), Ryzen AI 9 HX 370, Radeon 890M, 64GB RAM
Windows 11 Pro 25H2 Build 26200.8328
WSA 2407.40000.4.0 at D:\Dropbox\Apps2\WSA install\WSA_2407.40000.4.0_x64
User: eng_w, Computer: WaelGPD

Note on tooling frustration

Telegram pasting adds PS C:\Users\eng_w> prefixes to each line → PowerShell treats them as commands → cascade of errors
Solution for tomorrow: use heredoc to write script to file, then execute via powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File C:\Temp\script.ps1
Or: batch ops in a .ps1 file sent as a text block, not pasted line-by-line

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