VScode unable to save files inside my WSL2 home folder

Question

I'm trying to make WSL2 work for my web projects development and this is driving me crazy!

Basically, i have two options. 1. Save my project files into c drive and access those with WSL (which makes the responses extremelly slow) 2. save my project files into /home/ which makes the project run super smooth, but i'm unable to edit those files with VSCode.

The error that is what follows:

Failed to save 'DefaultSeeder.php': Unable to write file 'vscode-remote://wsl+ubuntu-20.04/home/lucas/Projetos/API/src/database/seeds/DefaultSeeder.php' (NoPermissions (FileSystemError): Error: EACCES: permission denied, open '/home/lucas/Projetos/API/src/database/seeds/DefaultSeeder.php')

score 79 · Answer 1 · answered Dec 14 '20 at 17:18

79

Here is another command to provide your user with sufficient permissions to write to files:

sudo chown -R myuser /path/to/folder

From https://github.com/microsoft/vscode-remote-release/issues/1008

answered Dec 14 '20 at 17:18

ansona

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how to get this user? @ansona – francisco Jan 07 '22 at 12:25
@francisco it should be visible in your terminal to the left of your cursor. It's probably formatted something like: `some_username@XXXXXX`. "some_username" is what you're looking for – cdrootsudormstardashr Sep 08 '22 at 00:43

score 17 · Answer 2 · edited Nov 13 '20 at 21:40

17

Well, turns out I was being stupid and posted a stupid question.

After many hours trying to make this damn thing work, I was able to do so, by setting the ownership of the folder to my user.

Here is the shell snippet to change the ownership to the current logged in user:

$ sudo find /~~folder-path~~/ -type d -user root -exec sudo chown -R $USER: {} +~

edited Nov 13 '20 at 21:40

jkinkead

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answered May 23 '20 at 14:26

Lucas Pacheco

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@Lucas Pacheco I get "find: missing argument to '-exec' when I run this on my folder path. Is there a substitution at the end of your snippet that I've missed? – user2132190 Nov 25 '20 at 19:11
Im getting . Access to the path is denied when I attempt to do a build did u come across this as well. – c-sharp-and-swiftui-devni Jun 28 '21 at 22:45
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@user2132190 You'll need to add a \; at the end – Robin Hellmers Sep 14 '21 at 09:12

score 17 · Answer 3 · edited Oct 22 '21 at 07:32

17

This solved it for me

sudo find /home/ -type d -user root -exec sudo chown -R $USER: {}  \;

edited Oct 22 '21 at 07:32

Peter Csala

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answered Oct 22 '21 at 06:48

ali Saen

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Your answer could be improved with additional supporting information. Please [edit] to add further details, such as citations or documentation, so that others can confirm that your answer is correct. You can find more information on how to write good answers [in the help center](/help/how-to-answer). – Community Oct 22 '21 at 07:32
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Thanks, that's saved me from hours digging – Douglas Roos Sep 07 '22 at 12:16
Thanks!!! I've been digging for a long time. – Maxim Paladi Dec 29 '22 at 10:16
This worked for me but it will be great if someone can explain what it does exactly, because it seems better than the solution above. – paradox Feb 26 '23 at 05:28

score 6 · Answer 4 · answered Mar 13 '21 at 16:17

I had the same problem and spent hours to find this working solution.
For me, it seems to be right one because it doesn't produce problems with 1. too generous file permissions sent to git afterwards and 2. change ubuntu config to fit windows environment (coupling to windows user).

I found the source of this solution on github. Thanks to saltazaur! https://github.com/microsoft/WSL/issues/4260#issuecomment-729594527

Steps to solve the problem:

Reset (or reinstall) the Ubuntu distro via Windows "Programs and Features"
Note: If you have data in your home directory already, copy it to windows before
Open Ubuntu & follow initial setup (create user)
Add file "/etc/wsl.conf" with:

cd /etc

sudo touch wsl.conf

sudo nano wsl.conf

copy and paste the content from microsoft docs
save with CTRL+X > "Y" > ENTER
restart wsl (or windows, to be sure ;))

At next startup of ubuntu, the settings in wsl.conf will be applied.

The important part in this case is the following line:

options = "metadata,umask=22,fmask=11"

It sets, that all newly created files will use umask 22 (chmod 775) and fmask 11 (chmod 644)

This settings also applies for IDEs like VSCode & PHPStorm.
Happy coding - finally! ^^

Hongbo Miao · Answer 5 · 2022-08-22T18:18:32.263

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In my case, I cannot edit/delete any file directly by File Explorer too, not just VSCode.

After opening Ubuntu 22.04.1 LTS on Windows, run

sudo chown -R my_username my_folder

Note the my_username is the username in the Ubuntu.

This solves my issue.

edited Aug 22 '22 at 18:18

answered Aug 22 '22 at 18:12

Hongbo Miao

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score 0 · Answer 6 · answered Nov 08 '22 at 23:40

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I've managed to solve this issue as follows:

"Run as administrator" the VS Code
and then open folder -> locate the working folder.

It worked fine for me.

answered Nov 08 '22 at 23:40

Iyad

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score 0 · Answer 7 · answered Jun 20 '23 at 06:08

Ownership issue: It's possible that you don't have ownership of the files or directories in your project. In this case, you can try changing the ownership of the entire project directory to your user account using the chown command. Run the following command:

  > sudo chown -R your_username:your_username /path/to/folder

E.g.: Let's say your_username: ABC then hit below command

  > sudo chown -R ABC:ABC /home/lucas/Projetos

VScode unable to save files inside my WSL2 home folder

7 Answers7