windows 5.8.0 podman commands "run" "info" "pull" do not work

[rossbagley]

Issue Description

podman run, pull, version, info, and possibly other commands do not work on a fresh 5.8.0 install on Windows 11 Home

The behavior is very similar to: #22439 but the cause is not the same.

Steps to reproduce the issue

Steps to reproduce the issue

1. wsl --update
2. download podman 5.8.0 binary for windows
3. podman machine init
4. podman machine start
5. podman run ubi8-micro date

Describe the results you received

Cannot connect to Podman. Please verify your connection to the Linux system using podman system connection list, or try podman machine init and podman machine start to manage a new Linux VM
Error: unable to connect to Podman socket: Get "http://d/v5.8.0/libpod/_ping": ssh: rejected: connect failed (open failed)

Describe the results you expected

Today's date.

podman info output

PS C:\Users\rossb> podman info 
Cannot connect to Podman. Please verify your connection to the Linux system using `podman system connection list`, or try `podman machine init` and `podman machine start` to manage a new Linux VM
Error: unable to connect to Podman socket: Get "http://d/v5.8.0/libpod/_ping": ssh: rejected: connect failed (open failed)

If you are unable to run podman info for any reason, please provide the podman version, operating system and its version and the architecture you are running.

Podman version: 5.8.0
OS: Windows 11 Home
OS Version: 10.0.26200 Build 26200
Hardware: Lenovo Legion Pro 7i Intel Ultra 9 275HX

Podman in a container

No

Privileged Or Rootless

Rootless

Upstream Latest Release

Yes

Additional environment details

Additional environment details

Additional information

Installed 5.8.0 from msi.
PS C:\Users\rossb> podman machine init
...all good
PS C:\Users\rossb> podman machine start
...all good
PS C:\Users\rossb> podman run ubi8-micro date
Cannot connect to Podman. Please verify your connection to the Linux system using podman system connection list, or try podman machine init and podman machine start to manage a new Linux VM
Error: unable to connect to Podman socket: Get "http://d/v5.8.0/libpod/_ping": ssh: rejected: connect failed (open failed)
PS C:\Users\rossb> podman system connection list
Name URI Identity Default ReadWrite
podman-machine-default ssh://user@127.0.0.1:51537/run/user/1000/podman/podman.sock C:\Users\rossb.local\share\containers\podman\machine\machine true true
podman-machine-default-root ssh://root@127.0.0.1:51537/run/podman/podman.sock C:\Users\rossb.local\share\containers\podman\machine\machine false true

PS C:\Users\rossb> podman machine ssh
Connecting to vm podman-machine-default. To close connection, use ~. or exit
Last login: Mon Mar 9 19:12:17 2026 from ::1

[user@Derek ~]$ systemctl status podman.service
○ podman.service - Podman API Service
Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/podman.service; disabled; preset: disabled)
Drop-In: /usr/lib/systemd/system/service.d
└─10-timeout-abort.conf
Active: inactive (dead)
TriggeredBy: ● podman.socket
Docs: man:podman-system-service(1)

[user@Derek ~]$ systemctl status podman.socket
● podman.socket - Podman API Socket
Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/podman.socket; enabled; preset: disabled)
Drop-In: /etc/systemd/system/podman.socket.d
└─10-group.conf
Active: active (listening) since Mon 2026-03-09 19:07:32 PDT; 40min ago
Invocation: 53f6ab8781524627859da78bd1cf61dc
Triggers: ● podman.service
Docs: man:podman-system-service(1)
Listen: /run/podman/podman.sock (Stream)
Tasks: 0 (limit: 38157)
Memory: 0B (peak: 256K)
CPU: 870us
CGroup: /system.slice/podman.socket

Mar 09 19:07:32 Derek systemd[1]: Starting podman.socket - Podman API Socket...
Mar 09 19:07:32 Derek systemd[1]: Listening on podman.socket - Podman API Socket.

[user@Derek ~]$ sudo systemctl start podman.service
[user@Derek ~]$ systemctl status podman.service
○ podman.service - Podman API Service
Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/podman.service; disabled; preset: disabled)
Drop-In: /usr/lib/systemd/system/service.d
└─10-timeout-abort.conf
Active: inactive (dead) since Mon 2026-03-09 19:50:20 PDT; 1s ago
Duration: 5.043s
Invocation: e94cbced928b423ca8cb896cd1b39e06
TriggeredBy: ● podman.socket
Docs: man:podman-system-service(1)
Process: 1129 ExecStart=/usr/bin/podman $LOGGING system service (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
Main PID: 1129 (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
Mem peak: 17.1M
CPU: 41ms

Mar 09 19:50:15 Derek systemd[1]: Starting podman.service - Podman API Service...
Mar 09 19:50:15 Derek systemd[1]: Started podman.service - Podman API Service.
Mar 09 19:50:15 Derek podman[1129]: time="2026-03-09T19:50:15-07:00" level=info msg="/usr/bin/podman filtering at log level info"
Mar 09 19:50:15 Derek podman[1129]: time="2026-03-09T19:50:15-07:00" level=info msg="Setting parallel job count to 73"
Mar 09 19:50:15 Derek podman[1129]: time="2026-03-09T19:50:15-07:00" level=info msg="Using sqlite as database backend"
Mar 09 19:50:15 Derek podman[1129]: time="2026-03-09T19:50:15-07:00" level=info msg="Not using native diff for overlay, this may cause degraded performance for building images: k>
Mar 09 19:50:15 Derek podman[1129]: time="2026-03-09T19:50:15-07:00" level=info msg="Using systemd socket activation to determine API endpoint"
Mar 09 19:50:15 Derek podman[1129]: time="2026-03-09T19:50:15-07:00" level=info msg="API service listening on "/run/podman/podman.sock". URI: "unix:///run/podman/podman.sock""
Mar 09 19:50:20 Derek podman[1129]: time="2026-03-09T19:50:20-07:00" level=info msg="Received shutdown.Stop(), terminating!" PID=1129
Mar 09 19:50:20 Derek systemd[1]: podman.service: Deactivated successfully.

// Now debug logs:
[user@Derek ~]$ sudo sh
sh-5.3# vi /usr/lib/systemd/system/podman.service
sh-5.3# grep log /usr/lib/systemd/system/podman.service
Environment=LOGGING="--log-level=debug"
sh-5.3# systemctl daemon-reload
sh-5.3# systemctl restart podman.service
sh-5.3# journalctl -u podman.service
Mar 09 20:28:39 Derek systemd[1]: Starting podman.service - Podman API Service...
Mar 09 20:28:39 Derek systemd[1]: Started podman.service - Podman API Service.
Mar 09 20:28:39 Derek podman[2653]: time="2026-03-09T20:28:39-07:00" level=info msg="/usr/bin/podman filtering at log level debug"
Mar 09 20:28:39 Derek podman[2653]: time="2026-03-09T20:28:39-07:00" level=debug msg="Called service.PersistentPreRunE(/usr/bin/podman --log-level=debug system service)"
Mar 09 20:28:39 Derek podman[2653]: time="2026-03-09T20:28:39-07:00" level=info msg="Setting parallel job count to 73"
Mar 09 20:28:39 Derek podman[2653]: time="2026-03-09T20:28:39-07:00" level=debug msg="Using conmon: "/usr/bin/conmon""
Mar 09 20:28:39 Derek podman[2653]: time="2026-03-09T20:28:39-07:00" level=info msg="Using sqlite as database backend"
Mar 09 20:28:39 Derek podman[2653]: time="2026-03-09T20:28:39-07:00" level=debug msg="Using graph driver overlay"
Mar 09 20:28:39 Derek podman[2653]: time="2026-03-09T20:28:39-07:00" level=debug msg="Using graph root /var/lib/containers/storage"
Mar 09 20:28:39 Derek podman[2653]: time="2026-03-09T20:28:39-07:00" level=debug msg="Using run root /run/containers/storage"
Mar 09 20:28:39 Derek podman[2653]: time="2026-03-09T20:28:39-07:00" level=debug msg="Using static dir /var/lib/containers/storage/libpod"
Mar 09 20:28:39 Derek podman[2653]: time="2026-03-09T20:28:39-07:00" level=debug msg="Using tmp dir /run/libpod"
Mar 09 20:28:39 Derek podman[2653]: time="2026-03-09T20:28:39-07:00" level=debug msg="Using volume path /var/lib/containers/storage/volumes"
Mar 09 20:28:39 Derek podman[2653]: time="2026-03-09T20:28:39-07:00" level=debug msg="Using transient store: false"
Mar 09 20:28:39 Derek podman[2653]: time="2026-03-09T20:28:39-07:00" level=debug msg="[graphdriver] trying provided driver "overlay""
Mar 09 20:28:39 Derek podman[2653]: time="2026-03-09T20:28:39-07:00" level=debug msg="overlay: imagestore=/usr/lib/containers/storage"
Mar 09 20:28:39 Derek podman[2653]: time="2026-03-09T20:28:39-07:00" level=debug msg="Cached value indicated that overlay is supported"
Mar 09 20:28:39 Derek podman[2653]: time="2026-03-09T20:28:39-07:00" level=debug msg="Cached value indicated that overlay is supported"
Mar 09 20:28:39 Derek podman[2653]: time="2026-03-09T20:28:39-07:00" level=debug msg="Cached value indicated that metacopy is being used"
Mar 09 20:28:39 Derek podman[2653]: time="2026-03-09T20:28:39-07:00" level=debug msg="Cached value indicated that native-diff is not being used"
Mar 09 20:28:39 Derek podman[2653]: time="2026-03-09T20:28:39-07:00" level=info msg="Not using native diff for overlay, this may cause degraded performance for building images: kernel has CONFIG_OVERLAY_FS_REDIRECT_DIR enabled"
Mar 09 20:28:39 Derek podman[2653]: time="2026-03-09T20:28:39-07:00" level=debug msg="backingFs=extfs, projectQuotaSupported=false, useNativeDiff=false, usingMetacopy=true"
Mar 09 20:28:39 Derek podman[2653]: time="2026-03-09T20:28:39-07:00" level=debug msg="Initializing event backend journald"
Mar 09 20:28:39 Derek podman[2653]: time="2026-03-09T20:28:39-07:00" level=debug msg="Configured OCI runtime runsc initialization failed: no valid executable found for OCI runtime runsc: invalid argument"
Mar 09 20:28:39 Derek podman[2653]: time="2026-03-09T20:28:39-07:00" level=debug msg="Configured OCI runtime youki initialization failed: no valid executable found for OCI runtime youki: invalid argument"
Mar 09 20:28:39 Derek podman[2653]: time="2026-03-09T20:28:39-07:00" level=debug msg="Configured OCI runtime ocijail initialization failed: no valid executable found for OCI runtime ocijail: invalid argument"
Mar 09 20:28:39 Derek podman[2653]: time="2026-03-09T20:28:39-07:00" level=debug msg="Configured OCI runtime crun-wasm initialization failed: no valid executable found for OCI runtime crun-wasm: invalid argument"
Mar 09 20:28:39 Derek podman[2653]: time="2026-03-09T20:28:39-07:00" level=debug msg="Configured OCI runtime runj initialization failed: no valid executable found for OCI runtime runj: invalid argument"
Mar 09 20:28:39 Derek podman[2653]: time="2026-03-09T20:28:39-07:00" level=debug msg="Configured OCI runtime krun initialization failed: no valid executable found for OCI runtime krun: invalid argument"
Mar 09 20:28:39 Derek podman[2653]: time="2026-03-09T20:28:39-07:00" level=debug msg="Configured OCI runtime crun-vm initialization failed: no valid executable found for OCI runtime crun-vm: invalid argument"
Mar 09 20:28:39 Derek podman[2653]: time="2026-03-09T20:28:39-07:00" level=debug msg="Configured OCI runtime runc initialization failed: no valid executable found for OCI runtime runc: invalid argument"
Mar 09 20:28:39 Derek podman[2653]: time="2026-03-09T20:28:39-07:00" level=debug msg="Configured OCI runtime kata initialization failed: no valid executable found for OCI runtime kata: invalid argument"
Mar 09 20:28:39 Derek podman[2653]: time="2026-03-09T20:28:39-07:00" level=debug msg="Using OCI runtime "/usr/bin/crun""
Mar 09 20:28:39 Derek podman[2653]: time="2026-03-09T20:28:39-07:00" level=info msg="Using systemd socket activation to determine API endpoint"
Mar 09 20:28:39 Derek podman[2653]: time="2026-03-09T20:28:39-07:00" level=debug msg="registered SIGHUP watcher for config"
Mar 09 20:28:39 Derek podman[2653]: time="2026-03-09T20:28:39-07:00" level=info msg="API service listening on "/run/podman/podman.sock". URI: "unix:///run/podman/podman.sock""
Mar 09 20:28:39 Derek podman[2653]: time="2026-03-09T20:28:39-07:00" level=debug msg="CORS Headers were not set"
Mar 09 20:28:39 Derek podman[2653]: time="2026-03-09T20:28:39-07:00" level=debug msg="waiting for SIGHUP to reload configuration"
Mar 09 20:28:44 Derek podman[2653]: time="2026-03-09T20:28:44-07:00" level=debug msg="API service(s) shutting down, idle for 5s"
Mar 09 20:28:44 Derek podman[2653]: time="2026-03-09T20:28:44-07:00" level=debug msg="API service shutdown, 0/0 connection(s)"
Mar 09 20:28:44 Derek podman[2653]: time="2026-03-09T20:28:44-07:00" level=debug msg="API service forced shutdown, ignoring timeout Duration"
Mar 09 20:28:44 Derek podman[2653]: time="2026-03-09T20:28:44-07:00" level=debug msg="Called service.PersistentPostRunE(/usr/bin/podman --log-level=debug system service)"
Mar 09 20:28:44 Derek podman[2653]: time="2026-03-09T20:28:44-07:00" level=debug msg="Shutting down engines"
Mar 09 20:28:44 Derek podman[2653]: time="2026-03-09T20:28:44-07:00" level=info msg="Received shutdown.Stop(), terminating!" PID=2653
Mar 09 20:28:44 Derek systemd[1]: podman.service: Deactivated successfully.

This looks fine to me until the SIGHUP causes the whole thing to shut down.

[Honny1]

PTAL @l0rd

[l0rd]

The problem may be the host <==> guest connection. @rossbagley can you try executing podman run from within the machine (execute podman machine ssh first)?

[rossbagley]

That works.

[user@Derek ~]$ podman run ubi8-micro date
Resolved "ubi8-micro" as an alias (/etc/containers/registries.conf.d/000-shortnames.conf)
Trying to pull registry.access.redhat.com/ubi8-micro:latest...
Getting image source signatures
Checking if image destination supports signatures
Copying blob 8c9c94389cfc done |
Copying config 2383039b39 done |
Writing manifest to image destination
Storing signatures
Wed Mar 11 16:43:07 UTC 2026

[l0rd]

Thank you for checking @rossbagley. Would you be able to help provide debug logs for one of the failing commands? For example, provide the output of podman info --log-level=debug.

[jkassie]

@l0rd I'm not the OP, but I'm seeing the same issue. It is worth noting that if I change it from a rootless to a rootful machine then I don't see this error. Here's the output that you asked for:
From Windows:

podman info --log-level=debug
time="2026-04-01T09:53:36-05:00" level=info msg="C:\\Program Files\\RedHat\\Podman\\podman.exe filtering at log level debug"
time="2026-04-01T09:53:36-05:00" level=debug msg="Called info.PersistentPreRunE(C:\\Program Files\\RedHat\\Podman\\podman.exe info --log-level=debug)"
time="2026-04-01T09:53:36-05:00" level=debug msg="SSH Ident Key \"C:\\\\Users\\\\first.last\\\\.local\\\\share\\\\containers\\\\podman\\\\machine\\\\machine\" SHA256:qW1Bg+0/jwiGmD4YPrWgJixAXcSBxWFCxkwqlobCelo ssh-ed25519"
time="2026-04-01T09:53:36-05:00" level=debug msg="DoRequest Method: GET URI: http://d/v5.8.0/libpod/_ping"
time="2026-04-01T09:53:36-05:00" level=debug msg="Using Podman machine with `wsl` virtualization provider"
OS: windows/amd64
provider: wsl
version: 5.8.0

Cannot connect to Podman. Please verify your connection to the Linux system using `podman system connection list`, or try `podman machine init` and `podman machine start` to manage a new Linux VM
Error: unable to connect to Podman socket: Get "http://d/v5.8.0/libpod/_ping": ssh: rejected: connect failed (open failed)
time="2026-04-01T09:53:36-05:00" level=debug msg="Shutting down engines"

Output if I ssh into the machine:

[user@PL-HTJYB24 ~]$ podman info --log-level=debug
INFO[0000] podman filtering at log level debug
DEBU[0000] Called info.PersistentPreRunE(podman info --log-level=debug)
INFO[0000] Setting parallel job count to 97
DEBU[0000] Using conmon: "/usr/bin/conmon"
INFO[0000] Using sqlite as database backend
DEBU[0000] systemd-logind: Unknown object '/'.
DEBU[0000] Using graph driver overlay
DEBU[0000] Using graph root /home/user/.local/share/containers/storage
DEBU[0000] Using run root /run/user/1000/containers
DEBU[0000] Using static dir /home/user/.local/share/containers/storage/libpod
DEBU[0000] Using tmp dir /run/user/1000/libpod/tmp
DEBU[0000] Using volume path /home/user/.local/share/containers/storage/volumes
DEBU[0000] Using transient store: false
DEBU[0000] [graphdriver] trying provided driver "overlay"
DEBU[0000] Cached value indicated that overlay is supported
DEBU[0000] Cached value indicated that overlay is supported
DEBU[0000] Cached value indicated that metacopy is not being used
DEBU[0000] Cached value indicated that native-diff is usable
DEBU[0000] backingFs=extfs, projectQuotaSupported=false, useNativeDiff=true, usingMetacopy=false
DEBU[0000] Initializing event backend journald
DEBU[0000] Configured OCI runtime runc initialization failed: no valid executable found for OCI runtime runc: invalid argument
DEBU[0000] Configured OCI runtime runj initialization failed: no valid executable found for OCI runtime runj: invalid argument
DEBU[0000] Configured OCI runtime youki initialization failed: no valid executable found for OCI runtime youki: invalid argument
DEBU[0000] Configured OCI runtime krun initialization failed: no valid executable found for OCI runtime krun: invalid argument
DEBU[0000] Configured OCI runtime crun-vm initialization failed: no valid executable found for OCI runtime crun-vm: invalid argument
DEBU[0000] Configured OCI runtime crun-wasm initialization failed: no valid executable found for OCI runtime crun-wasm: invalid argument
DEBU[0000] Configured OCI runtime kata initialization failed: no valid executable found for OCI runtime kata: invalid argument
DEBU[0000] Configured OCI runtime runsc initialization failed: no valid executable found for OCI runtime runsc: invalid argument
DEBU[0000] Configured OCI runtime ocijail initialization failed: no valid executable found for OCI runtime ocijail: invalid argument
DEBU[0000] Using OCI runtime "/usr/bin/crun"
DEBU[0000] Failed to add podman to systemd sandbox cgroup: dbus: couldn't determine address of session bus
DEBU[0000] Cached value indicated that volatile is being used
DEBU[0000] Cached value indicated that idmapped mounts for overlay are not supported
DEBU[0000] Check for idmapped mounts support
DEBU[0000] Loading registries configuration "/etc/containers/registries.conf"
DEBU[0000] Loading registries configuration "/etc/containers/registries.conf.d/000-shortnames.conf"
DEBU[0000] Loading registries configuration "/etc/containers/registries.conf.d/999-podman-desktop-registries-from-host.conf"
DEBU[0000] Loading registries configuration "/etc/containers/registries.conf.d/999-podman-machine.conf"
host:
  arch: amd64
  buildahVersion: 1.43.0
  cgroupControllers:
  - cpu
  - io
  - memory
  - pids
  cgroupManager: cgroupfs
  cgroupVersion: v2
  conmon:
    package: conmon-2.2.1-2.fc43.x86_64
    path: /usr/bin/conmon
    version: 'conmon version 2.2.1, commit: '
  cpuUtilization:
    idlePercent: 99.91
    systemPercent: 0.06
    userPercent: 0.03
  cpus: 32
  databaseBackend: sqlite
  distribution:
    distribution: fedora
    variant: container
    version: "43"
  eventLogger: journald
  freeLocks: 2047
  hostname: PL-HTJYB24
  idMappings:
    gidmap:
    - container_id: 0
      host_id: 1000
      size: 1
    - container_id: 1
      host_id: 524288
      size: 65536
    uidmap:
    - container_id: 0
      host_id: 1000
      size: 1
    - container_id: 1
      host_id: 524288
      size: 65536
  kernel: 6.6.87.2-microsoft-standard-WSL2
  linkmode: dynamic
  logDriver: journald
  memFree: 32243687424
  memTotal: 33487425536
  networkBackend: netavark
  networkBackendInfo:
    backend: netavark
    defaultNetwork: podman
    dns:
      package: aardvark-dns-1.17.0-1.fc43.x86_64
      path: /usr/libexec/podman/aardvark-dns
      version: aardvark-dns 1.17.0
    package: netavark-1.17.2-1.fc43.x86_64
    path: /usr/libexec/podman/netavark
    version: netavark 1.17.2
  ociRuntime:
    name: crun
    package: crun-1.25.1-1.fc43.x86_64
    path: /usr/bin/crun
    version: |-
      crun version 1.25.1
      commit: 156ae065d4a322d149c7307034f98d9637aa92a2
      rundir: /run/user/1000/crun
      spec: 1.0.0
      +SYSTEMD +SELINUX +APPARMOR +CAP +SECCOMP +EBPF +CRIU +LIBKRUN +WASM:wasmedge +YAJL
  os: linux
  pasta:
    executable: /usr/bin/pasta
    package: passt-0^20260120.g386b5f5-1.fc43.x86_64
    version: |
      pasta 0^20260120.g386b5f5-1.fc43.x86_64
      Copyright Red Hat
      GNU General Public License, version 2 or later
        <https://www.gnu.org/licenses/old-licenses/gpl-2.0.html>
      This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it.
      There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.
  remoteSocket:
    exists: true
    path: /run/user/1000/podman/podman.sock
  rootlessNetworkCmd: pasta
  security:
    apparmorEnabled: false
    capabilities: CAP_CHOWN,CAP_DAC_OVERRIDE,CAP_FOWNER,CAP_FSETID,CAP_KILL,CAP_NET_BIND_SERVICE,CAP_SETFCAP,CAP_SETGID,CAP_SETPCAP,CAP_SETUID,CAP_SYS_CHROOT
    rootless: true
    seccompEnabled: true
    seccompProfilePath: /usr/share/containers/seccomp.json
    selinuxEnabled: false
  serviceIsRemote: false
  slirp4netns:
    executable: ""
    package: ""
    version: ""
  swapFree: 8589934592
  swapTotal: 8589934592
  uptime: 8h 42m 51.00s (Approximately 0.33 days)
  variant: ""
plugins:
  authorization: null
  log:
  - k8s-file
  - none
  - passthrough
  - journald
  network:
  - bridge
  - macvlan
  - ipvlan
  volume:
  - local
registries:
  search:
  - docker.io
store:
  configFile: /home/user/.config/containers/storage.conf
  containerStore:
    number: 1
    paused: 0
    running: 0
    stopped: 1
  graphDriverName: overlay
  graphOptions: {}
  graphRoot: /home/user/.local/share/containers/storage
  graphRootAllocated: 1081101176832
  graphRootUsed: 891596800
  graphStatus:
    Backing Filesystem: extfs
    Native Overlay Diff: "true"
    Supports d_type: "true"
    Supports shifting: "false"
    Supports volatile: "true"
    Using metacopy: "false"
  imageCopyTmpDir: /var/tmp
  imageStore:
    number: 1
  runRoot: /run/user/1000/containers
  transientStore: false
  volumePath: /home/user/.local/share/containers/storage/volumes
version:
  APIVersion: 5.8.1
  BuildOrigin: 'Copr: packit/containers-podman-28250'
  Built: 1773187200
  BuiltTime: Tue Mar 10 19:00:00 2026
  GitCommit: c6077f645788743258a1a749f8005b4fb3cbe533
  GoVersion: go1.25.7 X:nodwarf5
  Os: linux
  OsArch: linux/amd64
  Version: 5.8.1

DEBU[0000] Called info.PersistentPostRunE(podman info --log-level=debug)
DEBU[0000] Shutting down engines
INFO[0000] Received shutdown.Stop(), terminating!        PID=624

[fangpenlin]

I just encountered similar issue. I sshed into the machine and see error like this with journalctl -f:

Apr 04 15:33:57 DESKTOP-REDACTED sshd-session[253]: error: connect to /run/user/1000/podman/podman.sock port -2 failed: No such file or directory
Apr 04 15:34:01 DESKTOP-REDACTED sshd-session[248]: error: connect to /run/user/1000/podman/podman.sock port -2 failed: No such file or directory
Apr 04 15:34:01 DESKTOP-REDACTED sshd-session[248]: error: connect to /run/user/1000/podman/podman.sock port -2 failed: No such file or directory
Apr 04 15:34:01 DESKTOP-REDACTED sshd-session[248]: error: connect to /run/user/1000/podman/podman.sock port -2 failed: No such file or directory

Inspect further and found error like this for the user service

user@1000.service: Failed to spawn executor: Device or resource busy
Failed to start user@1000.service - User Manager for UID 1000.

Not sure why, the user systemd service failed to start correctly. I restart wsl with wsl --shutdown and now it seems like working. Could be relative to what others were reporting here, or not. It's unclear to me.

[l0rd]

@fangpenlin thank you for the analysis. Now the question are, how can we reproduce that? What's the root cause?

I couldn't find clues from the logs but, inspired by this comment, I have started a distinct WSL distribution (Fedora) and started the podman service in that distribution too. After stopping and starting the Podman machine a couple of times I have reproduced the problem. But I don't have errors in the system journal. I will dig further.