Cannot mount a volume when using another WSL2 distribution

[alexiswl]

Issue Description

I have followed the instructions at https://podman-desktop.io/docs/podman/accessing-podman-from-another-wsl-instance,

ls -lsrth /usr/local/bin/podman*
41M -rwxr-xr-x 1 alexiswl alexiswl 41M Feb  2 01:09 /usr/local/bin/podman-remote-static-linux_amd64
  0 lrwxrwxrwx 1 root     root      32 Apr  2 12:26 /usr/local/bin/podman -> podman-remote-static-linux_amd64

$ podman --version
podman version 4.9.1

$ podman images
REPOSITORY                TAG         IMAGE ID      CREATED      SIZE
docker.io/library/python  3-slim      23cd4350f4bd  11 days ago  135 MB
docker.io/library/ubuntu  latest      ca2b0f26964c  4 weeks ago  80.4 MB

$ podman system connection list
Name                         URI                                                                 Identity    Default
podman-machine-default-root  unix:///wsl/podman-sockets/podman-machine-default/podman-user.sock              true

*note the name is wrong above and because I mount my wsl2 distribution from / rather than /mnt unix:///mnt/wsl becomes unix:///wsl.

I can also run and enter a container like so

podman run --rm -it ubuntu
root@f568beb07418:/# cat /etc/os-release
PRETTY_NAME="Ubuntu 22.04.4 LTS"
NAME="Ubuntu"
VERSION_ID="22.04"
VERSION="22.04.4 LTS (Jammy Jellyfish)"
VERSION_CODENAME=jammy
ID=ubuntu
ID_LIKE=debian
HOME_URL="https://www.ubuntu.com/"
SUPPORT_URL="https://help.ubuntu.com/"
BUG_REPORT_URL="https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/"
PRIVACY_POLICY_URL="https://www.ubuntu.com/legal/terms-and-policies/privacy-policy"
UBUNTU_CODENAME=jammy

However, when I run

podman run --volume $PWD/inputs/:/data/inputs/ ubuntu:latest

I get

Error: statfs /home/alexiswl/cwltool-podman-test/inputs: no such file or directory

But this directory does exist ls $PWD/inputs/ returns the list of files in this directory.

How can I mount volumes from another WSL2 instance?

Steps to reproduce the issue

Steps to reproduce the issue

1. Follow steps in https://podman-desktop.io/docs/podman/accessing-podman-from-another-wsl-instance
2. Check podman connection
3. Try mounting a volume like so podman run --volume $PWD/inputs/:/data/inputs/ ubuntu:latest

Describe the results you received

Describe the results you received

I received the error message Error: statfs /home/alexiswl/cwltool-podman-test/inputs: no such file or directory

Describe the results you expected

To run the container with the volume mounted

podman info output

host:
  arch: amd64
  buildahVersion: 1.33.5
  cgroupControllers: []
  cgroupManager: cgroupfs
  cgroupVersion: v1
  conmon:
    package: conmon-2.1.10-1.fc39.x86_64
    path: /usr/bin/conmon
    version: 'conmon version 2.1.10, commit: '
  cpuUtilization:
    idlePercent: 98.95
    systemPercent: 0.49
    userPercent: 0.56
  cpus: 8
  databaseBackend: sqlite
  distribution:
    distribution: fedora
    variant: container
    version: "39"
  eventLogger: journald
  freeLocks: 2047
  hostname: Win11Laptop2310
  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: 5.15.146.1-microsoft-standard-WSL2
  linkmode: dynamic
  logDriver: journald
  memFree: 14644989952
  memTotal: 16695500800
  networkBackend: netavark
  networkBackendInfo:
    backend: netavark
    dns:
      package: aardvark-dns-1.10.0-1.fc39.x86_64
      path: /usr/libexec/podman/aardvark-dns
      version: aardvark-dns 1.10.0
    package: netavark-1.10.3-1.fc39.x86_64
    path: /usr/libexec/podman/netavark
    version: netavark 1.10.3
  ociRuntime:
    name: crun
    package: crun-1.14.4-1.fc39.x86_64
    path: /usr/bin/crun
    version: |-
      crun version 1.14.4
      commit: a220ca661ce078f2c37b38c92e66cf66c012d9c1
      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-0^20240220.g1e6f92b-1.fc39.x86_64
    version: |
      pasta 0^20240220.g1e6f92b-1.fc39.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
  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: true
  slirp4netns:
    executable: /usr/bin/slirp4netns
    package: slirp4netns-1.2.2-1.fc39.x86_64
    version: |-
      slirp4netns version 1.2.2
      commit: 0ee2d87523e906518d34a6b423271e4826f71faf
      libslirp: 4.7.0
      SLIRP_CONFIG_VERSION_MAX: 4
      libseccomp: 2.5.3
  swapFree: 4294967296
  swapTotal: 4294967296
  uptime: 1h 4m 0.00s (Approximately 0.04 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: 1347416064
  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: 2
  runRoot: /run/user/1000/containers
  transientStore: false
  volumePath: /home/user/.local/share/containers/storage/volumes
version:
  APIVersion: 4.9.3
  Built: 1708357294
  BuiltTime: Tue Feb 20 02:41:34 2024
  GitCommit: ""
  GoVersion: go1.21.7
  Os: linux
  OsArch: linux/amd64
  Version: 4.9.3

Podman in a container

No

Privileged Or Rootless

Rootless

Upstream Latest Release

Yes

Additional environment details

No response

Additional information

No response

[Luap99]

volumes are always server side, so you must make sure you volume exists on the podman machine wsl instance not on your client.

[alexiswl]

Thanks @Luap99, is there a quick example on how to mount one's WSL2 Ubuntu distro /home directory onto the /home directory of the podman server WSL2?

Alexis.

[alexiswl]

The end use-case is being able to run cwltool through WSL2 on a Windows machine

[ben-xD]

Isn't this issue/discussion a blocker for anyone trying to mount files in WSL into containers? I'm surprised there isn't much presence here