WSL.exe Crashes in Administrator PowerShell with Offline Windows PC

Hello,

I'm encountering an issue with WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux) on my offline Windows 10 PC (Version 21H2, OS Build 19044.1288).

When I run wsl from PowerShell (non-admin) it works fine, but when I run it from PowerShell as Administrator, it crashes immediately without any output.

Important Context:

• This PC is completely offline (no internet access).
• All installations were done offline, including:
  • enable Virtual Machine and WSL feature option
  • wsl_update_x64.msi
  • Manually imported Ubuntu distro
  • Docker Desktop and all supporting components

Side Effect:

I believe this WSL issue is also the reason I cannot get Docker Desktop to work — it likely depends on a functioning WSL backend, which is not responding properly.

Additional Details:

• After every attempt to run wsl from Administrator PowerShell, a new crash report is generated in:

    C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\WER\ReportQueue
  

• Each crash creates a folder like:

    AppCrash_wsl.exe_XXXXXXXX
  

  (XXXXXXXX appears to be a hash or unique ID)
• I currently have 30–50 such folders, each matching the timestamp when I attempted to run wsl as admin.
• This happens with any WSL command I try (e.g., wsl, wsl --list, wsl --help, etc.).
• The reports are hard for me to understand, but I can attach them if it would help.

If there are any additional logs, crash reports, or diagnostic files that could help clarify the issue, I would be happy to provide them — just let me know what to collect and how. Since this PC is offline, please include steps that work without internet access.