Keyboard layout fails to switch second time in fresh WSL2 console

[BarsMonster]

WslLogs-2025-03-02_03-47-33.zip

Windows Version

Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.22631.4751]

WSL Version

WSL version: 2.4.11.0

Are you using WSL 1 or WSL 2?

• WSL 2
• WSL 1

Kernel Version

6.1.21.2

Distro Version

22.04

Other Software

No response

Repro Steps

• Have windows with at least 2 keyboard layouts. In my case - English US and Russian.
• Have language bar = hidden (this is a must)
• Open fresh WSL2 console (bash). Do not switch window focus, console window must be on foreground until the end of test.
• write few text characters to see current language
• press win+space to switch keyboard layout first time
• write few text characters and observe correct layout switch
• press win+space to switch keyboard layout second time

Expected Behavior

• Win+Space always switches keyboard layout correctly both on first, second and all further key presses, just like in all other applications.

Actual Behavior

When you write few text characters - you can see that second keyboard layout switch did not worked.

You can see that all further Win+Space key-presses are ignored. But after you switch window focus at least once - it fixes itself, and all future Win+Space presses work correctly.

This behavior was quite unexpected, so I reproduced it on 2 different computers with WSL2. But floating language bar must be hidden. If language bar is hidden, and you HOLD Win+Space - language bar will open anyways in 1-2 seconds, and this also fixes language switching in WSL2 console.

Diagnostic Logs

No response

[github-actions]

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[github-actions]

Diagnostic information

Issue was edited and new log file was found: https://github.com/user-attachments/files/19041501/WslLogs-2025-03-02_03-47-33.zip
.wslconfig found
	Custom kernel found: 'C:\Users\M\bzImage'
Detected appx version: 2.4.11.0

[BarsMonster]

Ops, I see custom Kernel. Just rolled back to stock 5.15.167.4-microsoft-standard-WSL2 - exactly same behavior in WSL2 console.

[OneBlue]

Thank you for reporting this @BarsMonster. WSL doesn't process keyboard layouts, this is all handled by Windows.

Do you see the same behavior with let's say a powershell prompt instead of WSL ?

[BarsMonster]

Do you see the same behavior with let's say a powershell prompt instead of WSL ?

No, it works perfectly in powershell.
But the same issue can be seen when running old cmd.exe

[BarsMonster]

To be more precise, I see the issue when opening WSL console via "C:\Windows\System32\wsl.exe ~"

[justus-camp-microsoft]

Hi @BarsMonster, this is unlikely to be a WSL issue and is more likely a Windows or Terminal issue. WSL doesn't do anything specific with keyboard layouts in WSL.