I'm not saying I'm fixed up yet, because my Windows corruption is so deep-seated (the result of multiple heat-related crashes while running Boinc 24/7 for years) that it's going to take several more rounds to fully un-corrupt it, but I seem to have fixed this WSL issue at least

wsl --version
WSL version: 2.7.3.0
Kernel version: 6.6.114.1-1
WSLg version: 1.0.73
MSRDC version: 1.2.6676
Direct3D version: 1.611.1-81528511
DXCore version: 10.0.26100.1-240331-1435.ge-release
Windows version: 10.0.19045.7291

That, and one other key utility I've got access to, indicate I may finally be in the home-straight of a full-repair, after which I might start addressing how to get docker installed successfully (finally vaguely back on topic)

By coincidence a new update came through for Windows 10 22H2 yesterday, which I installed.
The key utility I got access to is winget, which I only discovered for the first time a month or two back.
It runs in an elevated Powershell (Admin) window and checks your system for low-level updates you wouldn't otherwise know anything about.
Right-click the Start button and select Windows Powershell (Admin)
Type "winget upgrade" to see all out of date apps you have
This will include things like Edge, CPUID, HWInfo, Chrome, Teamviewer etc that you may prefer to update (or not) within their own programs, but it's most useful for updating Microsoft components like WSL
For items that are shown, such as Windows Subsystem for Linux, type "winget install Microsoft.WSL" - the app name being exactly what it displays under the ID heading
Examples I had:
Microsoft.WSL
Microsoft.VSTOR
Microsoft.VCRedist.2015+.x86
Microsoft.VCRedist.2015+.x64

Unless these things get upgraded as part of a Windows Update I have no idea how anyone would know or be able to update them without winget
My WSL --version now reads

wsl --version
WSL version: 2.7.8.0
Kernel version: 6.18.33.1-1
WSLg version: 1.0.73.2
MSRDC version: 1.2.6676
Direct3D version: 1.611.1-81528511
DXCore version: 10.0.26100.1-240331-1435.ge-release
Windows version: 10.0.19045.7417

What I also discovered, by accident, is that, after a Windows Update that upgrades windows, if I run (again in Powershell (Admin) )
DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth
followed by
sfc /scannow
If it reports that it found corrupted files and repaired them, then I immediately reboot, bit by tiny bit I can slightly reduce more and more of my corrupted Windows installation, which then may make it more possible for the rest of it to be put right.
It's a very long and very boring road to travel

Edit: I'm less intending to get the absolute latest versions of apps, though that's a byproduct, as to get known clean uncorrupted versions onto my PC as I'm not sure what parts of the Windows subsystem is broken

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Having no idea how to do an in-place Windows repair, and being terrified of the damage I was likely to do if left to my own devices, I decided to continue with Microsoft Copilot, on the basis that a <Microsoft> AI was best-placed to advise on fixing a <Microsoft> Windows issue.
That turned out to be a very good decision, and I now realise I only thought Grok was doing well because of my ignorance of what it ought to be doing.
Turned out it was going round in ever-decreasing circles because it only had a vague idea what it was trying to achieve.
Grok is no longer my best mate. On this specific Windows issue at least, CoPilot's ability is leagues ahead, making some (to me) astonishing analytic leaps based on the outcomes I'm reporting back weekly

I was doing this weekly from a remote PC because Copilot is broken and unavailable on the problem PC.
Until I discovered/realised I could access Copilot online.
That enabled me to spend almost 4 solid days with it instead of working from a relatively small remotely-produced task-list, most of which failed/broke at one of its earlier stages.
I've had to strip Windows down almost to its lowest foundational level and build it back up, grabbing Appx and MSIXbundles online and doing two further in-place repair upgrades, when even those brought me to a juddering halt, and multiple DISM & SFC couplets to continue to remove disk corruption.
I'm now very close to a clean and stable setup, but still not quite there yet, accidentally discovering some failed cloud authentication layer to fully re-enable Microsoft Store at the very end, which finally allowed it to burst back into life.
My one remaining issue is a Windows Update error warning that CoPilot's tried to fix in several ways and is now trying to convince me isn't real, but a cosmetic artifact that will disappear of its own accord!
I don't believe it. I've already forced it to admit that something it insisted repeatedly was wrongly located was actually there, just incomplete.
It might be my new best mate, but we still have arguments, where amazingly it's had to admit I was right and it was wrong, which is quite amazing considering I am, by comparison, an incompetent dunce.
I'm currently taking a break from it until next week, partly because the intensity of the exercise has given me a bit of PTSD any time I spot Powershell.
That said, I have made considerable very rapid progress, so I can't complain too much.

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