Cannot start MongoDB on WSL

Question

I have installed MongoDb, on WSL using the steps from the official docs here.

When i issue the command sudo service mongod start i get the following message mongod: unrecognized service.

I've tried troubleshooting using these stackoverflow answers. I got it starting using one of the commands sudo mongod --fork -f /etc/mongod.conf

However I cannot stop mongod using sudo service mongod stop. In fact mongod keeps running even after i close WSL. Is the documentation wrong? Or am i doing something wrong? Why wont the commands listed in the docs work?

If I keep using the above command to start mongodb will it affect the data that i store?

Solution 1

Here's a very important (blockquoted with a red background, no less!) excerpt from the exact link to the MongoDB docs you gave:

MongoDB does not support the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL).

However, it should still work, they just won't support it and the version they provide in the package mongodb-org won't work right. I suggest following Microsoft's guide located here which is part of a larger Python guide. Find the "Install MongoDB" section about halfway down the page. Note that the service is named mongodb here and not mongod.

Solution 2

I was able to fix the

mongod: unrecognized service

issue by performing the following tasks:

sudo nano /etc/init.d/mongod

then copy and paste the content from this url and save it (you can use vim or any other text editor)

After that give executable permission

sudo chmod +x /etc/init.d/mongod

Now you will be able to start the service by following command

sudo service mongod start

Comments

[Aaron Gong]

This works with the installation instructions in the official MongoDB documents which install the mongodb-org package. You need the additional instructions if you are using WSL Ubuntu because somehow the service is not created. Doing "sudo apt-get install mongodb" installs a totally seperate MongoDB package, which may not be as updated as the official one.

[Roaim]

@AaronGong you are absolutely right

[Gabe Rogan]

confirming this works with latest official instructions for mongo 4.4, wsl2 and ubuntu 20.

[theredcap]

in the latest wsl2, if i could not find the daemon mongd instead tried mongodb and it worked, also the file was already there in etc/init.d/mongodb not needed to copy it from the github. Thanks :)