The Problem
Here's a quick note to help if you have issues installing the Windows Subsystem for Linux, specifically the following error:
"WslRegisterDistribution failed with error: 0xc03a001a"
I was trying to install Ubuntu 20.04 LTS on Windows 10 Home (10.0.18363) following the instructions found here:
The issue occurred when I was trying to launch Ubuntu from the Store (Step 7 in the instructions). The error message appears in the command window.
The Solution
There are several posts out there that can help:
For me the solution was simple, I navigated to the %LOCALAPPDATA%/packages/ folder and located the Ubuntu distribution package.
Figure 1 - Locate the package
Right-click on the package and select General > Advanced. Uncheck "Compress contents to save disk space".
Figure 2 - Uncheck "Compress contents to save disk space"
Now relaunch the Linux distribution from the store. Everything should now work.