Fixing WSL Bash .bashrc Permission Denied Error

When using Bash in Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL), you may encounter a “.bashrc: permission denied” error. Here are notes on how to fix this error.

Problem Overview

After restarting Windows and opening Bash, the .bashrc file may not be executed. Checking the file permissions with the following command, you’ll find that the permissions have somehow disappeared.

$ ls -al ~
total 124
drwxr-xr-x 1 yuis yuis  4096 Aug 12 07:50 .
drwxr-xr-x 1 root root  4096 Sep 30  2017 ..
drwx------ 1 yuis yuis  4096 Mar  6 00:39 .aptitude
-rw-rw-rw- 1 yuis yuis 28823 Jul 12 22:45 .babel.json
-rw------- 1 yuis yuis 13920 Aug 12 15:03 .bash_history
-rw-r--r-- 1 yuis yuis   220 Sep 30  2017 .bash_logout
---------- 1 yuis yuis  5272 Aug 12 04:32 .bashrc
-rwxr-xr-x 1 yuis yuis  5272 Aug 12 07:50 .bashrc.bak

As you can see, the .bashrc file has lost its permissions, causing the error.

Solution

1. Navigate to Home Directory

   cd ~

2. Change .bashrc File Permissions

   sudo chmod 755 .bashrc

3. Restart Bash

   bash

With this, the permissions are correctly set, and you can confirm that .bashrc is loaded normally when opening a new Bash session.

Summary

When the “.bashrc: permission denied” error occurs in WSL Bash after a restart, it’s caused by the .bashrc file losing its permissions. You can fix the problem by correcting the permissions with the steps described above and restarting Bash.