Fix System Configuration Issues for Cross-Platform FMU Workflow

Issue

During the process of exporting or simulating a cross-platform functional mockup unit (FMU) with a Linux^® binary on Windows^® platform, the software installs a custom WSL distribution and sets up the required Docker containers. The export or simulation process might show an error if the system runs into an issue with installing the distribution or container.

Failed to set up the docker environment. Check documentation for troubleshooting steps.

Possible Solutions

To troubleshoot this issue, check that the WSL distribution is installed, the Docker containers are loaded, and the correct container is running.

Check Installation of WSL Distribution

Check whether the required custom WSL distribution is installed in your system. In the windows command window, enter this command.

wsl -l -v

This command returns a list of installed distributions and their state. Check that simulink-fmu-builder-wsl-distro is installed and its state is Running.

If the distribution is installed but stopped, you must uninstall the distribution and then reinstall it by exporting or simulating the cross-platform FMU. To uninstall the distribution, enter this command.

wsl --unregister simulink-fmu-builder-wsl-distro

If the list of installed distributions does not contain simulink-fmu-builder-wsl-distro, try exporting or simulating the cross-platform FMU, which installs the WSL distribution. At this stage, the cross-platform FMU export or simulation might not succeed but the goal of this step is to install the distribution. Continue troubleshooting once the distribution is installed.

Manually Pull Docker Container

After ensuring the distribution is installed and running, pull the latest Docker image and create a new Docker container. You must pull the compilation or simulation docker image of your specific release.

To pull the R2025a compilation docker image, use this command.

wsl -d simulink-fmu-builder-wsl-distro docker pull containers.mathworks.com/simulink-fmu-builder:r2025a

To pull the R2025a simulation docker image, use this command.

wsl -d simulink-fmu-builder-wsl-distro docker pull containers.mathworks.com/simulink-fmu-sim-service:r2025a

The Docker pull might not succeed due to proxy issue or lack of internet connection. You must manually install the Docker image in your machine if you do not have access to the internet. To resolve Docker proxy issues, see Resolve Proxy Issues.

Resolve Proxy Issues

You must configure your proxy server settings to resolve proxy issues that cause the Docker pull to fail.

If you are using Windows 11 version 22H2 or later, configure WSL to use the Windows proxy by setting the autoProxy flag of the .wslconfig file to true. For more, see Advanced settings configuration in WSL.

If you are using an older version of Windows, you must configure the proxy server for simulink-fmu-builder-wsl-distro. Configure the Docker CLI to use proxies through environment variables in containers. For more information, see Use a proxy server with the Docker CLI. You must also configure the Docker daemon to use the proxy server. For more information, see Daemon proxy configuration.

After configuring your proxy server, try manually pulling the required Docker image. Once the Docker image is pulled and the container is created, start and run the container.

wsl -d simulink-fmu-builder-wsl-distro docker run -dt --name <Container Name> <Release Specific Image Name>

You must run the simulink-fmu-builder-container container for cross-platform compilation or run the created simulink-fmu-sim-service container for cross-platform simulation. To get a list of all available Docker containers, run docker ps -a inside the distribution. To run the R2025a compilation or simulation containers, enter this command.

wsl -d simulink-fmu-builder-wsl-distro docker run -dt --name simulink-fmu-builder-container containers.mathworks.com/simulink-fmu-builder:r2025a

wsl -d simulink-fmu-builder-wsl-distro docker run -dt --name simulink-fmu-sim-service_tp9e716c82_8b3b_414a_bb8e_637e383778fe containers.mathworks.com/simulink-sim-service:r2025a

Run this command to verify that the container has started. The returned list must contain the specified container.

docker ps

You can also try the cross-platform FMU export or simulation workflow to pull the Docker images.