If you absolutely cannot use WSL2 (e.g., corporate restrictions), consider using a Linux VM (VirtualBox) or remote dev environment (GitHub Codespaces, Dev Containers). Native Windows Kubebuilder is effectively unsupported for real operator development.
sudo rm /usr/local/bin/kubebuilder rm -rf ~/go/bin/kubebuilder To remove WSL2 distro completely: install kubebuilder on windows
wsl --install Restart. Default Ubuntu will be installed. Launch Ubuntu from Start Menu. Update: If you absolutely cannot use WSL2 (e
export GOPATH=$(go env GOPATH) export PATH=$PATH:$GOPATH/bin chmod +x /usr/local/bin/kubebuilder 4. Controller doesn’t connect to cluster Ensure KUBECONFIG is set: Default Ubuntu will be installed
export KUBECONFIG=~/.kube/config kubectl get nodes Enable WSL2 integration in Docker Desktop → Settings → WSL Integration. IDE Setup (Visual Studio Code) Install VS Code with Remote – WSL extension. Open \\wsl$\Ubuntu\home\yourname\projects\my-operator directly. You get full IntelliSense, debugging, and terminal inside WSL2. Uninstallation Native Windows: Delete the folder and remove from PATH.
curl -L -o kubebuilder https://github.com/kubernetes-sigs/kubebuilder/releases/download/v3.14.0/kubebuilder_linux_amd64 chmod +x kubebuilder sudo mv kubebuilder /usr/local/bin/ Verify:
wsl --unregister Ubuntu Do not attempt native Windows Kubebuilder – it will waste hours. Use WSL2 – it takes 15–20 minutes to set up and behaves identically to Linux, which is what all official tutorials assume.