UPDATE (2024): You can just run wsl --shutdown -d <DistroNameHere> instead of the steps below.

Assumptions this post makes:

• You are using WSL1. Not WSL2
• You are using WSL1 on Windows 10

After doing a kernel update for Windows Subsystem for Linux, the subsystem needs to "reboot" in order to use the latest kernel. You don't need to reboot Windows 10 to accomplish this. You can if you would like.

However, if you open up the Services.msc on Windows 10 and look for "LXSS Manager" and restart each one listed, you can simulate a reboot of the WSL environment without rebooting Windows 10.