other wsl2 distros working fine?

Can you scroll the logfile lines pane down, so we can see the error and/or attach your wsl.log file?

Here is wsl.log 2022-08-25T19:39:58.835Z: Registered distributions: Ubuntu,rancher-desktop,rancher-desktop-data 2022-08-25T19:39:59.199Z: Registered distributions: Ubuntu,rancher-desktop,rancher-desktop-data 2022-08-25T19:39:59.341Z: WSL: executing: /bin/sh -c [ -e /etc/os-release ] && . /etc/os-release ; echo ${VERSION_ID:-0.1}: Error: wsl.exe exited with code 4294967295

Have you verified your OS and Bios virtualization config? That error usually means your machine's virtualization is not set up correctly. Step 3 in this link can help. https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/install-manual

Ok, here is what worked. I uninstalled, cleaned AppData folders, reinstalled, and did a factory reset