diff --git a/src/lib/onboard/docker-gpu-patch-wsl.test.ts b/src/lib/onboard/docker-gpu-patch-wsl.test.ts
index a172f421285..bbce0ae150b 100644
--- a/src/lib/onboard/docker-gpu-patch-wsl.test.ts
+++ b/src/lib/onboard/docker-gpu-patch-wsl.test.ts
@@ -3,7 +3,10 @@
 
 import { describe, expect, it } from "vitest";
 
-import { shouldApplyDockerGpuPatch } from "../../../dist/lib/onboard/docker-gpu-patch";
+import {
+  buildDockerGpuModeCandidates,
+  shouldApplyDockerGpuPatch,
+} from "../../../dist/lib/onboard/docker-gpu-patch";
 
 describe("shouldApplyDockerGpuPatch on Docker Desktop WSL", () => {
   it("ignores NEMOCLAW_DOCKER_GPU_PATCH=0 on Docker Desktop WSL where the patch is required", () => {
@@ -53,3 +56,26 @@ describe("shouldApplyDockerGpuPatch on Docker Desktop WSL", () => {
     ).toBe(true);
   });
 });
+
+describe("buildDockerGpuModeCandidates on Docker Desktop WSL (#5512)", () => {
+  it("skips the CDI mode on Docker Desktop WSL even when CDI is advertised", () => {
+    // Docker Desktop WSL advertises CDI dirs but has no usable nvidia.com/gpu
+    // spec, so CDI fails the real recreate; the patch must use --gpus instead.
+    const modes = buildDockerGpuModeCandidates("all", {
+      cdiAvailable: true,
+      dockerDesktopWsl: true,
+    });
+    expect(modes.map((mode) => mode.kind)).not.toContain("cdi");
+    expect(modes[0]?.kind).toBe("gpus");
+    expect(modes[0]?.args).toEqual(["--gpus", "all"]);
+  });
+
+  it("keeps CDI first on a non-Docker-Desktop-WSL host that advertises CDI", () => {
+    const modes = buildDockerGpuModeCandidates("all", {
+      cdiAvailable: true,
+      dockerDesktopWsl: false,
+    });
+    expect(modes[0]?.kind).toBe("cdi");
+    expect(modes[0]?.args).toEqual(["--device", "nvidia.com/gpu=all"]);
+  });
+});
diff --git a/src/lib/onboard/docker-gpu-patch.ts b/src/lib/onboard/docker-gpu-patch.ts
index e48bff8c98c..2151a6784ce 100644
--- a/src/lib/onboard/docker-gpu-patch.ts
+++ b/src/lib/onboard/docker-gpu-patch.ts
@@ -496,7 +496,11 @@ export function buildDockerGpuMode(
 
 export function buildDockerGpuModeCandidates(
   device?: string | null,
-  options: { cdiAvailable?: boolean; backend?: DockerGpuPatchBackend } = {},
+  options: {
+    cdiAvailable?: boolean;
+    backend?: DockerGpuPatchBackend;
+    dockerDesktopWsl?: boolean;
+  } = {},
 ): DockerGpuPatchMode[] {
   if (options.backend === "jetson") {
     return [buildDockerGpuMode("nvidia-runtime", device, { backend: "jetson" })];
@@ -510,8 +514,16 @@ export function buildDockerGpuModeCandidates(
   // gateway wiring and the supervisor never reconnects (#4948). Keep --gpus
   // and the NVIDIA runtime as fallbacks until OpenShell exposes an
   // authoritative GPU mode contract that can replace CDI-spec probing.
+  //
+  // #5512: Docker Desktop WSL advertises CDI spec directories (so cdiAvailable
+  // is true) while the WSL distro has no usable nvidia.com/gpu spec. There the
+  // CDI mode passes the create-only probe but fails the real recreate with
+  // "unresolvable CDI devices nvidia.com/gpu=all", so skip CDI and use the
+  // --gpus compatibility path that preflight already commits to on this runtime.
   const candidates: DockerGpuPatchMode[] = [];
-  if (options.cdiAvailable) candidates.push(buildDockerGpuMode("cdi", device));
+  if (options.cdiAvailable && !options.dockerDesktopWsl) {
+    candidates.push(buildDockerGpuMode("cdi", device));
+  }
   candidates.push(buildDockerGpuMode("gpus", device), buildDockerGpuMode("nvidia-runtime", device));
   return candidates;
 }
@@ -949,7 +961,12 @@ function probeDockerGpuMode(
 }
 
 export function selectDockerGpuPatchMode(
-  options: { image: string; device?: string | null; backend?: DockerGpuPatchBackend },
+  options: {
+    image: string;
+    device?: string | null;
+    backend?: DockerGpuPatchBackend;
+    dockerDesktopWsl?: boolean;
+  },
   deps: DockerGpuPatchDeps = {},
 ): { mode: DockerGpuPatchMode | null; attempts: DockerGpuPatchModeAttempt[] } {
   const cdiAvailable = options.backend === "jetson" ? false : dockerReportsNvidiaCdiDevices(deps);
@@ -957,6 +974,7 @@ export function selectDockerGpuPatchMode(
   for (const mode of buildDockerGpuModeCandidates(options.device, {
     cdiAvailable,
     backend: options.backend,
+    dockerDesktopWsl: options.dockerDesktopWsl,
   })) {
     const result = probeDockerGpuMode(mode, options.image, deps);
     const attempt = { mode, ok: result.ok, error: result.error };
@@ -1014,6 +1032,7 @@ export function recreateOpenShellDockerSandboxWithGpu(
     waitForSupervisor?: boolean;
     openshellSandboxCommand?: readonly string[] | null;
     backend?: DockerGpuPatchBackend;
+    dockerDesktopWsl?: boolean;
   },
   deps: DockerGpuPatchDeps = {},
 ): DockerGpuPatchResult {
@@ -1037,7 +1056,12 @@ export function recreateOpenShellDockerSandboxWithGpu(
     if (!image) throw new Error("OpenShell sandbox container inspect did not include an image.");
 
     const selection = selectDockerGpuPatchMode(
-      { image, device: options.gpuDevice, backend: options.backend },
+      {
+        image,
+        device: options.gpuDevice,
+        backend: options.backend,
+        dockerDesktopWsl: options.dockerDesktopWsl,
+      },
       deps,
     );
     context.modeAttempts = selection.attempts;
@@ -1184,6 +1208,7 @@ export function applyDockerGpuPatchOrExit(
     // /dev/nvmap group access.
     backend?: DockerGpuPatchBackend;
     openshellSandboxCommand?: readonly string[] | null;
+    dockerDesktopWsl?: boolean;
   },
   deps: Pick<DockerGpuPatchDeps, "runOpenshell" | "runCaptureOpenshell" | "sleep">,
 ): DockerGpuPatchResult {
diff --git a/src/lib/onboard/docker-gpu-sandbox-create.ts b/src/lib/onboard/docker-gpu-sandbox-create.ts
index 51eb4ed0426..df6d11565c0 100644
--- a/src/lib/onboard/docker-gpu-sandbox-create.ts
+++ b/src/lib/onboard/docker-gpu-sandbox-create.ts
@@ -62,6 +62,12 @@ type DockerGpuSandboxCreatePatchOptions = {
   openshellSandboxCommand?: readonly string[] | null;
   timeoutSecs: number;
   backend?: DockerGpuPatchBackend;
+  /**
+   * Whether the host is Docker Desktop WSL. Defaults to the cached
+   * `isDockerDesktopWslRuntime()` probe. When true, the GPU patch skips the CDI
+   * mode (unusable on this runtime) and uses `--gpus` instead (#5512).
+   */
+  dockerDesktopWsl?: boolean;
   deps: DockerGpuSandboxCreateDeps;
   /**
    * Test seams. The production composition uses the canonical
@@ -136,6 +142,7 @@ export function createDockerGpuSandboxCreatePatch(
     openshellSandboxCommand: options.openshellSandboxCommand ?? null,
     timeoutSecs: options.timeoutSecs,
     backend: options.backend,
+    dockerDesktopWsl: options.dockerDesktopWsl ?? isDockerDesktopWslRuntime(),
   };
 
   return {