diff --git a/hooks/lando-setup-build-engine-win32.js b/hooks/lando-setup-build-engine-win32.js
index 5d022b276..89eb1e1ea 100644
--- a/hooks/lando-setup-build-engine-win32.js
+++ b/hooks/lando-setup-build-engine-win32.js
@@ -113,14 +113,13 @@ module.exports = async (lando, options) => {
     },
     requiresRestart: async () => {
       // if wsl is not installed then this requires a restart
-      const opts = {debug, ignoreReturnCode: true};
-      const {code, stdout} = await require('../utils/run-command')('powershell', ['-Command', 'wsl --status'], opts);
+      const {code, stdout} = await require('../utils/get-wsl-status')({debug});
       console.log(stdout);
       console.log(Buffer.from(stdout, 'utf8').toString('utf16le'));
 
       const hasFeaturesEnabled = !stdout.includes('"Virtual Machine Platform"') && !stdout.includes('"Windows Subsystem for Linux"'); // eslint-disable-line max-len
       const installed = code === 0 && hasFeaturesEnabled;
-      lando.log.debug('wsl installed=%o, restart %o', installed, installed ? 'not required' : 'required');
+      debug('wsl installed=%o, restart %o', installed, installed ? 'not required' : 'required');
       return !installed;
     },
     task: async (ctx, task) => {
diff --git a/utils/get-wsl-status.js b/utils/get-wsl-status.js
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..3d395acc0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/utils/get-wsl-status.js
@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+'use strict';
+
+// Modules
+const merge = require('lodash/merge');
+
+// get the bosmang
+const defaults = {
+  debug: require('debug')('@lando/get-wsl-status'),
+  ignoreReturnCode: true,
+  env: {...process.env, WSL_UTF8: 1},
+};
+
+module.exports = async (options = {}) => {
+  const args = ['-Command', 'wsl --status'];
+  const opts = merge({}, defaults, options);
+  const {debug} = opts;
+  const {code, stdout} = await require('./run-command')('powershell', args, opts);
+  debug('wsl status', opts);
+
+  return {code, stdout};
+};
+
diff --git a/utils/run-command.js b/utils/run-command.js
index f26ab2c03..a437fec6d 100644
--- a/utils/run-command.js
+++ b/utils/run-command.js
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+
+
 'use strict';
 
 // Modules
@@ -18,10 +20,6 @@ module.exports = (command, args = [], options = {}, stdout = '', stderr = '') =>
   options = merge({}, defaults, options);
   const debug = options.debug;
 
-  // this is a weirdly odd and specific thing we need to do
-  // @TODO: do we need to scope this at all or is it fine to just set regardless?
-  options.env.WSL_UTF8 = 1;
-
   // birth
   debug('running command %o %o', command, args);
   const child = spawn(command, args, options);