diff --git a/pkg/cidata/cidata.TEMPLATE.d/boot/02-wsl2-setup.sh b/pkg/cidata/cidata.TEMPLATE.d/boot/02-wsl2-setup.sh
index 0b6e95789ac..ab942215a5d 100755
--- a/pkg/cidata/cidata.TEMPLATE.d/boot/02-wsl2-setup.sh
+++ b/pkg/cidata/cidata.TEMPLATE.d/boot/02-wsl2-setup.sh
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
 [ "$LIMA_CIDATA_VMTYPE" = "wsl2" ] || exit 0
 
 # create user
-sudo useradd -u "${LIMA_CIDATA_UID}" "${LIMA_CIDATA_USER}" -d "${LIMA_CIDATA_HOME}"
+sudo useradd -u "${LIMA_CIDATA_UID}" "${LIMA_CIDATA_USER}" -c "${LIMA_CIDATA_GECOS}" -d "${LIMA_CIDATA_HOME}"
 sudo mkdir "${LIMA_CIDATA_HOME}"/.ssh/
 sudo cp "${LIMA_CIDATA_MNT}"/ssh_authorized_keys "${LIMA_CIDATA_HOME}"/.ssh/authorized_keys
 sudo chown "${LIMA_CIDATA_USER}" "${LIMA_CIDATA_HOME}"/.ssh/authorized_keys
diff --git a/pkg/cidata/cidata.TEMPLATE.d/lima.env b/pkg/cidata/cidata.TEMPLATE.d/lima.env
index 0b5737fdfc4..6666b245540 100644
--- a/pkg/cidata/cidata.TEMPLATE.d/lima.env
+++ b/pkg/cidata/cidata.TEMPLATE.d/lima.env
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ LIMA_CIDATA_DEBUG={{ .Debug }}
 LIMA_CIDATA_NAME={{ .Name }}
 LIMA_CIDATA_USER={{ .User }}
 LIMA_CIDATA_UID={{ .UID }}
+LIMA_CIDATA_GECOS={{ .GECOS }}
 LIMA_CIDATA_HOME={{ .Home}}
 LIMA_CIDATA_HOSTHOME_MOUNTPOINT={{ .HostHomeMountPoint }}
 LIMA_CIDATA_MOUNTS={{ len .Mounts }}
diff --git a/pkg/cidata/cidata.TEMPLATE.d/user-data b/pkg/cidata/cidata.TEMPLATE.d/user-data
index d98d03591d8..d8ea69e8f20 100644
--- a/pkg/cidata/cidata.TEMPLATE.d/user-data
+++ b/pkg/cidata/cidata.TEMPLATE.d/user-data
@@ -30,6 +30,9 @@ timezone: {{.TimeZone}}
 users:
   - name: "{{.User}}"
     uid: "{{.UID}}"
+{{- if .GECOS }}
+    gecos: {{ printf "%q" .GECOS }}
+{{- end }}
     homedir: "{{.Home}}"
     shell: /bin/bash
     sudo: ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD:ALL
diff --git a/pkg/cidata/cidata.go b/pkg/cidata/cidata.go
index 633581d5fc5..b0e60db8fde 100644
--- a/pkg/cidata/cidata.go
+++ b/pkg/cidata/cidata.go
@@ -132,6 +132,7 @@ func templateArgs(bootScripts bool, instDir, name string, instConfig *limayaml.L
 		Hostname:           identifierutil.HostnameFromInstName(name), // TODO: support customization
 		User:               u.Username,
 		UID:                uid,
+		GECOS:              u.Name,
 		Home:               fmt.Sprintf("/home/%s.linux", u.Username),
 		GuestInstallPrefix: *instConfig.GuestInstallPrefix,
 		UpgradePackages:    *instConfig.UpgradePackages,
diff --git a/pkg/cidata/template.go b/pkg/cidata/template.go
index ff83386da23..a927f839509 100644
--- a/pkg/cidata/template.go
+++ b/pkg/cidata/template.go
@@ -59,6 +59,7 @@ type TemplateArgs struct {
 	Hostname                        string // instance hostname
 	IID                             string // instance id
 	User                            string // user name
+	GECOS                           string // user information
 	Home                            string // home directory
 	UID                             int
 	SSHPubKeys                      []string
diff --git a/pkg/cidata/template_test.go b/pkg/cidata/template_test.go
index 35c3623e991..dbe848ac06d 100644
--- a/pkg/cidata/template_test.go
+++ b/pkg/cidata/template_test.go
@@ -12,10 +12,11 @@ var defaultRemoveDefaults = false
 
 func TestConfig(t *testing.T) {
 	args := &TemplateArgs{
-		Name: "default",
-		User: "foo",
-		UID:  501,
-		Home: "/home/foo.linux",
+		Name:  "default",
+		User:  "foo",
+		UID:   501,
+		GECOS: "Foo",
+		Home:  "/home/foo.linux",
 		SSHPubKeys: []string{
 			"ssh-rsa dummy foo@example.com",
 		},
@@ -29,10 +30,11 @@ func TestConfig(t *testing.T) {
 
 func TestConfigCACerts(t *testing.T) {
 	args := &TemplateArgs{
-		Name: "default",
-		User: "foo",
-		UID:  501,
-		Home: "/home/foo.linux",
+		Name:  "default",
+		User:  "foo",
+		UID:   501,
+		GECOS: "Foo",
+		Home:  "/home/foo.linux",
 		SSHPubKeys: []string{
 			"ssh-rsa dummy foo@example.com",
 		},
diff --git a/pkg/osutil/user.go b/pkg/osutil/user.go
index 7896d5e43e2..45b2b7e1ab4 100644
--- a/pkg/osutil/user.go
+++ b/pkg/osutil/user.go
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ type User struct {
 	Uid   uint32
 	Group string
 	Gid   uint32
+	Name  string // or Comment
 	Home  string
 }
 
@@ -65,7 +66,7 @@ func LookupUser(name string) (User, error) {
 		if err != nil {
 			return User{}, err
 		}
-		users[name] = User{User: u.Username, Uid: uid, Group: g.Name, Gid: gid, Home: u.HomeDir}
+		users[name] = User{User: u.Username, Uid: uid, Group: g.Name, Gid: gid, Name: u.Name, Home: u.HomeDir}
 	}
 	return users[name], nil
 }
diff --git a/website/content/en/docs/dev/internals/_index.md b/website/content/en/docs/dev/internals/_index.md
index c0c2456ea63..0d8d6ebb021 100644
--- a/website/content/en/docs/dev/internals/_index.md
+++ b/website/content/en/docs/dev/internals/_index.md
@@ -179,6 +179,7 @@ The volume label is "cidata", as defined by [cloud-init NoCloud](https://docs.cl
 - `LIMA_CIDATA_MNT`: the mount point of the disk. `/mnt/lima-cidata`.
 - `LIMA_CIDATA_USER`: the username string
 - `LIMA_CIDATA_UID`: the numeric UID
+- `LIMA_CIDATA_GECOS`: the name or comment string
 - `LIMA_CIDATA_HOME`: the guest home directory
 - `LIMA_CIDATA_HOSTHOME_MOUNTPOINT`: the mount point of the host home directory, or empty if not mounted
 - `LIMA_CIDATA_MOUNTS`: the number of the Lima mounts