diff --git a/diagnostics/collect-wsl-logs.ps1 b/diagnostics/collect-wsl-logs.ps1
index fa271f9b2..ee694d592 100644
--- a/diagnostics/collect-wsl-logs.ps1
+++ b/diagnostics/collect-wsl-logs.ps1
@@ -9,6 +9,11 @@ Param (
 
 Set-StrictMode -Version Latest
 
+# Make wsl.exe emit UTF-8 (instead of UTF-16) and have the console decode it as
+# such, so output captured from wsl.exe below is saved to log files readably.
+$env:WSL_UTF8 = "1"
+try { [Console]::OutputEncoding = [System.Text.Encoding]::UTF8 } catch {}
+
 function Test-WslApplication {
     param (
         $Name
@@ -124,6 +129,20 @@ else
     }
 }
 
+# Record how these logs were collected so that whoever analyzes the archive
+# knows which profile was used (a networking-only capture, for example, will not
+# contain the WSL core trace providers).
+$logProfileDisplay = if ($LogProfile -eq $null) { "default" } else { $LogProfile }
+$wprpProfileDisplay = if ($wprpProfile -ne $null) { $wprpProfile } else { "(default profile in $wprpFile)" }
+@"
+LogProfile          : $logProfileDisplay
+WPRP profile        : $wprpProfileDisplay
+WPRP file           : $wprpFile
+Dump                : $Dump
+RestartWslReproMode : $RestartWslReproMode
+Collected           : $(Get-Date -Format "yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss K")
+"@ | Out-File -FilePath "$folder/collection-info.txt" -Encoding utf8
+
 # Networking-specific setup
 if ($LogProfile -eq "networking")
 {
@@ -369,10 +388,96 @@ if ($Dump)
         if (-not $Result)
         {
             Write-Host "Failed to write dump for: $($dumpFile)"
+            # Remove the empty file so the archive isn't littered with 0-byte
+            # dumps that look like real (but truncated) captures.
+            Remove-Item $dumpFile -ErrorAction Ignore
         }
     }
 }
 
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# Write a machine-readable summary and a human/agent-readable index so that
+# whoever (or whatever) analyzes the archive has an immediate overview without
+# having to run tools or infer state from the individual artifacts.
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+function Get-Prop
+{
+    param ($Object, $Name)
+    if ($Object -ne $null -And ($Object.PSObject.Properties.Name -contains $Name))
+    {
+        return $Object.$Name
+    }
+    return $null
+}
+
+# Inventory the dumps that were actually written (empty ones were removed above).
+$dumps = @()
+$dumpFolder = Join-Path $folder "dumps"
+if (Test-Path $dumpFolder)
+{
+    foreach ($dump in (Get-ChildItem $dumpFolder -Filter *.dmp -ErrorAction Ignore))
+    {
+        $dumps += [ordered]@{ name = $dump.Name; sizeBytes = $dump.Length }
+    }
+}
+
+$appx = Get-AppxPackage MicrosoftCorporationII.WindowsSubsystemforLinux -ErrorAction Ignore | Select-Object -First 1
+$winCV = Get-ItemProperty -Path "Registry::HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion" -ErrorAction Ignore
+
+# Keep this summary basic: profile, versions and the dump inventory. State that
+# can be readily derived from the rest of the archive (the installed
+# distributions in HKCU.txt, the networking mode in .wslconfig) is intentionally
+# not duplicated here.
+$summary = [ordered]@{
+    collectedAt         = (Get-Date -Format "o")
+    logProfile          = $logProfileDisplay
+    wprpProfile         = $wprpProfileDisplay
+    dump                = [bool]$Dump
+    restartWslReproMode = [bool]$RestartWslReproMode
+    wslVersion          = (Get-Prop $appx "Version")
+    windows             = [ordered]@{
+        build          = "$(Get-Prop $winCV 'CurrentBuild').$(Get-Prop $winCV 'UBR')"
+        displayVersion = Get-Prop $winCV "DisplayVersion"
+        edition        = Get-Prop $winCV "EditionID"
+    }
+    wslConfigPresent    = [bool](Test-Path $wslconfig)
+    dumps               = $dumps
+}
+$summary | ConvertTo-Json -Depth 5 | Out-File -FilePath "$folder/summary.json" -Encoding utf8
+
+# Human/agent-readable index of the archive contents.
+@"
+# WSL log collection
+
+Start with ``summary.json`` (machine-readable overview) and
+``collection-info.txt`` (how these logs were captured).
+
+> NOTE: ``logs.etl`` is a binary ETW trace. The WSL trace providers are
+> TraceLogging (self-describing); decode it with WPA or PerfView for full
+> payloads (``tracerpt logs.etl -o logs.csv -of CSV`` works for a quick text
+> dump but renders some TraceLogging payloads as raw bytes). If the relevant
+> WSL providers are missing, the capture likely used a non-default
+> ``-LogProfile`` (see ``collection-info.txt``).
+
+## Key files
+
+| File | What it is |
+|------|------------|
+| summary.json | Machine-readable overview: profile, versions, dumps. |
+| collection-info.txt | Which WPR profile / switches were used for this capture. |
+| logs.etl | ETW trace captured during the repro (binary; see note above). |
+| dumps/ | Process minidumps (only present with ``-Dump``; empty dumps are removed). |
+| HKCU.txt / HKLM.txt | Lxss registry state (distributions, NAT config). |
+| windows-version.txt | Windows build / edition. |
+| .wslconfig | User's WSL configuration (only if present). |
+| wsl-install-log*.txt / wsl-install-logs.txt | Install logs (only if present). |
+| wpr.txt | Output from the WPR start/stop commands. |
+
+Networking-profile captures additionally contain ``tcpdump.log``,
+``pktmon.etl``, ``wfpdiag.cab``, ``hns_events.log`` and various
+``*_before_repro`` / ``*_after_repro`` network state logs.
+"@ | Out-File -FilePath "$folder/README.md" -Encoding utf8
+
 $logArchive = "$(Resolve-Path $folder).tar.gz"
 tar.exe -czf $logArchive $folder
 if ($LASTEXITCODE -eq 0)