VNC black screen error

You might experience a black screen with an error message when you first log in to a new VNC server.

The error seems to be due to Anaconda/Python initiation, which messes with the VNC config in some way. I have not been able to solve the problem definitly [if you know, please tell me! @mcvinding], but the following procedure circumvents the problem:

Open PuTTy to connect to Compute as usual. Then in terminal edit .bash_profile (the file that is executed when you log in with SSH) so it does not call .bashrc (the file that is executed every time you open a new terminal window).

To edit the file: 1. Type vim .bash_profile. 2. Type i to enter edit mode. 3. Replace the lines:

if [ -f ~/.bashrc ]; then
        . ~/.bashrc
fi

with

if [ -f /etc/bashrc ]; then
        . /etc/bashrc
fi

4. Press Esc to exit edit mode and then type :wq! to exit.

You should now be able to open the VNC viewer. If not, try to kill the VNC server (vncserver -kill :X where X is your VNC number) and start a new vncserver.

With this fix Anaconda will only be started when you open a new terminal window in your VNC session. You do not need to modify .bashrc any more.