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Virtual Desktop (DCV) fails to launch

When a virtual desktop does not start, the bootstrap logs tell you what happened. Where those logs live depends on whether the desktop is Linux or Windows.

Note

This page covers the desktop's bootstrap logs. If your desktop reaches the login screen but the session itself is unreachable, see Debug your Linux DCV session.

Linux virtual desktops

Linux desktops use the same bootstrap as compute nodes, and their logs are written to the shared filesystem:

cd /apps/edh/<EDH_CLUSTER_ID>/shared/logs/bootstrap/dcv_node/<USER_NAME>/<SESSION_NAME>/
grep -riE "error|fatal|critical" .

To open a single file, list the folder first, then print or scroll through the file you want:

# List everything in the desktop session's logs folder
ls -l /apps/edh/<EDH_CLUSTER_ID>/shared/logs/bootstrap/dcv_node/<USER_NAME>/<SESSION_NAME>/

# Print the first-boot user-data log
cat /apps/edh/<EDH_CLUSTER_ID>/shared/logs/bootstrap/dcv_node/<USER_NAME>/<SESSION_NAME>/01_user_data.sh.log

# Scroll through a long log page by page (press q to quit)
less /apps/edh/<EDH_CLUSTER_ID>/shared/logs/bootstrap/dcv_node/<USER_NAME>/<SESSION_NAME>/01_user_data.sh.log

If the shared logs are missing, the node failed very early, before /apps was mounted. Connect to the node itself and read the local logs instead:

cd /root/edh_bootstrap_<INSTANCE_ID>/logs
grep -riE "error|fatal|critical" .

# List the files, then open one
ls -l /root/edh_bootstrap_<INSTANCE_ID>/logs/
cat /root/edh_bootstrap_<INSTANCE_ID>/logs/01_user_data.sh.log

Windows virtual desktops

Connect to the Windows instance and inspect the EDH bootstrap logs from PowerShell:

Set-Location -Path "C:\ProgramData\EDH\<INSTANCE_ID>"
Get-ChildItem
Select-String -Path *.log -Pattern "error","fatal","critical"

Placeholders

  • <EDH_CLUSTER_ID> is your EDH cluster ID (for example, edh-abc123).
  • <USER_NAME> is the session owner.
  • <SESSION_NAME> is the desktop session name.
  • <INSTANCE_ID> is the EC2 instance ID. On Linux, the folder name uses an underscore, edh_bootstrap_, not a dash.