# Tensorflow: "No protocol specified" **URL:** \ **Category:** Technical Help\ **Created:** [July 12, 2022, 2:46am UTC](https://deeptalk.lambda.ai/t/tensorflow-no-protocol-specified/3090 "2022-07-12T02:46:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![tschmah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c57346/32.png) [@tschmah](https://deeptalk.lambda.ai/u/tschmah)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2022, 2:46am UTC](https://deeptalk.lambda.ai/t/tensorflow-no-protocol-specified/3090/1 "2022-07-12T02:46:22Z")
I have Ubuntu 20.04 with a Lambda stack that was provided at time of purchase of my workstation and updated today using “sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get dist-upgrade” I created a virtual environment for testing: python3 -m venv --system-site-packages testenv source testenv/bin/activate Within this environment, I am able to use tensorflow successfully via a jupyter notebook, however I get an error message “No protocol specified” if I start a python session from the command line and then import tensorflow: > > > import tensorflow as tf > > > No protocol specified What does this error mean? Do I need to set up an environment variable? ---
**Author:** ![markd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/839c29/32.png) [@markd](https://deeptalk.lambda.ai/u/markd)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2022, 1:07am UTC](https://deeptalk.lambda.ai/t/tensorflow-no-protocol-specified/3090/2 "2022-07-22T01:07:07Z")
I am guessing it is failing the same way without venv also. From searches it shows references to issues with DISPLAY. $ python -c ‘import tensorflow as tf ; print("\nTensorflow version: ",tf. **version** , "\nTensorflow file: ",tf. **file** )’ Tensorflow version: 2.8.0 Tensorflow file: /usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/tensorflow/ **init**.py I have not been able to repeat this. I have seen a similar issue once with two processes running on the same machine with Tensorboard. As it was using a invalid port (one reserved for X11) TensorBoard on the default port of 6006 \* (6000 - 6007 are reserved for X11) If this is a Tensorboard in the job you can change Tensorboard to use port 9000. It would get stuck trying to start orted (part of MPI). ---
**Author:** ![tschmah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c57346/32.png) [@tschmah](https://deeptalk.lambda.ai/u/tschmah)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2022, 4:28pm UTC](https://deeptalk.lambda.ai/t/tensorflow-no-protocol-specified/3090/3 "2022-07-24T16:28:14Z")
Thank you for your thoughts, markd. You are correct that it fails the same way without venv also: $ python -c ‘import tensorflow as tf’ No protocol specified $ python --version Python 3.8.10 I agree that the problem seems to be something to do with displays. I’m not using TensorBoard. ---
**Author:** ![markd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/839c29/32.png) [@markd](https://deeptalk.lambda.ai/u/markd)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2022, 3:39am UTC](https://deeptalk.lambda.ai/t/tensorflow-no-protocol-specified/3090/4 "2022-08-01T03:39:06Z")
Another way to find out what is happening is run your code with: $ strace python -c ‘import tensorflow as tf’ \>& tensorflow-strace.txt - You can send that output file here or contact ‘support@lambdal.com’ with that file and nvidia-bug-report.log.gz from ‘sudo nvidia-bug-report.sh’ The two main commands would be if you are ssh’ing into the machine: 1. Enable X11 forwarding (it can be disabled at the client or server level also). $ ssh -X machine You can check the server setting: $ grep X /etc/ssh/sshd\_config 2. You can play with: a. ‘xhost +’ will give access to anybody to connect to your display (okay to test, but I would not keep it that way). I would recommend xhost +local:[hostname or ip] (NOTE: To remove xhost setting: ‘xhost -’) $ xhost +\ example: xhost +10.0.0.2 b. Set the DISPLAY $ export DISPLAY=:0.0 c. xauth: $ xauth merge xauth\_extract or remote host via ssh: $ xauth extract - $DISPLAY | ssh user@\ xauth merge -