Unable to open a PyMAPDL instance

[clatapie]

🤓 Before submitting the issue

• I have visited the Troubleshooting section.
• I have searched among the existing issues.
• I am using a Python virtual environment.
• I am using the latest version of PyMAPDL and its dependencies (fully updated virtual environment). You can update them using pip install --upgrade --upgrade-strategy eager ansys-mapdl-core in your activated virtual environment.

🔍 Description of the bug

PyMAPDL is not launching on my laptop as shown bellow:

(.venv) PS D:\repos\pyansys\pymapdl_1> pymapdl start
There is an existing MAPDL instance at: 127.0.0.1:50052
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "C:\Users\clatapie\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python310\lib\runpy.py", line 196, in _run_module_as_main
    return _run_code(code, main_globals, None,
  File "C:\Users\clatapie\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python310\lib\runpy.py", line 86, in _run_code
    exec(code, run_globals)
  File "D:\repos\pyansys\pymapdl_1\.venv\Scripts\pymapdl.exe\__main__.py", line 7, in <module>
  File "D:\repos\pyansys\pymapdl_1\.venv\lib\site-packages\click\core.py", line 1157, in __call__
    return self.main(*args, **kwargs)
  File "D:\repos\pyansys\pymapdl_1\.venv\lib\site-packages\click\core.py", line 1078, in main
    rv = self.invoke(ctx)
  File "D:\repos\pyansys\pymapdl_1\.venv\lib\site-packages\click\core.py", line 1688, in invoke
    return _process_result(sub_ctx.command.invoke(sub_ctx))
  File "D:\repos\pyansys\pymapdl_1\.venv\lib\site-packages\click\core.py", line 1434, in invoke
    return ctx.invoke(self.callback, **ctx.params)
  File "D:\repos\pyansys\pymapdl_1\.venv\lib\site-packages\click\core.py", line 783, in invoke
    return __callback(*args, **kwargs)
  File "D:\repos\pyansys\pymapdl_1\src\ansys\mapdl\core\cli.py", line 489, in start
    if len(out) == 3:
TypeError: object of type 'NoneType' has no len()

(.venv) PS D:\repos\pyansys\pymapdl_1> pymapdl stop
ERROR: No Ansys instances running on port 50052 have been found

(.venv) PS D:\repos\pyansys\pymapdl_1> pymapdl list
Name    Is Instance    Status    gRPC port    PID
------  -------------  --------  -----------  -----

Important note

MAPDL 2023 R2 is installed on my laptop and runs fine when opening it manually.

🕵️ Steps To Reproduce

The log will automatically be formatted as Python code! No need to type backticks.

pymapdl start

💻 Which Operating System are you using?

Windows

🐍 Which Python version are you using?

3.10

📝 PyMAPDL Report

Show the Report!

(.venv) PS D:\repos\pyansys\pymapdl_1> python -c "from ansys.mapdl import core as pymapdl; print(pymapdl.Report())"
D:\repos\pyansys\pymapdl_1\.venv\lib\site-packages\pyvista\utilities\__init__.py:69: PyVistaDeprecationWarning: The `pyvista.utilities` module has been 
deprecated. `GPUInfo` is now imported as: `from pyvista.report import GPUInfo`.
  warnings.warn(
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PyAnsys Software and Environment Report
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  Date: Tue Mar 19 17:18:15 2024 Romance Standard Time

                               OS : Windows
                           CPU(s) : 24
                          Machine : AMD64
                     Architecture : 64bit
                              RAM : 63.7 GiB
                      Environment : Python
                       GPU Vendor : Intel
                     GPU Renderer : Intel(R) UHD Graphics 770
                      GPU Version : 4.5.0 - Build 31.0.101.4255

  Python 3.10.8 (tags/v3.10.8:aaaf517, Oct 11 2022, 16:50:30) [MSC v.1933 64
  bit (AMD64)]

                 ansys.mapdl.core : 0.69.dev0
                            numpy : 1.25.2
                     platformdirs : 3.10.0
                            scipy : 1.12.0
                             grpc : 1.62.1
               ansys.api.mapdl.v0 : Version unknown
               ansys.mapdl.reader : 0.53.0
                  google.protobuf : 3.20.3
                       matplotlib : 3.8.3
                          pyvista : 0.43.4
                           pyiges : 0.3.1
                             tqdm : 4.66.1
               ansys_sphinx_theme : 0.14.1
                   ansys.dpf.core : 0.10.1
                   ansys.dpf.post : Module not found
                   ansys.dpf.gate : Version unknown
                ansys.fluent.core : Module not found
       ansys.fluent.visualization : Module not found
          ansys.fluent.parametric : Module not found
      ansys.grantami.bomanalytics : Module not found
             ansys.openapi.common : Module not found
ansys.platform.instancemanagement : 1.1.2
                   ansys.seascape : Module not found
               ansys.tools.report : 0.7.0
           ansys.tools.versioning : 0.4.0
                           pyaedt : Module not found
                          appdirs : 1.4.4
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ansys Environment Report
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Ansys Installation
******************
No Ansys installations provided


Ansys Environment Variables
***************************
ANSYS221_DIR                   C:\Program Files\ANSYS Inc\v221\ANSYS
ANSYS222_DIR                   C:\Program Files\ANSYS Inc\v222\ANSYS
ANSYS231_DIR                   C:\Program Files\ANSYS Inc\v231\ANSYS
ANSYS232_DIR                   C:\Program Files\ANSYS Inc\v232\ANSYS
ANSYSEM_ROOT232                C:\Program Files\AnsysEM\v232\Win64
ANSYSLIC_DIR                   C:\Program Files\ANSYS Inc\Shared Files\Licensing
ANSYS_DPF_ACCEPT_LA            Y
ANSYS_LOCAL                    True
AWP_LOCALE222                  en-us
AWP_ROOT221                    C:\Program Files\ANSYS Inc\v221
AWP_ROOT222                    C:\Program Files\ANSYS Inc\v222
AWP_ROOT231                    C:\Program Files\ANSYS Inc\v231
AWP_ROOT232                    C:\Program Files\ANSYS Inc\v232
CADOE_LIBDIR221                C:\Program Files\ANSYS Inc\v221\CommonFiles\Language\en-us
CADOE_LIBDIR222                C:\Program Files\ANSYS Inc\v222\CommonFiles\Language\en-us
CADOE_LIBDIR231                C:\Program Files\ANSYS Inc\v231\CommonFiles\Language\en-us
CADOE_LIBDIR232                C:\Program Files\ANSYS Inc\v232\CommonFiles\Language\en-us
SIMPLORER_HOME                 C:\Program Files\AnsysEM\v232\Win64
SIWAVE_INSTALL_DIR             C:\Program Files\AnsysEM\v232\Win64

📝 Installed packages

Show the installed packages!

# PASTE HERE THE OUTPUT OF `python -m pip freeze` here

📝 Logger output file

Show the logger output file.

# PASTE HERE THE CONTENT OF THE LOGGER OUTPUT FILE.

[germa89]

This due to a conflict between trying pymapdl start while having PYMAPDL_START_INSTANCE equal False.

(.venv) ubuntu@ip-10-231-106-87:~/pymapdl$ export PYMAPDL_START_INSTANCE=False
(.venv) ubuntu@ip-10-231-106-87:~/pymapdl$ pymapdl start
There is an existing MAPDL instance at: 127.0.0.1:50052
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/home/ubuntu/pymapdl/.venv/bin/pymapdl", line 8, in <module>
    sys.exit(main())
  File "/home/ubuntu/pymapdl/.venv/lib/python3.10/site-packages/click/core.py", line 1157, in __call__
    return self.main(*args, **kwargs)
  File "/home/ubuntu/pymapdl/.venv/lib/python3.10/site-packages/click/core.py", line 1078, in main
    rv = self.invoke(ctx)
  File "/home/ubuntu/pymapdl/.venv/lib/python3.10/site-packages/click/core.py", line 1688, in invoke
    return _process_result(sub_ctx.command.invoke(sub_ctx))
  File "/home/ubuntu/pymapdl/.venv/lib/python3.10/site-packages/click/core.py", line 1434, in invoke
    return ctx.invoke(self.callback, **ctx.params)
  File "/home/ubuntu/pymapdl/.venv/lib/python3.10/site-packages/click/core.py", line 783, in invoke
    return __callback(*args, **kwargs)
  File "/home/ubuntu/pymapdl/src/ansys/mapdl/core/cli.py", line 489, in start
    if len(out) == 3:
TypeError: object of type 'NoneType' has no len()

[clatapie]

Thank you for your help @germa89, the error is solved!