Connecting to a VM in RHEV shows "Console connection denied. Another user has already accessed the console of this VM."

Solution Verified - Updated -

Environment

  • Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization 3.1, 3.2, 3.3

Issue

  • When user tries to make a console connection to a virtual machine, the following error message is received:

    Console connection denied. Another user has already accessed the console of this VM. The VM
should be rebooted to allow another user to access it, or changed by an admin to not enforce
reboot between users accessing its console.
  • Is it possible for multiple people to access the same Spice console without rebooting the VM?

Resolution

To work around this issue and ensure that the virtual machine does not need to be rebooted when a different user connects to it, update the RHEV environment to version 3.2 or later and follow these steps:

  1. Locate the VM on the RHEV Admin Portal
  2. Select the VM and click "Edit".
  3. Select the "Console" settings tab.
  4. Click "Show Advanced Options".
  5. Show "Advanced Parameters".
  6. Check the box for "Disable strict user checking".
  7. Click OK.

Please note: In RHEV 3.1 and earlier, disabling the "Strict user checking" functionality was only available for Desktop virtual machines. In RHEV 3.2 and later, this option is available for all VMs.

Additional information: The above procedure is on a VM-by-VM basis. For bulk changes, use the Python SDK for RHEV.

Root Cause

By default, strict user checking is enabled so that only one user can connect to the console of a virtual machine. No other user is able to open a console to the same virtual machine until it has been rebooted. The exception is that a superuser can connect at any time and replace a existing connection. When a superuser has connected, no normal user can connect again until the VM is re-booted.

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