Problem when connecting to node shell (2025.2.141554)

Lens Support & Troubleshooting
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#7

In my scenario i am connecting with aks clusters.
nodes are on version 1.30.6 (OS: linux (amd64), OS Image: Ubuntu 22.04.5 LTS)

I also see in the lens-logs that it creates a temp kubeconfig

debug: 	[CLUSTER-KUBECONFIG-MAIN]: Created temp kubeconfig "..." at "...AppData\Local\Temp\kubeconfig-direct-9848c74fb5631a671336ca460e3544d4"

The content of this temp kubeconfig looks valid to me. I also tried it out separately by copying this temp-kubeconfig to my .kube-folder and it was usable.

Also when using the node-shell function i see that in namespace “kube-system” it creates a pod “node-shell-(guid)”. This pod is accessible via pod-shell as long as it lives. Which is about 30s. Then the terminal and pod terminate.

#8

Made an account to just for this issue.
We’re experiencing this on AWS EKS v1.30
Lens version 2025.3.181451-beta

#9

I cannot attach a shell to a Pod, is this the same problem? Thanks

#10

Are there any proxies / vpns required for the connectivity to the cluster?

#12

@jhbaconshone for me logging to pod-shell worked. If it is a similar problem depends on you log-message which you should shortly see in the terminal or in the logs of Lens.

#13

No, no specific proxies/vpn. IP-range is restricted, but since the temp-kubeconfig is created on my local system, i would not have expected this to be a factor.
As mentioned in the original post the problem did not occur in version “2025.1.161916-latest”, if this helps.

#14

Sorry, but I do not understand how you can log to pod-shell? The Shell connection to a pod does not show up in my logs

#15

@jhbaconshone You can check this post to find the application logs for lens https://forums.k8slens.dev/t/where-can-i-find-application-logs/98
There you find a file “lens.log”

In my case where pod-shell works i just get an info line stating “info: [LOCAL-SHELL]: PTY for … is started with PID=61292”
Maybe you see diffent messages for your case.

#16

I can see a line like that, but about 150ms later I get that shell has exited for … closed with exitcode=0

What I see is a quick flicker of the shell that disappears.

#17

I solved my problem on my Mac by removing the kubectl symlink to a non-existent version and the kubectl install inside the Lens Application Support folder - Lens downloaded again and Lens now lets me attach shell to pods again!

1 Like
#18

Same problem for us.
It stopped working with recent updates.
Workaround with switching proxy settings in Lens solve the issue, but
it works only one time… when I try to do it for the second time (different node, same cluster) it just hangs…
Then I just restart Lens and it works again, very annoying…

Do we need vpn to connect to cluster - yes.
Do we have special kubeconfig - quite typical

- name: arn:aws:eks:eu-central-1:123456789012:cluster/some-cluster
  user:
    exec:
      apiVersion: client.authentication.k8s.io/v1beta1
      args:
      - --region
      - eu-central-1
      - eks
      - get-token
      - --cluster-name
      - some-cluster
      - --output
      - json
      command: aws
      env:
      - name: AWS_PROFILE
        value: some-profile
      interactiveMode: IfAvailable
      provideClusterInfo: false

this config is acquired via

aws eks update-kubeconfig --region eu-central-1 --name some-cluster

when it hangs all i see in logs is

debug:   ▪ [NODE-SHELL]: waiting for node-shell-44548936-ea12-4b92-b4c7-3ac577f1f4a6 to be running +120ms
info:    ▪ [INTERNAL-PROXY]: watch (pod-3) started /api/v1/namespaces/kube-system/pods?watch=1&resourceVersion=12111828 +1ms
[59085:0409/193303.001980:ERROR:electron_api_service_impl.cc(46)] Attempted to get the 'ipcNative' object but it was missing
[59085:0409/193303.002261:ERROR:electron_api_service_impl.cc(46)] Attempted to get the 'ipcNative' object but it was missing
[59085:0409/193305.243064:ERROR:electron_api_service_impl.cc(46)] Attempted to get the 'ipcNative' object but it was missing
#19

2025.4.92142-latest has the fix for this issue, please try it out.

1 Like
#20

It works for me with the latest version. Thanks.

#21

lens 2025.4.92142-latest still can’t connect to node shell, receiving:
Error occurred: Pod creation timed outfailed to open a node shell: failed to create node pod

#22

Can you see from kubernetes events what is the error that causes the pod not to be created?

#23

pods are working
i can connect to pod shell, but i can’t connect to nodes shell(control or worker node shell)

#24

pods are working
i can connect to pod shell, but i can’t connect to nodes shell(control or worker node shell)

#25

hello folks, I was facing the same problem here and when checking Lens Logs I did see it was trying to download the kubectl client same version of the Cluster, makes sense, but my VPN was not letting this download, so I manually downloaded the client and put it in ~/Library/Application\ Support/Lens/binaries/kubectl/1.31/ (the version varies) and give it execution permission with chmod and now everything is fine!

#26

Is this still an issue or ???
my version is Lens:2025.9.15.151055
and when trying to open a terminal for a pod … it flickers and hangs

#27

Hello @james.r.johnson,

Could you please share a few more details to help us investigate?

  • Your operating system (Windows / macOS / Linux + version)
  • Kubernetes cluster type (EKS, GKE, Minikube, etc.)
  • Whether the issue happens for all pods or specific ones
  • Any errors visible in the Developer Console

We’re also preparing a new release very soon that includes several fixes related to terminal and shell behavior — it might already address what you’re seeing.

Thanks for helping us narrow this down!