# Cant open a pod shell
**URL:** https://forums.k8slens.dev/t/cant-open-a-pod-shell/6681
**Category:** Lens Support & Troubleshooting
**Created:** [December 4, 2025, 8:51am UTC](https://forums.k8slens.dev/t/cant-open-a-pod-shell/6681 "2025-12-04T08:51:09Z")
**Posts on this page:** 5
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@itiel.olenick](https://forums.k8slens.dev/u/itiel.olenick)
#### Post date: [December 4, 2025, 8:51am UTC](https://forums.k8slens.dev/t/cant-open-a-pod-shell/6681/1 "2025-12-04T08:51:09Z")
After working for a while,
all of the sudden i find that i cannot open a pod shell.
Getting:
```auto
execvp(3) failed.: Permission denied
Terminal will auto-close in 15 seconds ...
```
Logs show this for the shell startup:
```auto
info: ▪ [LENS-CORE-MAIN]: Successfully ensured kubectl 1.34.1-eks-3cfe0ce at "/usr/local/bin/" +119ms
info: ┏ [UNIX-SHELL-ENV]: running against /bin/zsh +84ms
info: ┃ [1] {
info: ┃ [2] command: ` '/tmp/.mount_Lens-2c1qLzM/lens-desktop' -p '"39e745c27ee34dcb9da6736811a0dcc5" + JSON.stringify(process.env) + "39e745c27ee34dcb9da6736811a0dcc5"'`,
info: ┃ [3] shellArgs: ['-l', '-i']
info: ┗ [4] }
info: ▪ [POD-SHELL]: PTY for 8c580c18e76144b083e10c6fac87dbad:8546036a-f812-46b7-9ece-bac32564a331 is started with PID=1817966 +145ms
info: ▪ [TELEMETRY-MAIN]: pod open +0ms
GSSAPI client step 1
GSSAPI client step 1
GSSAPI client step 1
info: ▪ [POD-SHELL]: shell has exited for 8c580c18e76144b083e10c6fac87dbad:8546036a-f812-46b7-9ece-bac32564a331 closed with exitcode=1 +99ms
```
Using latest release:
```auto
Lens: 2025.10.230725-latest
Electron: 38.2.2
Chrome: 140.0.7339.133
Node: 22.19.0
```
Reverting to some older version i get this before the terminal closes:
```auto
zsh: read-only variable: STORAGE_DRIVER
```
Tying to debug this and find where this is coming from. Any suggestions?
thanks,
Itiel
---
### Author:  [@tkudinov](https://forums.k8slens.dev/u/tkudinov)
#### Post date: [December 4, 2025, 10:31am UTC](https://forums.k8slens.dev/t/cant-open-a-pod-shell/6681/2 "2025-12-04T10:31:19Z")
Hello @itiel.olenick,
Thank you for reaching out to Lens Forum!
Did you check the accessible to terminal outside of Lens?
We are waiting for you to reply.
Best Regards,
Tikhon Kudinov
Lens Support Engineer
Mirantis, Inc
---
### Author:  [@crothmann](https://forums.k8slens.dev/u/crothmann)
#### Post date: [December 4, 2025, 12:17pm UTC](https://forums.k8slens.dev/t/cant-open-a-pod-shell/6681/3 "2025-12-04T12:17:42Z")
Hi @itiel.olenick,
thanks for the report and the extra details.
The older version showing
`zsh: read-only variable: STORAGE_DRIVER`
suggests this is coming from your local zsh setup rather than from Lens or the pod itself. Usually that happens when a startup script marks STORAGE\_DRIVER as read-only and then tries to change it again, which makes zsh exit immediately. In the newer Lens build that failure bubbles up as the execvp(3) failed: Permission denied message you’re seeing.
As a quick check, could you run this in a normal terminal (outside of Lens)?
`/bin/zsh -l -i -c 'echo OK'`
If you get the same error there, you can search for where STORAGE\_DRIVER is set with:
```auto
grep -R "STORAGE_DRIVER" ~/.zsh* ~/.config/zsh /etc/zsh* /etc/profile.d 2>/dev/null
```
and adjust that script so it doesn’t declare the variable read-only and then reassign it.
We’ll also check on our side how we can surface the underlying shell error more clearly instead of the generic execvp message.
Thanks again for flagging this.
---
### Author:  [@itiel.olenick](https://forums.k8slens.dev/u/itiel.olenick)
#### Post date: [December 4, 2025, 1:30pm UTC](https://forums.k8slens.dev/t/cant-open-a-pod-shell/6681/4 "2025-12-04T13:30:53Z")
Hi @crothmann thanks for the quick reply.
So after making some changes to the way STORAGE\_DRIVER is set and locked, im still getting the same error when trying to open a pod shell (terminal tab works though and no longer shows the `zsh: read-only variable: STORAGE_DRIVER` error.
Is there any way to debug this further using some logging debug env var or flag when starting lens?
---
### Author:  [@itiel.olenick](https://forums.k8slens.dev/u/itiel.olenick)
#### Post date: [December 4, 2025, 2:49pm UTC](https://forums.k8slens.dev/t/cant-open-a-pod-shell/6681/5 "2025-12-04T14:49:53Z")
Ok found the issues:
As for the `zsh: read-only variable: STORAGE_DRIVER` - this was caused by one of the profile scripts running twice.
As for the `execvp(3) failed.: Permission denied` - this was caused by the path to the kubectl executable set to `/usr/local/bin/` instead of `/usr/local/bin/kubectl`
Thanks for the help guys!