# Question about cluster setup on windows

**URL:** <https://discourse.julialang.org/t/question-about-cluster-setup-on-windows/104972>\
**Category:** General Usage\
**Tags:** question\
**Created:** [October 15, 2023, 6:10am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/question-about-cluster-setup-on-windows/104972 "2023-10-15T06:10:39Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![lionisxn](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/lionisxn/32/37989_2.png) [@lionisxn](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/lionisxn)\
**Post date:** [October 15, 2023, 6:10am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/question-about-cluster-setup-on-windows/104972/1 "2023-10-15T06:10:39Z")

</div>

I am learning how to build up a computer cluster for computation. Now I have already started up the SSH service on one server running windows 10 and keep the same julia version of the latest 1.9.3 installed in the same path, and I can successfully ssh to it via my laptop running windows 11. However, when I call addprocs([“user@remote\_IP\_address”]), it is thrown that

> ERROR: TaskFailedException
> 
> ```
> nested task error: Unable to read host:port string from worker. Launch command exited with error?
> 
> ```

What were missed during the above settings to result in the failure? Or preferably, could you please share your experience of a successful setting?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![johnh](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/johnh/32/3615_2.png) [@johnh](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/johnh)\
**Post date:** [October 15, 2023, 8:06am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/question-about-cluster-setup-on-windows/104972/2 "2023-10-15T08:06:01Z")

</div>

I would ask you to think about using a cloud service using Linux

AWS Parallel Cluster [AWS ParallelCluster - Amazon Web Services](https://aws.amazon.com/hpc/parallelcluster/)  
Azure [High-performance computing (HPC) on Azure - Azure Architecture Center | Microsoft Learn](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/architecture/topics/high-performance-computing)

I have been building HPC clusters for over 20 years - go with the flow

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![lionisxn](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/lionisxn/32/37989_2.png) [@lionisxn](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/lionisxn)\
**Post date:** [October 15, 2023, 9:03am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/question-about-cluster-setup-on-windows/104972/3 "2023-10-15T09:03:09Z")

</div>

Really cool! but it actually doesn’t resolve my problem 🤣

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![johnh](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/johnh/32/3615_2.png) [@johnh](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/johnh)\
**Post date:** [October 15, 2023, 5:26pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/question-about-cluster-setup-on-windows/104972/4 "2023-10-15T17:26:43Z")

</div>

If you use the ssh server in Mobaxterm does this help?  
[https://mobaxterm.mobatek.net/features.html](https://mobaxterm.mobatek.net/features.html)

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![sob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/65b543/32.png) [@sob](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/sob)\
**Post date:** [August 15, 2025, 9:50pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/question-about-cluster-setup-on-windows/104972/5 "2025-08-15T21:50:30Z")

</div>

@lionisxn Did you ever solve this?

I have a Linux host that can do key based SSH login into a Windows host and start `julia.exe`

However, on the Linux machine:

```julia-auto
julia> addprocs(["sob@win10-work"],shell=:wincmd)
The syntax of the command is incorrect.
ERROR: TaskFailedException
 
    nested task error: Unable to read host:port string from worker. Launch command exited with error?
    Stacktrace:
     [1] worker_from_id(pg::Distributed.ProcessGroup, i::Int64)
       @ Distributed ~/.julia/juliaup/julia-1.11.6+0.x64.linux.gnu/share/julia/stdlib/v1.11/Distributed/src/cluster.jl:1093
     [2] worker_from_id
       @ ~/.julia/juliaup/julia-1.11.6+0.x64.linux.gnu/share/julia/stdlib/v1.11/Distributed/src/cluster.jl:1090 [inlined]
     [3] remote_do
       @ ~/.julia/juliaup/julia-1.11.6+0.x64.linux.gnu/share/julia/stdlib/v1.11/Distributed/src/remotecall.jl:557 [inlined]
     [4] kill(manager::Distributed.SSHManager, pid::Int64, config::WorkerConfig)
       @ Distributed ~/.julia/juliaup/julia-1.11.6+0.x64.linux.gnu/share/julia/stdlib/v1.11/Distributed/src/managers.jl:736
     [5] create_worker(manager::Distributed.SSHManager, wconfig::WorkerConfig)
       @ Distributed ~/.julia/juliaup/julia-1.11.6+0.x64.linux.gnu/share/julia/stdlib/v1.11/Distributed/src/cluster.jl:604
     [6] setup_launched_worker(manager::Distributed.SSHManager, wconfig::WorkerConfig, launched_q::Vector{Int64})
       @ Distributed ~/.julia/juliaup/julia-1.11.6+0.x64.linux.gnu/share/julia/stdlib/v1.11/Distributed/src/cluster.jl:545
     [7] (::Distributed.var"#45#48"{Distributed.SSHManager, Vector{Int64}, WorkerConfig})()
       @ Distributed ~/.julia/juliaup/julia-1.11.6+0.x64.linux.gnu/share/julia/stdlib/v1.11/Distributed/src/cluster.jl:501
    
    caused by: Unable to read host:port string from worker. Launch command exited with error?
    Stacktrace:
     [1] read_worker_host_port(io::Base.PipeEndpoint)
       @ Distributed ~/.julia/juliaup/julia-1.11.6+0.x64.linux.gnu/share/julia/stdlib/v1.11/Distributed/src/cluster.jl:330
     [2] connect(manager::Distributed.SSHManager, pid::Int64, config::WorkerConfig)
       @ Distributed ~/.julia/juliaup/julia-1.11.6+0.x64.linux.gnu/share/julia/stdlib/v1.11/Distributed/src/managers.jl:580
     [3] create_worker(manager::Distributed.SSHManager, wconfig::WorkerConfig)
       @ Distributed ~/.julia/juliaup/julia-1.11.6+0.x64.linux.gnu/share/julia/stdlib/v1.11/Distributed/src/cluster.jl:600
     [4] setup_launched_worker(manager::Distributed.SSHManager, wconfig::WorkerConfig, launched_q::Vector{Int64})
       @ Distributed ~/.julia/juliaup/julia-1.11.6+0.x64.linux.gnu/share/julia/stdlib/v1.11/Distributed/src/cluster.jl:545
     [5] (::Distributed.var"#45#48"{Distributed.SSHManager, Vector{Int64}, WorkerConfig})()
       @ Distributed ~/.julia/juliaup/julia-1.11.6+0.x64.linux.gnu/share/julia/stdlib/v1.11/Distributed/src/cluster.jl:501
Stacktrace:
 [1] sync_end(c::Channel{Any})
   @ Base ./task.jl:466
 [2] macro expansion
   @ ./task.jl:499 [inlined]
 [3] addprocs_locked(manager::Distributed.SSHManager; kwargs::@Kwargs{shell::Symbol})
   @ Distributed ~/.julia/juliaup/julia-1.11.6+0.x64.linux.gnu/share/julia/stdlib/v1.11/Distributed/src/cluster.jl:490
 [4] addprocs_locked
   @ ~/.julia/juliaup/julia-1.11.6+0.x64.linux.gnu/share/julia/stdlib/v1.11/Distributed/src/cluster.jl:456 [inlined]
 [5] addprocs(manager::Distributed.SSHManager; kwargs::@Kwargs{shell::Symbol})
   @ Distributed ~/.julia/juliaup/julia-1.11.6+0.x64.linux.gnu/share/julia/stdlib/v1.11/Distributed/src/cluster.jl:450
 [6] addprocs
   @ ~/.julia/juliaup/julia-1.11.6+0.x64.linux.gnu/share/julia/stdlib/v1.11/Distributed/src/cluster.jl:443 [inlined]
 [7] #addprocs#255
   @ ~/.julia/juliaup/julia-1.11.6+0.x64.linux.gnu/share/julia/stdlib/v1.11/Distributed/src/managers.jl:159 [inlined]
 [8] top-level scope
   @ REPL[16]:1
 
julia> 

```

I have tried to set `exename` in an explicit manner, but that doesn’t change the outcome. I should also note that I’m able to create a worker on a Linux remote host without issue (also with key based SSH auth).

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![sob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/65b543/32.png) [@sob](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/sob)\
**Post date:** [August 17, 2025, 1:53am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/question-about-cluster-setup-on-windows/104972/6 "2025-08-17T01:53:54Z")

</div>

It turns out I only needed to add `dir=nothing` for the above `addprocs()` call to work. Now I successfully get

`julia> @show remotecall_fetch(Sys.windows_version,26) remotecall_fetch(Sys.windows_version, 26) = v"10.0.19045" v"10.0.19045"`