Score:2

Black window with "less", "nano", or "screen" - WSL - Ubuntu 20.04.3 LTS

cn flag

I'm using Windows Subsystem Linux with Ubuntu 20.04.3 LTS on my laptop (OS: Windows 10 Enterprise LTSC).

It worked flawlessly until a few days ago when I suddenly could not use less, nano, screen etc. anymore. Whenever I use one of these commands, I just see a blinking dash in the top left corner but no text is visible:

demonstration of issue

I can get back to the normal console when pressing the respective keys (e.g. q for less, or Ctrl+a+d for screen), and then I can see the content from the previous command:

recovery demonstration

So there seems to be something broken, but if possible I would like to not have to uninstall and reinstall all of WSL since I would also lose my conda environments, etc.

WSL System Information:

Distributor ID: Ubuntu
Description:    Ubuntu 20.04.3 LTS
Release:        20.04
Codename:       focal
Score:3
vn flag

Sounds a lot like this issue with a recent Windows 10 Enterprise LTSC update -- Most likely KB5006368. Also found in this Super User question.

Two possible solutions:

  • export TERM=xterm-color in your startup (e.g. ~/.bashrc)
  • Uninstall KB5006368
crisprog avatar
cn flag
Thanks a lot for your help! Adding "export TERM=xterm-color" to my "~/.bashrc" solved the issue!
mangohost

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