# I'm trying to use interactive mode, but my terminal keeps disconnecting

**URL:** <https://ask.cyberinfrastructure.org/t/im-trying-to-use-interactive-mode-but-my-terminal-keeps-disconnecting/1437>\
**Category:** Northeastern Research Computing\
**Created:** [July 26, 2020, 1:35am UTC](https://ask.cyberinfrastructure.org/t/im-trying-to-use-interactive-mode-but-my-terminal-keeps-disconnecting/1437 "2020-07-26T01:35:31Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Julia](https://ask.cyberinfrastructure.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/2bfe46/32.png) [@Julia](https://ask.cyberinfrastructure.org/u/Julia)\
**Post date:** [July 26, 2020, 1:35am UTC](https://ask.cyberinfrastructure.org/t/im-trying-to-use-interactive-mode-but-my-terminal-keeps-disconnecting/1437/1 "2020-07-26T01:35:31Z")

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I want to perform interactive tasks on the cluster, but my terminal disconnects because of my spotty internet connection and I lose my progress. Is there a workaround for this?

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**Author:** ![vsoch](https://ask.cyberinfrastructure.org/user_avatar/ask.cyberinfrastructure.org/vsoch/32/112_2.png) [@vsoch](https://ask.cyberinfrastructure.org/u/vsoch)\
**Post date:** [July 26, 2020, 2:48am UTC](https://ask.cyberinfrastructure.org/t/im-trying-to-use-interactive-mode-but-my-terminal-keeps-disconnecting/1437/2 "2020-07-26T02:48:58Z")

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I always used screen [https://linuxize.com/post/how-to-use-linux-screen/](https://linuxize.com/post/how-to-use-linux-screen/), meaning before starting an interactive session on some node, I’d start the screen on the login node, and then do sdev or srun with my interactive parameters. Then if I was kicked off, it would be easy to reattach to it. There is a nice guide / tutorial here

> **[How To Use Linux Screen](https://linuxize.com/post/how-to-use-linux-screen/)**
>
> Screen or GNU Screen, is a terminal multiplexer. In other words, it means that you can a start a screen session and then open any number of windows (virtual terminals) inside that session.

If your cluster has several login nodes just make sure you remembered the one where you started the session. That can be a pain if you forget 🙂