Desktop won't start
Fix desktops stuck in pending or booting status.
Symptoms
Your desktop is stuck in pending or booting for more than two minutes, or it jumps straight to stopped without ever reaching running.
Most of the time, retrying fixes it.
The boot sequence
When you create a desktop, it goes through three stages:
- Pending -- the VM is being cloned from the base image
- Booting -- the initialization process configures the system and starts services
- Running -- the VM reports an IP and all services are up
This normally takes 30 to 60 seconds. If it has been longer than two minutes, something went wrong.
Possible causes
Initialization failure
The initialization process handles first-boot setup: your API keys, the desktop environment, and the agent. If it fails or times out, the desktop stays stuck in booting.
VM not reporting status
Le Bureau monitors the VM to detect when it is ready. If the VM's status reporting has not started, the platform cannot tell the VM is ready.
Infrastructure capacity
Occasionally the host does not have enough resources to start a new VM. This is rare and mostly happens during peak usage.
Missing provider configuration
If you create a desktop without setting up an AI provider and API key first, it will fail. You need a valid provider configuration before provisioning.
What to try
1. Wait a bit longer
Some desktops take up to 90 seconds to boot, especially the first time. If yours is in booting and you have only waited a minute, give it another 30 seconds.
2. Stop and restart
If the desktop has been stuck for more than two minutes:
- Click Stop on the desktop card
- Wait for the status to change to stopped
- Click Start to boot it again
A fresh boot fixes most transient problems.
3. Delete and recreate
If restarting does not help, delete the desktop and create a new one. This forces a clean clone from the base image.
4. Check your provider configuration
Open the desktop creation form and confirm you have selected a valid AI provider and entered a working API key.
5. Contact support
If none of the above works, email contact@talentai.fr with your desktop name and the time you tried to create it.
Avoiding start failures
- Configure your AI provider before creating a desktop
- Create desktops one at a time, let each finish booting before starting the next
- If problems keep happening, check Le Bureau's status page or social channels for maintenance announcements