Solve screen error "Cannot open your terminal '/dev/pts/0' - please check"

When using the screen tool you may be unable to start a screen session but instead encounter an error:

Cannot open your terminal '/dev/pts/0' - please check.

This is because another user (you) initiated the current terminal -- you probably did a sudo su into the user you are now trying to run screen as, right?

There are two ways to resolve this:

• Sign out and properly connect / sign in as the user you wish to use.
• Run script /dev/null to own the shell (more info over at Server Fault Show archive.org snapshot ); then try screen again.

Important: Do not chmod the virtual terminal device like suggested at (way too many) places around the interwebs. This gives other users read and write access to the terminal session!

Maybe you even want a different terminal multiplexer. You might want to take a look at tmux Show archive.org snapshot .