Originally posted by **vgelbgras** June 4, 2024
Hi guys,
I am trying to use pymechanical on a virtual machine (the objective is to use the VM as runner for GH workflow running e2e tests).
When I try to get the App(), it raises an error.
Would you have some guidelines to debug this?
```
>>> from ansys.mechanical.core import App
>>> app = App()
CRITICAL - - logging - handle_exception - Uncaught exception
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "", line 1, in
File "C:\ansysdev\github-action-runner-2\_work\_tool\Python\3.10.11\x64\lib\site-packages\ansys\mechanical\core\embedding\app.py", line 137, in __init__
self._app = _start_application(configuration, self._version, db_file)
File "C:\ansysdev\github-action-runner-2\_work\_tool\Python\3.10.11\x64\lib\site-packages\ansys\mechanical\core\embedding\app.py", line 74, in _start_application
return Ansys.Mechanical.Embedding.Application(db_file, addin_configuration_name)
System.NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object.
at Ansys.Mechanical.Scripting.ACTScriptEngine.GetScope(String scopeName)
at Ansys.Mechanical.Scripting.ACTScriptEngine.CreateScope(String scopeName, Boolean isEmpty, Nullable`1 debugMode)
at Ansys.ACT.Mechanical.Application.MechanicalApplicationAPI.ExecuteCommandWithScope(String scopeName, String cmd, Dictionary`2 args, Dictionary`2 rets)
at Ansys.ACT.Mechanical.Application.MechanicalApplicationAPI.ExecuteCommand(String cmd, Dictionary`2 args, Dictionary`2 rets)
at Ansys.ACT.Core.ExtensionAPI.ExecuteCommand(String cmd, Dictionary`2 args, String vars)
at Ansys.Mechanical.Embedding.Application.startApp(String dbFile, String configuration)
```
system : windows virtual machine Mechanical version - 24R1
Discussed in https://github.com/ansys/pymechanical/discussions/756