Jupyter requests token remotely but requests (unknown) password locally

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Dear Jupyter experts,

I would like to use Jupyter Notebooks on a remote machine. I have a VNC connection to that machine and I have successfully started a jupyter server on it by typing jupyter notebook. The server appears to start normally and the URL appears along with the (auto-generated) token. Clicking on it opens the browser window but, unexpectedly, the Jupyter server asks me for a password as shown in the screenshot below. I am not aware of setting any password. Note that this prompt looks different from the one you’d get if you connect to the Jupyter server without specifying a token in the URL. (I am deliberately showing the empty white screen below the password prompt.)

Screen Shot 2024-10-10 at 09.30.57
Screen Shot 2024-10-10 at 09.30.57467×770 18.9 KB

Next, I switched back to my local machine where I created an SSH tunnel connecting to the port on the remote machine where the Jupyter Server is running. Curiously, if I now connect to the same server from my local machine, the expected prompt for a token appears as shown in this image. (Sorry – not a link to my actual screenshot as, being a newbie, I am allowed to embed just one image :wink:. Looks like it’s from YouTube.)

I enter the auto-generated token, which successfully logs me in to that server. I can now use Jupyter Notebooks as expected.

Why can I use the Jupyter server from my local machine through the SSH tunnel but not on the remote machine, to which I am connected via VNC? What password might the Jupyter server ask for on the remote machine?

I never (deliberately) set any password. I tried explicitly setting one using jupyter notebook configure but that did not seem to be the password referred to here.

Do you have any ideas?

Thanks and best,
Michael

PS: Some possibly helpful information…

cat ~/.jupyter/nbconfig/notebook.json returns:

{
  "load_extensions": {
    "jupyter-js-widgets/extension": true
  },
  "Notebook": {
    "Header": true,
    "Toolbar": true
  }

jupyter --version returns:

Selected Jupyter core packages...
IPython          : 8.27.0
ipykernel        : 6.29.5
ipywidgets       : 8.1.5
jupyter_client   : 8.6.3
jupyter_core     : 5.7.2
jupyter_server   : 2.14.2
jupyterlab       : 4.2.5
nbclient         : 0.10.0
nbconvert        : 7.16.4
nbformat         : 5.10.4
notebook         : 7.2.2
qtconsole        : not installed
traitlets        : 5.14.3