Headless simulation hangs forever when trying to close it

Omniverse Isaac Sim
1

Isaac Sim Version

4.5.0

Operating System

Ubuntu 20.04

GPU Information

  • Model: NVIDIA RTX A5000
  • Driver Version: 535.230.02

Topic Description

I am running a python script inside a docker container deployed according to NVIDIA guidelines, using the ./python.sh as recommended.
Running a python script with headless set to True produces a simulation that hangs forever and breaks my docker container (I need to stop it and restart it everytime).
Specifically:


from isaacsim import SimulationApp
simulation_app = SimulationApp({"headless": True})

from isaacsim.core.api import World
my_world = World(stage_units_in_meters=1.0, backend="torch", device="cuda")
my_world.reset(soft=False)
simulation_app.update()
simulation_app.close()

hangs forever with output:

[25.922s] Simulation App Startup Complete
[25.983s] [ext: omni.physx.fabric-106.5.7] startup
[27.763s] Simulation App Shutting Down
X connection to :27 broken (explicit kill or server shutdown).

Afterwards, when trying to run any other script the simulation app hangs forever during the start-up and I need to restart the docker container to be able to use IsaacSim again.

The workaround I have is not to call simulation_app.close() in my scripts. In this case I get a bunch of warnings like

2025-04-18 13:45:46 [24,696ms] [Warning] [omni.graph.core.plugin] Could not find category 'Replicator:Annotators' for removal
2025-04-18 13:45:46 [24,696ms] [Warning] [omni.graph.core.plugin] Could not find category 'Replicator:Annotators' for removal
2025-04-18 13:45:46 [24,696ms] [Warning] [omni.graph.core.plugin] Could not find category 'Replicator:Annotators' for removal
2025-04-18 13:45:46 [24,696ms] [Warning] [omni.graph.core.plugin] Could not find category 'Replicator:Annotators' for removal
2025-04-18 13:45:46 [24,696ms] [Warning] [omni.graph.core.plugin] Could not find category 'Replicator:Annotators' for removal
2025-04-18 13:45:46 [24,696ms] [Warning] [omni.graph.core.plugin] Could not find category 'Replicator:Annotators' for removal
2025-04-18 13:45:46 [24,696ms] [Warning] [omni.graph.core.plugin] Could not find category 'Replicator:Annotators' for removal
2025-04-18 13:45:46 [24,696ms] [Warning] [omni.graph.core.plugin] Could not find category 'Replicator:Annotators' for removal
2025-04-18 13:45:46 [24,696ms] [Warning] [omni.graph.core.plugin] Could not find category 'Replicator:Annotators' for removal
2025-04-18 13:45:46 [24,696ms] [Warning] [omni.graph.core.plugin] Could not find category 'Replicator:Annotators' for removal
2025-04-18 13:45:46 [24,697ms] [Warning] [omni.graph.core.plugin] Could not find category 'Replicator:Annotators' for removal
2025-04-18 13:45:46 [24,697ms] [Warning] [omni.graph.core.plugin] Could not find category 'Replicator:Annotators' for removal
2025-04-18 13:45:46 [24,697ms] [Warning] [omni.graph.core.plugin] Could not find category 'Replicator:Core' for removal
2025-04-18 13:45:46 [24,774ms] [Warning] [omni.graph.core.plugin] Could not find category 'animation' for removal
2025-04-18 13:45:46 [24,776ms] [Warning] [omni.fabric.plugin] gFabricState->gUsdStageToSimStageWithHistoryMap had 1 outstanding SimStageWithHistory(s) at shutdown
2025-04-18 13:45:46 [24,778ms] [Warning] [carb.audio.context] 1 contexts were leaked
2025-04-18 13:45:46 [24,834ms] [Warning] [carb] Recursive unloadAllPlugins() detected!

Is this intended behaviour?
UPDATE:
The same exact thing happens when running with headless=False. Same error message and same breaking to the docker container, that requires a restart to be used again. But this was expected, as NVIDIA guidelines mention that docker container apps cannot be run with headless=False.

Related Issues

The issue was reported here previously in May 2024 and it was never addressed by NVIDIA.

2

Do you also encounter the issue when running any of the strips mentioned in Python Environment — Isaac Sim Documentation?

3

It seems like I am unable to reproduce the error today, even though the set-up is the same as I described.
Is there any known issue regarding IsaacSim docker containers being unreliable?

4

I’m not aware of any known issues now. Please let us know if you encounter this again.

5

Thanks!

6

Hello!

We noticed that this topic hasn’t received any recent responses, so we are closing it for now to help keep the forum organized.

If you’re still experiencing this issue or have additional questions, please feel free to create a new topic with updated details. When doing so, we recommend mentioning or linking to this original topic in your new post—this helps provide context and makes it easier for others to assist you.

Thank you for being part of the NVIDIA Isaac Sim community.

Best regards,
The NVIDIA Isaac Sim Forum Team

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