pygame.error: No available video device

Question

I have this setup:

 $ python -V
Python 2.7.2+
 $ python -c "import pygame; print pygame.__version__"
1.9.1release

When I run a pygame script, I get this error:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/home/santosh/tmp/pygameHelloWorld.py", line 8, in <module>
    windowSurface = pygame.display.set_mode((500, 400), 0, 32)
pygame.error: No available video device

I am using Ubuntu and have install pygame with apt-get. Additionally I have install all dependencies mentioned on this pygame wiki page.

Answer 1

If you are running Pygame on a UNIX system, like a Linux server, try using a DummyVideoDriver:

import os
os.environ["SDL_VIDEODRIVER"] = "dummy"

Answer 2

From similar experience the most likely problem is something is wrong with one of your SDL packages. Try running the following.

import pygame
pygame.init()
pygame.display.list_modes()

If you get back an empty list, it's definitely because of the packages. Try reinstalling them.

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• SDL init failure, reason is: No available video device
  

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