diff --git a/waveshell/main-waveshell.go b/waveshell/main-waveshell.go
index d861cf77c..43493b3c4 100644
--- a/waveshell/main-waveshell.go
+++ b/waveshell/main-waveshell.go
@@ -156,7 +156,7 @@ func readFullRunPacket(packetParser *packet.PacketParser) (*packet.RunPacketType
 }
 
 func handleSingle(fromServer bool) {
-	packetParser := packet.MakePacketParser(os.Stdin, false)
+	packetParser := packet.MakePacketParser(os.Stdin, nil)
 	sender := packet.MakePacketSender(os.Stdout, nil)
 	defer func() {
 		sender.Close()
diff --git a/waveshell/pkg/packet/parser.go b/waveshell/pkg/packet/parser.go
index 8b1a207a5..5be054b9e 100644
--- a/waveshell/pkg/packet/parser.go
+++ b/waveshell/pkg/packet/parser.go
@@ -177,13 +177,22 @@ func (p *PacketParser) SetErr(err error) {
 	}
 }
 
-func MakePacketParser(input io.Reader, rpcHandler bool) *PacketParser {
+type PacketParserOpts struct {
+	RpcHandler       bool
+	IgnoreUntilValid bool
+}
+
+func MakePacketParser(input io.Reader, opts *PacketParserOpts) *PacketParser {
+	if opts == nil {
+		opts = &PacketParserOpts{}
+	}
 	parser := &PacketParser{
 		Lock:       &sync.Mutex{},
 		MainCh:     make(chan PacketType),
 		RpcMap:     make(map[string]*RpcEntry),
-		RpcHandler: rpcHandler,
+		RpcHandler: opts.RpcHandler,
 	}
+	ignoreUntilValid := opts.IgnoreUntilValid
 	bufReader := bufio.NewReader(input)
 	go func() {
 		defer func() {
@@ -204,11 +213,15 @@ func MakePacketParser(input io.Reader, rpcHandler bool) *PacketParser {
 			// ##[len][json]\n
 			// ##14{"hello":true}\n
 			// ##N{...}
+			hasPrefix := strings.HasPrefix(line, "##")
 			bracePos := strings.Index(line, "{")
-			if !strings.HasPrefix(line, "##") || bracePos == -1 {
-				parser.MainCh <- MakeRawPacket(line[:len(line)-1])
+			if !hasPrefix || bracePos == -1 {
+				if !ignoreUntilValid {
+					parser.MainCh <- MakeRawPacket(line[:len(line)-1])
+				}
 				continue
 			}
+			ignoreUntilValid = false
 			packetLen := -1
 			if line[2:bracePos] != "N" {
 				packetLen, err = strconv.Atoi(line[2:bracePos])
diff --git a/waveshell/pkg/server/server.go b/waveshell/pkg/server/server.go
index 33475c295..164597b89 100644
--- a/waveshell/pkg/server/server.go
+++ b/waveshell/pkg/server/server.go
@@ -717,7 +717,7 @@ func RunServer() (int, error) {
 	if debug {
 		packet.GlobalDebug = true
 	}
-	server.MainInput = packet.MakePacketParser(os.Stdin, false)
+	server.MainInput = packet.MakePacketParser(os.Stdin, nil)
 	server.Sender = packet.MakePacketSender(os.Stdout, server.packetSenderErrorHandler)
 	defer server.Close()
 	var err error
diff --git a/waveshell/pkg/shexec/client.go b/waveshell/pkg/shexec/client.go
index ab9e0c02e..22770f924 100644
--- a/waveshell/pkg/shexec/client.go
+++ b/waveshell/pkg/shexec/client.go
@@ -50,8 +50,8 @@ func MakeClientProc(ctx context.Context, ecmd *exec.Cmd) (*ClientProc, *packet.I
 		return nil, nil, fmt.Errorf("running local client: %w", err)
 	}
 	sender := packet.MakePacketSender(inputWriter, nil)
-	stdoutPacketParser := packet.MakePacketParser(stdoutReader, false)
-	stderrPacketParser := packet.MakePacketParser(stderrReader, false)
+	stdoutPacketParser := packet.MakePacketParser(stdoutReader, &packet.PacketParserOpts{IgnoreUntilValid: true})
+	stderrPacketParser := packet.MakePacketParser(stderrReader, nil)
 	packetParser := packet.CombinePacketParsers(stdoutPacketParser, stderrPacketParser, true)
 	cproc := &ClientProc{
 		Cmd:          ecmd,
diff --git a/waveshell/pkg/shexec/shexec.go b/waveshell/pkg/shexec/shexec.go
index a44c0db55..ce8103326 100644
--- a/waveshell/pkg/shexec/shexec.go
+++ b/waveshell/pkg/shexec/shexec.go
@@ -754,7 +754,7 @@ func RunInstallFromCmd(ctx context.Context, ecmd *exec.Cmd, tryDetect bool, mshe
 	if mshellStream != nil {
 		sendMShellBinary(inputWriter, mshellStream)
 	}
-	packetParser := packet.MakePacketParser(stdoutReader, false)
+	packetParser := packet.MakePacketParser(stdoutReader, nil)
 	err = ecmd.Start()
 	if err != nil {
 		return fmt.Errorf("running ssh command: %w", err)
@@ -887,8 +887,8 @@ func RunClientSSHCommandAndWait(runPacket *packet.RunPacketType, fdContext FdCon
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("running ssh command: %w", err)
 	}
 	defer cmd.Close()
-	stdoutPacketParser := packet.MakePacketParser(stdoutReader, false)
-	stderrPacketParser := packet.MakePacketParser(stderrReader, false)
+	stdoutPacketParser := packet.MakePacketParser(stdoutReader, nil)
+	stderrPacketParser := packet.MakePacketParser(stderrReader, nil)
 	packetParser := packet.CombinePacketParsers(stdoutPacketParser, stderrPacketParser, false)
 	sender := packet.MakePacketSender(inputWriter, nil)
 	versionOk := false
diff --git a/wavesrv/pkg/remote/remote.go b/wavesrv/pkg/remote/remote.go
index 193ced352..513e5eadf 100644
--- a/wavesrv/pkg/remote/remote.go
+++ b/wavesrv/pkg/remote/remote.go
@@ -43,6 +43,11 @@ const RemoteTermCols = 80
 const PtyReadBufSize = 100
 const RemoteConnectTimeout = 15 * time.Second
 
+// we add this ping packet to the MShellServer Commands in order to deal with spurious SSH output
+// basically we guarantee the parser will see a valid packet (either an init error or a ping)
+// so we can pass ignoreUntilValid to PacketParser
+const PrintPingPacket = `printf "\n##N{\"type\": \"ping\"}\n"`
+
 const MShellServerCommandFmt = `
 PATH=$PATH:~/.mshell;
 which mshell-[%VERSION%] > /dev/null;
@@ -50,6 +55,7 @@ if [[ "$?" -ne 0 ]]
 then
   printf "\n##N{\"type\": \"init\", \"notfound\": true, \"uname\": \"%s | %s\"}\n" "$(uname -s)" "$(uname -m)"
 else
+  [%PINGPACKET%]
   mshell-[%VERSION%] --server
 fi
 `
@@ -60,14 +66,16 @@ func MakeLocalMShellCommandStr(isSudo bool) (string, error) {
 		return "", err
 	}
 	if isSudo {
-		return fmt.Sprintf("sudo %s --server", mshellPath), nil
+		return fmt.Sprintf(`%s; sudo %s --server`, PrintPingPacket, mshellPath), nil
 	} else {
-		return fmt.Sprintf("%s --server", mshellPath), nil
+		return fmt.Sprintf(`%s; %s --server`, PrintPingPacket, mshellPath), nil
 	}
 }
 
 func MakeServerCommandStr() string {
-	return strings.ReplaceAll(MShellServerCommandFmt, "[%VERSION%]", semver.MajorMinor(scbase.MShellVersion))
+	rtn := strings.ReplaceAll(MShellServerCommandFmt, "[%VERSION%]", semver.MajorMinor(scbase.MShellVersion))
+	rtn = strings.ReplaceAll(rtn, "[%PINGPACKET%]", PrintPingPacket)
+	return rtn
 }
 
 const (