diff --git a/startvnc b/startvnc
index 32619013a97530e59567e88ca357a561652fdc91..7ec835fc87e0eacee42c12d7cd3a648a97afc5a7 100755
--- a/startvnc
+++ b/startvnc
@@ -212,6 +212,7 @@ submit_vnc_job () {
         local sbatch_resources="#SBATCH --ntasks=24"
     else
         local sbatch_resources="#SBATCH --nodes=${SVNC_NODES}"
+        sbatch_resources+=$'\n#SBATCH --exclusive'
     fi
     ssh_frontend "cd .startvnc && sbatch" <<EOF
 #!/bin/bash -l