Remote X-Windows Step-By-Step Walkthrough

April 23rd, 2007 by admin

  1. Download & Install Putty from:
    http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/
  2. Start Putty and go to Connection -> SSH -> X11 to check “Enable X11 Forwarding.”
  3. (optional) Go to SSH and choose “Enable Compression” for enhanced performance over some connections.
    I’d test this both ways and see which one seems faster to you.
  4. Go to Session and enter your host name
  5. Right click on window border, type name in Saved Sessions, then clicking Save, then Apply.
  6. Download and Install newest version of Xming (not xming-mesa – that has an older rendering method) from:
    http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=156984
    (Leave Putty Window Open; we’ll go back in a second.)
  7. (optional) Download and install Xming-fonts (from same location as above)
  8. (optional) Set font dpi to 96 by right clicking on the Shortcut in your Start Menu to Xming, then adding “-dpi 96″ to your command line (I do this because I noticed some standalone apps [i.e. qt apps] have tiny fonts otherwise).
  9. Start Xming (You’ll notice it in your system tray).
  10. Return to putty and type a command (i.e. kate or ddd), then press enter.
    You’ll notice that it steals focus from the terminal.
  11. Close the App you started and enter “command &” (i.e. kate &) followed by the enter key.
    This will background the process, letting you run multiple X-Windows apps simultaneously.

    You’re done! Enjoy X-Windows apps on your Windows Machine!

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