September 2017

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 T<span style="font-family: Verdana, "BitStream vera Sans", Helvetica, sans-serif;">he X Window System, or X11, is the window server for Linux. If you’ve used a desktop Linux distribution like Fedora or Ubuntu, you’ve used X11. Desktops like GNOME and KDE are displayed by X11. Programs that you open on a Linux desktop are displayed by X11.</span><br />
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Usually, when you want to connect to your Linux computer from a remote location, you do so with SSH (Secure Shell). SSH lets you make a secure terminal connection to your Linux computer and use the command line. But, wouldn’t it be cool to connect to your remote Linux computer and use its fancy graphical interface? This tutorial will show you how to connect to a remote Linux computer from Windows and use the X11 graphical interface using two free programs, <a href="http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/" style="color: #2970a6; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;">PuTTY</a> and <a href="http://www.straightrunning.com/XmingNotes/" style="color: #2970a6; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;">Xming</a>.</div>
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PuTTY</h2>
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<a href="http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/" style="color: #2970a6; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;">PuTTY</a> is a free SSH client that allows you to connect to a remote Linux computer and use the command line. PuTTY can also be used to forward secure data over SSH to other programs. This is called tunneling. We’re going to be taking advantage of PuTTY’s ability to tunnel X11 data. To do that, we first need to install PuTTY.</div>
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Installing PuTTY</h3>
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<li style="list-style-position: outside; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 5px;">Download <b style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">putty.exe</b> to your Windows desktop from the following address:<br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><a href="http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/download.html" style="color: #2970a6; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;">http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/download.html</a></li>
<li style="list-style-position: outside; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 5px;">There is no installer. Putty.exe is a self-contained executable program. Put it someplace you can easily find it, and make a desktop shortcut to it if you like. I usually put it in <b style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">C:\Program Files</b>.</li>
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Creating a PuTTY Session to Connect to Your Remote Linux Computer</h3>
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When you connect to your remote Linux computer, you will need to set several connection settings to make everything work correctly. PuTTY lets you save these settings in a session so you can reuse them the next time you connect. We’ll make a session that allows PuTTY to forward your Linux computer’s X11 graphical interface over SSH.</div>
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<li style="list-style-position: outside; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 5px;">Open PuTTY on your Windows desktop.</li>
<li style="list-style-position: outside; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 5px;">PuTTY will open and display the <b style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Session</b> panel.<ol style="margin: 5px 10px 10px 20px; padding: 0px 0px 10px;">
<li style="list-style-position: outside; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 5px;">In the <b style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Host Name</b> field, type the hostname or IP address of your Linux computer.</li>
<li style="list-style-position: outside; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 5px;">In the field underneath the <b style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Saved Sessions</b> label, type a name for your saved session.</li>
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<img alt="PuTTY Session Configuration Screenshot" src="http://www.nth-design.com/images/x11-putty-xming/putty-configuration-session.png" style="border: 0px; margin: 10px 0px; max-width: 600px; padding: 0px;" /></div>
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<li style="list-style-position: outside; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 5px;">Under the <b style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Connection</b> category, expand <b style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">SSH</b> and choose <b style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">X11</b>.<ol style="margin: 5px 10px 10px 20px; padding: 0px 0px 10px;">
<li style="list-style-position: outside; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 5px;">Click the <b style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Enable X11 Forwarding</b> checkbox.</li>
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<img alt="PuTTY X11 Forwarding Screenshot" src="http://www.nth-design.com/images/x11-putty-xming/putty-configuration-x11.png" style="border: 0px; margin: 10px 0px; max-width: 600px; padding: 0px;" /></div>
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<li style="list-style-position: outside; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 5px;">Go back to the <b style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Session</b> category and click <b style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Save</b> to save your session connection settings.</li>
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Xming</h2>
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<a href="http://www.straightrunning.com/XmingNotes/" style="color: #2970a6; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;">Xming</a> is a free X Window server for the Windows desktop. With Xming, you can display graphical applications from your remote Linux computer on your Windows desktop. To take advantage of Xming’s capabilities, we’ll need to first install it.</div>
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Installing Xming</h3>
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<li style="list-style-position: outside; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 5px;">Download the Xming installer to your Windows desktop from the following address:<br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><a href="http://www.straightrunning.com/XmingNotes/" style="color: #2970a6; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;">http://www.straightrunning.com/XmingNotes/</a></li>
<li style="list-style-position: outside; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 5px;">Look for the Xming link under <b style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Public Domain Releases</b>.</li>
<li style="list-style-position: outside; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 5px;">Run the Xming setup program on your Windows desktop. When selecting components to install, make sure the following are selected:<ol style="margin: 5px 10px 10px 20px; padding: 0px 0px 10px;">
<li style="list-style-position: outside; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 5px;">XLaunch Wizard (selected by default)</li>
<li style="list-style-position: outside; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 5px;">Normal PuTTY Link SSH Client (selected by default)</li>
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Running Xming</h3>
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The makers of Xming have provided a simple utility called Xlaunch that allows you to configure Xming easily, and also save your configuration for future use. To run Xming, open XLaunch and select the configuration you wish to use. We’ll use the configuration that follows.</div>
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<li style="list-style-position: outside; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 5px;">Open XLaunch from the program menu.</li>
<li style="list-style-position: outside; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 5px;">Select <b style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Multiple Windows</b> and click <b style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Next</b>. This tells Xming to open each remote Linux application in a new window.<br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><img alt="XLaunch Multiple Windows Screenshot" src="http://www.nth-design.com/images/x11-putty-xming/xlaunch-multiple-windows.png" style="border: 0px; margin: 10px 0px; max-width: 600px; padding: 0px;" /></li>
<li style="list-style-position: outside; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 5px;">Select <b style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Start No Client</b> and click <b style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Next</b>. This tells Xming to launch and wait for commands from another program (like PuTTY).<br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><img alt="XLaunch Start No Client Screenshot" src="http://www.nth-design.com/images/x11-putty-xming/xlaunch-start-no-client.png" style="border: 0px; margin: 10px 0px; max-width: 600px; padding: 0px;" /></li>
<li style="list-style-position: outside; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 5px;">Make sure that <b style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Clipboard</b> is selected and click <b style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Next</b>. This tells Xming to enable your remote Linux applications to share a unified clipboard.<br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><img alt="XLaunch Clipboard Screenshot" src="http://www.nth-design.com/images/x11-putty-xming/xlaunch-clipboard.png" style="border: 0px; margin: 10px 0px; max-width: 600px; padding: 0px;" /></li>
<li style="list-style-position: outside; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 5px;">Click the <b style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Finish</b> button to launch Xming.<br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><img alt="XLaunch Finish Screenshot" src="http://www.nth-design.com/images/x11-putty-xming/xlaunch-finish.png" style="border: 0px; margin: 10px 0px; max-width: 600px; padding: 0px;" /></li>
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Launching Graphical Applications from your Remote Linux Computer</h2>
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Now that Xming is running, you can open your PuTTY session and launch a graphical application. My Linux computer is running Fedora 12 with the Gnome desktop. I’m going to launch my remote Linux computer’s <b style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">calculator</b> on my Windows desktop through the SSH connection using X11 forwarding.</div>
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<li style="list-style-position: outside; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 5px;">Open PuTTY.</li>
<li style="list-style-position: outside; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 5px;">Double-click on the saved session you created earlier. PuTTY will create an SSH connection to your remote Linux computer.<br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><img alt="Launch PuTTY Screenshot" src="http://www.nth-design.com/images/x11-putty-xming/putty-launch.png" style="border: 0px; margin: 10px 0px; max-width: 600px; padding: 0px;" /></li>
<li style="list-style-position: outside; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 5px;">Login to your Linux computer.</li>
<li style="list-style-position: outside; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 5px;">Type <b style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">gcalctool</b> at the command prompt and hit enter. (or open the app u want like jconsole from its path)<br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><img alt="Launch gcalctool Screenshot" src="http://www.nth-design.com/images/x11-putty-xming/putty-gcalctool.png" style="border: 0px; margin: 10px 0px; max-width: 600px; padding: 0px;" /></li>
<li style="list-style-position: outside; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 5px;">If everything worked correctly, your remote Linux computer’s calculator (or app you executed) should appear on your desktop. <br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><img alt="gcalctool Screenshot" src="http://www.nth-design.com/images/x11-putty-xming/gcalctool.png" style="border: 0px; margin: 10px 0px; max-width: 600px; padding: 0px;" /></li>
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