How to startup Cygwin/X
Local usage
single clients
Startup XWin
XWin :0 -clipboard -multiwindow
Start xterm
DISPLAY=:0.0 xterm
Complete desktop
Install KDE or Gnome on cygwin
Startup XWin
XWin :0 -clipboard
Start KDE
DISPLAY=:0.0 startkde
Start Gnome
DISPLAY=:0.0 gnome-session
Note: This has not been tested. Check the pages mentioned above what they advise.
use startx
startx /opt/gnome/bin/gnome-session -- :0 -clipboard
Remote usage
single clients
The examples assumes you want to start xterm from the remote host linuxserver
Startup XWin
XWin :0 -clipboard -multiwindow
Use OpenSSH to connect to the remote host and start xterm
DISPLAY=:0.0 ssh -f -Y linuxserver xterm
Commands explained
| command | description |
| XWin | Cygwin/X binary |
| :0 | Display number |
| -clipboard | Start with clipboard support |
| -multiwindow | Show every X11 window in its own window |
| DISPLAY=:0.0 | Tell which xserver to use. This matches with the display number from server startup |
| ssh | Start OpenSSH |
| -f | Do not show a remote shell. Just start the program |
| -Y | Tunnel the X11 protocol in the ssh connection |
| linuxserver | Name of the remote host |
| xterm | Program to start. Just as you would start it locally |
Complete desktop
Startup XWin
XWin :0 -clipboard
Connect via OpenSSH and start KDE
DISPLAY=:0.0 ssh -f -Y linuxserver startkde
Connect via OpenSSH and start Gnome
DISPLAY=:0.0 ssh -f -Y linuxserver gnome-session
Commands explained
| command | description |
| XWin | Cygwin/X binary |
| :0 | Display number |
| -clipboard | Start with clipboard support |
| Here we omit the -multiwindow switch since we want the whole desktop to be displayed in one window | |
| DISPLAY=:0.0 | Tell which xserver to use. This matches with the display number from server startup |
| ssh | Start OpenSSH |
| -f | Do not show a remote shell. Just start the program |
| -Y | Tunnel the X11 protocol in the ssh connection |
| linuxserver | Name of the remote host |
| startkde | Startup program for the desktop environment. You can use .xinitrc too. This will behave as if you had run startx locally |
Use startx
startx /usr/bin/ssh -f -Y linuxserver startkde -- :0 -clipboard
Commands explained
| command | description |
| startx | program which starts the xserver and the xclients |
| /usr/bin/ssh -f -Y linuxserver startkde | The client to start. Basicly the same as above |
| -- | Tell startx that server options follow |
| :0 -clipboard | Options for XWin |
Problems
If you get a message like Could not open display then check the FAQ about X11Forwarding