{"id":5967,"date":"2024-12-05T00:01:40","date_gmt":"2024-12-04T18:31:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.veeble.com\/kb\/?p=5967"},"modified":"2025-03-04T12:00:03","modified_gmt":"2025-03-04T06:30:03","slug":"how-to-set-display-variable-and-enable-x11-forwarding-in-linux","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.veeble.com\/kb\/how-to-set-display-variable-and-enable-x11-forwarding-in-linux\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Set Display Variable and Enable X11 Forwarding in Linux"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n
\"set<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

X11<\/a> allows you to run GUI applications on a remote server while viewing them on your local machine. This guide will help you set the DISPLAY variable, enable X11 forwarding in Linux without making any confusions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is the DISPLAY variable?<\/strong>
The DISPLAY variable indicates where to show an application's GUI output, ensuring it appears on your local screen when running remotely.<\/pre>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n
Steps to Set Display Variable in Linux<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n
\n
Before making changes, check the current value of your DISPLAY variable!!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
echo $DISPLAY<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n
The variable might not be set or configured correctly if you<\/span> see something like localhost:10.0 or a blank output.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If the DISPLAY variable is empty or incorrect, run the command to set the DISPLAY variable:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For Bash Shell Users:<\/h6>\n\n\n
export DISPLAY=localhost:10.0<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n
\n
\"set<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n
For C-Shell (csh) Users:<\/h6>\n\n\n
setenv DISPLAY localhost:10.0<\/code><\/pre>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After setting the DISPLAY variable, verify it using the below command again:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
echo $DISPLAY<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n
Steps to Enable X11 Forwarding in SSH<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n
To use X11 forwarding when connecting to a remote server, you must enable it in your SSH settings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
    \n
  1. Open the SSH configuration file on your local machine:<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n
    nano \/etc\/ssh\/ssh_config<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n
      \n
    1. Ensure the following lines are present and uncommented in the \/etc\/ssh\/ssh\/ssh_config<\/em> file:<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n
      ForwardX11 yes<\/code>
      ForwardX11Trusted yes<\/code><\/p>\n\n\n\n
      \n
      \"after<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
        \n
      1. Save the changes and restart your SSH session.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n
        \n
        \"restart<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
        <\/p>\n\n\n
        Testing X11 Forwarding in Linux<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n
        To connect to the remote server with X11 forwarding enabled, execute the following command after replacing the exact values (username, IP\/hostname, password) of your remote machine:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
        ssh -X username@remote_serverIP<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n
        \n
        \"SSH<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
        <\/p>\n\n\n\n
        Test the setup by running a GUI application, such as gedit:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
        gedit<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n
        The configuration is successful if the GUI application appears on your local screen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
        \n
        \"opening<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
        <\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
        Following this guide helps you set the DISPLAY variable, enable X11 forwarding, and allow you to connect remote GUI applications to run on your local machine easily. As a final tip, please ensure that your local machine has an X server installed (e.g., XQuartz <\/a>for macOS, Xming<\/a> for Windows) if any errors appear in between the setup.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
        <\/div>\n\n\n\n
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        Learn how to set Display variable and enable X11 forwarding in Linux with this easy to understand tutorial with screenshots.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":7725,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center 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Antony","author_link":"https:\/\/www.veeble.com\/kb\/author\/adrian\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Learn how to set Display variable and enable X11 forwarding in Linux with this easy to understand tutorial with screenshots.","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.veeble.com\/kb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5967","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.veeble.com\/kb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.veeble.com\/kb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.veeble.com\/kb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.veeble.com\/kb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5967"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/www.veeble.com\/kb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5967\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7738,"href":"https:\/\/www.veeble.com\/kb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5967\/revisions\/7738"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.veeble.com\/kb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7725"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.veeble.com\/kb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5967"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.veeble.com\/kb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5967"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.veeble.com\/kb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5967"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}