# Running x-windows over ssh?

## ravenstyles

I have a linux webserver, and a windows laptop. i want to run a x-windows session over the internet over ssh. is that possible. i'm always doing stuff on the server and just sick of the command line. so how would i go about running the gui on the linux server from windows?

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## Dlareh

I do this on a local network using Cygwin/X, and it is great.

Just install all the Cygwin packages (it's not worth being choosy), and make a shortcut to c:/cygwin/usr/X11R6/bin/startxwin.bat .

Launch it to start an xterm, then simply ssh -X to your linux box.

You can also customize a copy of the startxwin.bat that automatically starts ssh -X (by passing the -e option to xterm).

If you are looking to use this over a slow internet connection, though, you should probably look into freenx.  It will be faster...

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## Voorhees51

some sort of VNC would work. like tightVNC or such

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## Dlareh

 *Voorhees51 wrote:*   

> some sort of VNC would work. like tightVNC or such

 

VNC sucks.

EDIT: Sloooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooow.

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## ravenstyles

why does vnc suck??

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## MrBlc

cuz he don't like it...

vnc can be quite usable, but requires graphics power...

look at this post for a different way to solve the same issue..

basically it's a solution where you have a persistent vnc service running on the remote machine.. (given that i didn't screw up totally with the command set)

-blc

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## mikelmoore

emerge freenx and download the nomachine NX windows client from NoMachine NX downloads.

Here's the FAQ.

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## sirtalon42

I would definitely go with FreeNX (or the commercial version, they make the core of FreeNX).  FreeNX is far faster than normal X over SSH, and much faster than VNC.  Also NX supports many nifty features like forwarding sound, forwarding a single window, persistand connections (so you can login, just close the window, login later and resume your session if you want), forwarding printers (may not be useful for you), going fullscreen (magic pixel on the top right will minimize the full screen window), and resizing of windowed stuff using a special version of Xnest (I assume its a modified Xnest).

The NX client is available on Linux and Windows and is (mostly) closed source.  Currently kNX (I think thats the name) is still in early development and isn't usable (its an open source client).  The client is available free of charge.

EDIT:  Login is done through SSH, so its pretty secure, and you can also tunnel everything through SSH to.

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## Dlareh

Here's a screenshot with some Cygwin/X terminals ... http://img353.imageshack.us/img353/1846/cygwin1mk.png

Notice how well they integrate to the rest of the environment.  FreeNX would either take over the screen in fullscreen mode, or everything you run with it would be restricted to a sub-window... but that is worth it for particularly slow connections.

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## hookooekoo

Can the same be done with SFU? as is done with Cygwin?

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## mwilliamson

You can also use X-Win32 for windows (not free), which is an X-Server for Windows. Use it with the Windows SSH client.

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