Issues with X

[RyanHakurei]

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Describe the issue

Any attempt to use X Forwarding fails (any attempt to run any software with a GUI complains about not being able to connect to a display), but if Ubuntu WSL is running and connected to a remote server, ArchWSL can use X-Forwarding just fine. Another thing I have noticed that even though I have the display variable in .bashrc, local software with a GUI will refuse to run until I manually export the display variable regardless if another WSL distro is running.

To Reproduce
Set up the prerequisites for using X on WSL (install an X server, make sure display variable is set, etc etc) then attempt to use anything that requires X (Geany for example).

Expected behavior
X to work.

Screenshots
Here is a video of the issue

Enviroment:

• Windows build number: 10.0.18305.1003]
• ArchWSL version 19010200
• Launcher version 18122700

Additional context
As mentioned before I have all the requisites for X Forwarding to work via WSL. X Server (Vcxsrv), the relevant variable exported, the relevant configs in /etc/ssh/ssh_config, etc etc.

[elswerky]

type in terminal or ~/.bashrc
export DISPLAY=:0

[yuk7]

Yes, in my environment it works correctly by adding it to bashrc.

[RyanHakurei]

It's in my bashrc. It's setup exactly how I have my Ubuntu WSL setup. Yet it doesn't work unless I have my Ubuntu WSL connected to the remote machine (as shown in my video).

[elswerky]

@yuk7 do you have a telegram account ??

[yuk7]

@elswerky
I don't have telegram...

[elswerky]

@elswerky
I don't have telegram...

thx for reply ,, i thought it would be a rapid and easy way to talk to you

[ChrisTX]

Are you sure that you're running a login shell for Arch? If not, .bashrc might not get parsed. This is definitely an issue of DISPLAY not being set, and that's a problem with your configuration.

[KeAWang]

I'm having the same issue. I have DISPLAY=:0 and installed xorg-apps and xorg-server as instructed on the Arch wiki. I also have xming set up which works fine with ubuntu. However, I cannot forward anything with the Arch WSL to xming

[PhilDim1]

I needed to specify my ip address in the DISPLAY (ie. DISPLAY=192.168.xx.xx:0). I actually needed to do this with Ubuntu as well. I've never gotten it to work with just =:0

[KeAWang]

It still doesn't work for me unfortunately. I tried with DISPLAY=$(hostname -i):0 without any luck

[snowman]

Follow steps to fix WSL2 with X11-server Xming issue:

1. Run "XLaunch.exe" with Display number: 0, and checks ON No Access Control
   (The No Acess Control MUST TURN ON, otherwise it would NOT work)
2. Make sure you are running WSL 2 version:

   $ wsl -l -v
   NAME      STATE           VERSION
 * Ubuntu    Stopped         2
   Arch      Stopped         2

If not, run:

   $ wsl --set-version Arch 2

3. Open Arch WSL with arch, then run following command:

   $ cat /etc/resolv.conf | grep nameserver | awk '{ print $2 }'
   172.24.240.1
   $ export DISPLAY=172.24.240.1:0

4. Test GUI

   ## Install xeyes
   ## $ yes | pacman -S xorg-xeyes
   $ xeyes

5. tada!! volia~ You should see eyes appear on your screen.

You can also add the script into your ".bashrc" file by running command:

$ cat <<EOF >> ~/.bashrc
export HOST_IP="\$(cat /etc/resolv.conf | grep nameserver | awk '{ print \$2 }')"
export DISPLAY="\$HOST_IP:0"
EOF

[snowman]

see Unable to accessing Windows applications from WSL