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Xming

Below are steps on how to install and use Xming.

Xming X Server for Windows

Xming is an X Window server for Microsoft Windows (XP/2003/Vista) freely available at http://sourceforge.net/projects/xming/ .

If you don’t already have an X Server software such as Exceed or X-Win32 installed on your PC, you can follow the procedure outlined here to install Xming and use it with SSH to run graphical applications remotely on a unix server in a secure way.

How to Install Xming on your PC

  1. Download Xming and Xming-fonts from SourceForge.net
    • Xming or Xming-mesa?
      • Xming uses Microsoft’s OpenGL renderer interface as standard (i.e. unless a Mesa version). You need the Mesa libraries or Mesa version when you have an awkward X client that’s failing to display. So, download Xming unless you want to try Xming-mesa.
    • Save the files in a convenient folder.
  2. To install Xming
    • Double-click Xming-*-setup.exe
    • Welcome to the Xming Setup Wizard: Next
    • Select Destination Location: take default C:Program FilesXming
    • Select Components: take default, click Next
    • Select Start menu Folder: take default, click Next
    • Select Additional Tasks: take default, click Next
    • Ready to Install: click Install
    • Uncheck Launch Xming, click Finish
  3. To install Xming-fonts
    • Double-click Xming-fonts-*-setup.exe
    • Welcome to the Xming-fonts Setup Wizard: Next
    • Select Destination Location: take default, click Next
    • Select Components: select all Fonts available, click Next
    • Select Start Menu Folder: take default, click Next
    • Ready to Install: click Install

How to Use Xming with SSH

  1. Start Xming
    • Start -> All Programs -> Xming -> Xming
    • Xming icon will appear at the bottom right of your screen.
  2. Configure your SSH client program to forward X11 connections (if not done previously)
  3. Use the SSH client configured with X11 Forwarding above to log in to the Unix server, and it will work with Xming to display the graphics on your PC.
  4. Note the DISPLAY environment variable will be set automatically, and you should not set it yourself on the remote host.