Display Linux Applications (X11) on Windows – via Putty (SSH)

X Forwarding with Putty on Windows

Intro to X Forwarding

Unix machines have been able to run software on a remote machine and display the GUI locally for almost two decades. Linux and Mac OS X support X Forwarding with no extra software. Any terminal on Linux should do X Forwarding, Mac users need to run "Applications > Utilities > XTerm". In a command line terminal run "ssh -Y jdoe@compute.example.edu matlab" and you'll be running matlab on "compute.example.edu" but seeing it on your desktop.

Windows users need two pieces of software: an secure shell program (ssh) to establish the remote connection and an X Server to handle the local display.

Prerequisites

• · Putty for SSH
• · Xming for the XServer

Configuring Putty

• 1. Add Unix hostname
• 2. Switch Protocol to SSH
• 3. Type name of session in saved sessions
• 4. Click 'Save'

• 5. Expand the 'SSH' tab from the 'Category' list
• 6. Choose 'X11' from 'SSH' list
• 7. Check 'Enable X11 Forwarding'

• 8. Choose 'Session' from 'Category' list
• 9. Click 'Save'

Starting the X Server on Windows

Configuring Xming

Just run "All Programs > Xming Xming" and leave all at it’s defaults as show in the picture bellow. It should work if you've got PuTTY configured.

Connecting

• 1. Start Xming
• 2. Start Putty
• 3. Double click on the saved session you want

• 4. Enter username and password as requested
• 5. You should now be able to run X applications from the host
  on your local desktop

Based On: http://www.math.umn.edu/systems_guide/putty_xwin32.html