To test the setting, we can run in the host some simple program: sudo apt install x11-appsĪ small window containing the X logo must show up. (replace xx.xx.xx.xx with the IP address obtained above). Then start the instance and set the DISPLAY environment variable to the server display on the host IP: export DISPLAY=xx.xx.xx.xx:0.0 To configure the client (that is, the Multipass instance) we will need first the host IP address, which can be obtained with the console command ipconfig. An icon will show up in the dock: we are done with the X server. Pressing “Next” will give us then the option to save the settings, and finally we can start the X server. “Next” will show us the “Extra settings”, and there we should activate the option “Disable access control”.

The “Next” button brings us to the “Client startup” window, on which we should choose “Start no client”. In the first screen, we should choose “Multiple windows” and set the display number leaving it in -1 is a safe option. The first step would be thus to install VcXsrv and run the X server through the newly created start menu entry “XLaunch”. Other options would be Xming (however, newest versions are paid but older versions can still be downloaded for free from their SourceForge site) or installing an X server in Cygwin. We will use here VcXsrv, which can be found here. The problem is that Windows knows nothing about X.

Instead, we can use X11 to connect the applications in the instance with the graphical capabilities of the host. It turns out that this setup is simpler than the desktop, because we do not need the Multipass instance to deploy a full desktop. It might be the case that we only want Multipass to launch one application and to see only that window, without having the need for a complete desktop. We explored here and here how to configure a graphical desktop on Multipass.

Vcxsrv vs xming