CODEWITHSUNDEEP
linuxsshcygwinx11
Mark
Mark

Reputation: 5513

X11 Forwarding: Bad File Number Error?

I have XWin Server running on my local computer (Windows 7). When I open up a cygwin shell and type emacs, a graphical display for emacs comes up as expected.
Now I try to get a remote application to display on my local machine. In cygwin, I type:

ssh -X root@.....

(I have also tried ssh -Y root@... with the same results.) I log in with the password and then I get this fun message:

/usr/bin/xauth:  creating new authority file /root/.Xauthority

Then I try to open xeyes. This is the point where I expect a window to pop up on my local machine with googly eyes that follow the mouse cursor. Instead I get some cryptic error message:

root@debian:~# xeyes
connect /tmp/.X11-unix/X0: Bad file number
Error: Can't open display: localhost:10.0

This is the extent of my troubleshooting capabilities on Linux:

root@debian:~# echo $DISPLAY
localhost:10.0

I am very new to Linux. How can I get the remote server to know about my local XWin Server? It seems like it should be simple, since I already have a connection through ssh.

Update
So I guess cygwin has this "feature" where if you set the DISPLAY to :0, it means something different than localhost:0. Setting the DISPLAY to 127.0.0.1:0 or localhost:0 as suggested will fix the problem.

Upvotes: 3

Views: 1399

Answers (2)

thenoviceoof
thenoviceoof

Reputation: 616

You're using XWin outside of Cygwin, which might be causing issues. Try setting your DISPLAY=127.0.0.1:0, as suggested here:

http://cygwin.com/ml/cygwin-xfree/2002-10/msg00065.html

under "Using Cygwin's OpenSSH with XWin-32"

Upvotes: 2

Antti Haapala -- Слава Україні
Antti Haapala -- Слава Україні

Reputation: 134056

I think there are 2 error messages here. The first one is because SSH client cannot connect to your X display at all on your local machine (/tmp/.X11-unix/X0 means :0). And that causes the second error on the serverside. What happens if you run cygwin xeyes locally?

Upvotes: 1

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