X11 Forwarding Configurering and running X11 Applications on Mac OS X If you have further problems try to use -v, -vv or even -vvv verbose flag with ssh to debug. (X connections forwarded through Secure Shell use a special local display setting.) NEW! Do not set the DISPLAY variable on the client. On Mac OS X Leopard you use EXPORT with bash shell to set environment variables as opposed to tcsh that uses setenv. You should only set the $DISPLAY variable manually in a secure environment i.e. You can always check your environment with “env” and “$”. Try “echo $DISPLAY” on the local machine and remote to get hints of the $DISPLAY status. NOT! Sometimes it is necessary to use xhost +remotehost and set the $DISPLAY environment variable manually on Mac OS X (something -X or -Y flag in ssh should normally do for you). On the remote machine you could also do a check with $REMOTEHOST (if set) to check your own machine name on the remote host. And you have will of curse have to be accurate about your local and remote machine naming convention i.e.

Remember to allow incoming access to X11 in the X11 preferences and through your firewall(s) and router!Ĭ. When you make changes to /etc/sshd_config remember to restart the Remote Login Service (SSH).ī. Have the latest and updated versions of Mac OS X, Developer and X11.Ī. Voila it works! The X application will start up your X11 environment. Its quite easy to do X11 forwarding when you first get the hang of it.ĭo elegant X11 stuff with ssh -X -f like: ssh -X -f xcalc -bg black -fg green ssh -X X11 Forward to your remote host (See “man ssh” for the use of the -X or -Y flag X11 forward): ssh -X Start your remote X11 program and view the user display on your local machine: xeyes & See “man ssh”, “man ssh_config” and “man sshd_config” for the complete explanation.ģ Simple Steps to X11 Forward on Mac OS XĢ. The SSH daemon should run on the remote machine as well!

Start or restart the Remote Login (SSH) Service under System Preference / Sharing pane on Mac OS X. In Mac OS X on X11 Quartz check the authorization and client access options under Preferences in the Security pane.Įnable X11 Forwarding with the “X11Forwarding yes” option set in “/private/etc/sshd_config” for your SSH Daemon own local X11 host in order to recieve X11 client request back from the remote machine through ‘ ssh‘ with the -X option set. X11 environments on both the local and remote machine (see man X).

THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN REWRITTEN (Manual set of the $DISPLAY variable is insecure!)

This is possible on Mac OS X with X11 Forwarding. Apple Remote Desktop (ARD) or VNC is a wonderful invention if you want full control over a remote desktop, but what if you only want to access the user display of one single X11 program on a remote machine?

Mac os microsoft remote desktop display