"No X11 DISPLAY variable" - what does it mean?

Question

I am trying to install a Java application on my Linux machine (Slackware).

I have received the following error, and I do not understand it.

Could you advise me how to approach the problem? Thank you.

Here is what I get: (I see that some X11 DISPLAY variable needs to be set, but what value should I give it and how?)

~$ java -jar gate-5.0-beta1-build3048-installer.jar
- ERROR -

java.awt.HeadlessException:
No X11 DISPLAY variable was set, but this program performed an operation which requires it.
java.awt.HeadlessException:
No X11 DISPLAY variable was set, but this program performed an operation which requires it.
at java.awt.GraphicsEnvironment.checkHeadless(Graphic sEnvironment.java:159)
at java.awt.Window.<init>(Window.java:407)
at java.awt.Frame.<init>(Frame.java:402)
at net.sourceforge.mlf.metouia.borders.MetouiaDotsBuf fer.<init>(MetouiaDotsBuffer.java:105)
at net.sourceforge.mlf.metouia.borders.MetouiaDots.<i nit>(MetouiaDots.java:66)
at net.sourceforge.mlf.metouia.borders.MetouiaToolBar Border.<init>(MetouiaToolBarBorder.java:49)
at net.sourceforge.mlf.metouia.MetouiaLookAndFeel.ini tComponentDefaults(MetouiaLookAndFeel.java:241)
at javax.swing.plaf.basic.BasicLookAndFeel.getDefault s(BasicLookAndFeel.java:130)
at javax.swing.plaf.metal.MetalLookAndFeel.getDefault s(MetalLookAndFeel.java:1591)
at javax.swing.UIManager.setLookAndFeel(UIManager.jav a:537)
at javax.swing.UIManager.setLookAndFeel(UIManager.jav a:581)
at com.izforge.izpack.installer.GUIInstaller.loadLook AndFeel(GUIInstaller.java:373)
at com.izforge.izpack.installer.GUIInstaller.<init>(G UIInstaller.java:116)
at sun.reflect.NativeConstructorAccessorImpl.newInsta nce0(Native Method)
at sun.reflect.NativeConstructorAccessorImpl.newInsta nce(NativeConstructorAccessorImpl.java:39)
at sun.reflect.DelegatingConstructorAccessorImpl.newI nstance(DelegatingConstructorAccessorImpl.java:27)
at java.lang.reflect.Constructor.newInstance(Construc tor.java:513)
at java.lang.Class.newInstance0(Class.java:355)
at java.lang.Class.newInstance(Class.java:30
at com.izforge.izpack.installer.Installer.main(Instal ler.java:62)

Solution 1

If you're on the main display, then

export DISPLAY=:0.0

or if you're using csh or tcsh

setenv DISPLAY :0.0

before running your app.

Actually, I'm surprised it isn't set automatically. Are you trying to start this application from a non-graphic terminal? If not, have you modified the default .profile, .login, .bashrc or .cshrc?

Note that setting the DISPLAY to :0.0 pre-supposes that you're sitting at the main display, as I said, or at least that the main display is logged on to your user id. If it's not logged on, or it's a different userid, this will fail.

If you're coming in from another machine, and you're at the main display of that machine and it's running X, then you can use "ssh -X hostname" to connect to that host, and ssh will forward the X display back. ssh will also make sure that the DISPLAY environment variable is set correctly (providing it isn't being messed with in the various dot files I mentioned above). In a "ssh -X" session, the DISPLAY environment variable will have a value like "localhost:11.0", which will point to the socket that ssh is tunnelling to your local box.

Solution 2

you must enable X11 forwarding in you PuTTy

to do so open PuTTy, go to Connection => SSH => Tunnels and check mark the Enable X11 forwarding

Also sudo to server and export the below variable here IP is your local machine's IP

export DISPLAY=10.75.75.75:0.0

Solution 3

Are you running this from within an X11 environment? You can use a terminal window, but it has to be within X (either after a graphical login, or by running startx).

If you're already within a graphical environment, try export DISPLAY=:0 for bash like shells (bash, sh, etc) or setenv DISPLAY :0 for C shell based shells (csh, tcsh, etc)

If you've connected from another machine via SSH, you use the -X option to display the graphical interface on the machine you're sitting at (provided there's an X server running there (such as xming for windows, and your standard Linux X server).

Solution 4

There are many ways to do this. I did something below convenient to me and always works fine.

1. On your remote server, make sure to install xorg-x11-xauth, xorg-x11-font-utils, xorg-x11-fonts.
2. Run the Xming Server on you local desktop
3. On putty, before ssh to the server, enable the X11 forwarding and set the display location to localhost:0.0

4. On the server, .Xauthority file is generated and notice that the DISPLAY variable is already set.

   $ xauth list

   $ xauth add

To test it, type xclock or xeyes

Note: To switch user, copy the .Xauthority file to the home directory of the respective user and also export the DISPLAY variable from that user.

Solution 5

One more thing that might be the problem in a case similar to described - X is not forwarded and $DISPLAY is not set when 'xauth' program is not installed on the remote side. You can see it searches for it when you run "ssh -Xv ip_address", and, if not found, fails, which's not seen unless you turn on verbose mode (a fail IMO). You can usually find 'xauth' in a package with the same name.

View more solutions

Comments

[hb.Sara]

i'm having the same problem, it works perfecly on console but when i use eclipse it throws the same exception i even put that code lines : Process proc_exporting =Runtime.getRuntime().exec("sudo export DISPLAY =:0.0"); still doesn't work

[Admin]

None of the answers give the info needed to solve this problem when connecting to a console remotely via puTTY. Any answer that addresses SSH doesn't actually explain how to make it work. Anyone know of a question that addresses this?

[user42155]

Hi, thank you very much, the first one worked for me. Yes, I am starting it from a non-graphic terminal.

[Paul Tomblin]

It sounds like it wants to accesss the graphics display though. Be careful not to run it when the graphics display isn't available, or it belongs to some other userid.

[KevinDTimm]

note that this worked because you are/were on the console. if you were on another terminal, you would have to have an X server running on the terminal and then set the environment to point to your machine (export DISPLAY='hostname of pauls terminal':0.0 for example)

[Paul Tomblin]

@kevindtimm, Good point - I'm going to incorporate @Mikeage's info about ssh -X into my answer.

[Paul Tomblin]

Oh right, Slackware. Is it still as barebones as it was when I last used it 10 years ago?

[user3532201]

It still starts up by default in runlevel 3. Of course, if you tell it to start in runlevel 5, you'll get a pretty KDM login menu assuming you installed KDE.

[Wichert Akkerman]

I would strongly recommend not to use "xhost +" since if effectively disables all security on your X server. ssh is smart enough to use xauth to setup X11 authentication automatically, so there should be no need to use xhost.

[Wichert Akkerman]

In case you need to run an automated task that requires connecting to an X server you can look at xvfb, which creates a virtual X server. This is very useful for some batch tests or running tests.

[jacktrades]

thanks! on CentOS and SSH (putty) used: export DISPLAY=:0

[plamut]

Please include the essential information from the links in the answer itself, because they might go dead eventually, rendering the answer useless.

[Elliot A.]

This should be a comment, not a post. Just because you can't comment doesn't mean you should make a bad post.

[Jeff.Lu]

On Windows, I use Putty+Nomachine to login my remote Linux VM. Within gnome GUI env, I start a terminal to ssh to another machine. I got the same error when start to run a GUI application in ssh session. Then "ssh -X" gets me out of the mess.

[emfi]

ah, that maybe explains, why i need to set this variable. because I use putty on localhost.

[hfrog713]

I am on Windows using mobaXTerm and i was getting the same error. I updated the display variable as mentioned above and i am now getting the following message. Exception in thread "main" java.awt.AWTError: Can't connect to X11 window server using ':0.0' as the value of the DISPLAY variable. Is there a way to point to the XServer Display that is hosted by MobaXTerm and does anyone know how i get the information from Moba?

[Tunahan]

It also works for connecting via MobaXTerm