This gist provides a summary on how to accomplish the following tasks:
- Access WSL2 using putty
- Run Eclipse on WSL2 Ubuntu, displaying the Eclipse UI on VcXsrv running on Windows
- Connecting to VcXsrv directly from WSL2
- Using SSH X11 forwarding, with network connection initiated from Windows to WSL2 Ubuntu, which is particularly useful on company laptops that refuse all incoming network connections on Windows.
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Prerequisites:
- WSL2 up and running
- Putty, Plink & PuttyGen installed on Windows
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WSL2 Ubuntu: Install & configure OpenSSH
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sudo apt install openssh-server -
Edit
/etc/ssh/sshd_config:X11Forwarding yes X11DisplayOffset 10 X11UseLocalhost no -
sudo ssh-keygen -A -
sudo service ssh start
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Auto-start SSH daemon:
- WSL2 Ubuntu:
mkdir -p ~/bin ; echo "sudo service ssh start" >> ~/bin/startup.sh - Windows: Create scheduled task that runs on user logon, running
C:\Windows\System32\bash.exewith arguments/home/<user>/bin/startup.sh
- WSL2 Ubuntu:
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Windows: Configure SSH public key authentication using PuttyGen:
- See https://www.puttygen.com/#How_to_use_PuTTYgen for general instructions
- Run PuttyGen
- Generate new key pair, or convert existing key pair
- Save private key to ppk file; this will used later when connecting to WSL2 Ubuntu using Putty or PLink
- Add the SSH public key to
~/.ssh/authorized_keyson WSL2 Ubuntu
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Windows: Create putty profile to connect to WSL2 Ubuntu:
- Session
- Host Name: localhost
- Port: 22 (or whatever OpenSSH port you configured on WSL2 Ubuntu)
- Connection -> Data:
- Auto-login username:
<your user name>
- Auto-login username:
- Connection -> SSH -> Auth:
- Private key file for authentication:
<key file generated by PuttyGen in step #2>
- Private key file for authentication:
- Connection -> SSH -> X11:
- Enable X11 forwarding (if you want to start X11 programs)
- X display location: 127.0.0.1:0.0 (this should match whatever DISPLAY value is shown in VcXsrv logs)
- Session
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Windows: Install & configure VcXsrv:
- Download & install https://sourceforge.net/projects/vcxsrv/
- Copy config.xlaunch as shown below to the Startup folder (Win+R:
shell:startup) - Launch config.xlaunch to start the X Server manually for now
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WSL2 Ubuntu: Install Eclipse & prerequisites:
sudo apt-get install openjdk-11-jdksudo apt-get install libgtk-3-0- Download and unpack Eclipse for Linux to ~/eclipse
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Windows: Eclipse shortcut using SSH X11 tunnel:
- Manually try starting Eclipse from Windows by running the following command:
plink.exe -batch -X -i <path to .ppk from step #2> <Ubuntu username>@localhost ~/eclipse/eclipse - Copy
silent.vbsandplink-silent.cmd(see attached files) to the directory where PLink.exe is installed - Create a new shortcut that runs the following command:
C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe /c "C:\<path to plink>\plink-silent.cmd -batch -X -i <path to .ppk from step #2> <Ubuntu username>@localhost ~/eclipse/eclipse" - Double-click the shortcut; if all is well you should see the Eclipse UI after a couple of seconds
- Manually try starting Eclipse from Windows by running the following command:
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Windows: Eclipse shortcut using direct XServer connection:
- Add the following lines to
~/.profileon WSL2 Ubuntu (create file if it doesn't yet exist):
Note that having these lines inexport DISPLAY=$(awk '/nameserver / {print $2; exit}' /etc/resolv.conf 2>/dev/null):0 export LIBGL_ALWAYS_INDIRECT=1.bashrcwon't work as.bashrcis only loaded for interactive shells - Create a new shortcut that runs the following command:
C:\Windows\System32\wsl.exe -u <WSL2 user> -- bash -lc 'nohup ~/eclipse/eclipse' ^& sleep 1
- Add the following lines to
Thanks all for the various suggestions. I'm using a similar approach as @isaac-gros described, however with the standard WSLg-based approach, I encountered an annoying issue; Eclipse would disappear after sleep/resume or on network change (for example switching between LAN & WIFI). Sometimes the existing Eclipse window would re-appear when starting another instance, but other times the window wouldn't re-appear and I had to kill the existing Eclipse process to be able to start a new instance on the same workspace.
I'm now using https://github.com/nbdd0121/wsld in combination with VcXsrv, which fixes this problem for me (I couldn't figure out how to get wsld to work with the native WSLg X11 server; see nbdd0121/wsld#34)