x11docker on MS Windows

x11docker on MS Windows

x11docker can run natively on MS Windows electively in one of:

• Cygwin
• MSYS2
• WSL (Windows subsystem for Linux)
  • PowerShell: If you have a working WSL, you can run x11docker in PowerShell. cd into the directory containing the x11docker script and run e.g. bash x11docker --desktop x11docker/lxde.

Although it basically works, x11docker misses some features available on Linux and cannot be guaranteed to be as reliable as on Linux. However, running in a Linux VM instead of running natively on Windows is fully supported.

• To install x11docker in one of MSYS2, Cygwin or WSL follow the general installation instructions.
  • NOTE: The described "shortest way" fails with latest x11docker release for WSL with sudo. Try instead:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mviereck/x11docker/master/x11docker | sudo bash -s -- --update-master

Note: Upcoming x11docker release v6.0.0 (currently in master branch) will depend on runx to run in WSL or MSYS2.

X server

x11docker needs an X server on MS Windows.

• Install X server VcXsrv on Windows into C:/Program Files/VcXsrv.
  • Allows x11docker option --vcxsrv. x11docker will autodetect it.
• Alternative for Cygwin users: X server Xwin. Install packages xinit and xwininfo in Cygwin.
  • Allows x11docker option --xwin. x11docker will autodetect it.
  • Note that Xwin provides a better GPU support with option --gpu than VcXsrv.

GPU

Hardware acceleration with option --gpu is basically possible.

• GPU support works best with Xwin in Cygwin (option --xwin). NVIDIA cards are supported, too.
• GPU supports works with VcXsrv (option --vcxsrv) for Intel and AMD GPUs, but not for NVIDIA GPUs. (VcXsrv bug ticket)
• You can run some GPU checks with x11docker --gpu x11docker/check.

Compare this X server/GPU check table for current experience.

Constraints

Not all x11docker options are implemented on MS Windows. E. g. --webcam, --pulseaudio and --printer do not work.

Troubleshooting

• There seems to be an issue with X cookie authentication with VcXsrv. Compare #160. As a workaround you can run with disabled authentication using option --no-auth. However, that is less secure and is not a solution. Please report in the bug ticket if your system is affected, too.
• There seems to be an issue with --pulseaudio. Compare #161.
• If running in Powershell fails, compare #157.
• To fix possible error message Error response from daemon: error while creating mount source path: mkdir /host_mnt/c: file exists. have a look at issue ticket #104.
• Error messages like ./x11docker: line 2: $'\r': command not found indicate a wrong line ending conversion from git. Run dos2unix x11docker one time to fix it.
• Firewall settings in Windows can cause issues for container applications accessing the X server. If everything starts up without an obvious error, but no application window appears, have a look at issue ticket #108.