• Introduction
• Downloading and Installing
• Configuring PuTTY
• Testing
• Troubleshooting
• Install Screen Shots
• More Information

This documentation was made using the Xming 6.9.0.31 version that was released to the public domain 2 November 2007. This documentation was created by installing Xming on a Windows XP machine.

Xming is reported to run on Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP and Microsoft Windows Server 2003.

The public domain version is a tiny 2.2 MB installation file you can downloaded from: http://sourceforge.net/projects/xming/ .

Xming should be easy to install on a Windows XP machine from an account with administrative rights. A set of screen images were created during the install but almost no options were changed from the defaults. The exceptions were to select that an SSH client not be installed along with Xming server and to have a desktop icon be created. No SSH client was installed because the latest version of PuTTY was already installed and Xming works with PuTTY. The entire installation should only take a few minutes.

Install steps:

1. Download the installer.
2. Execute the installer from an account with administrative rights.
3. Click Next a couple of times.
4. Check the "Don't install an SSH client" radio button when you get to the Select components panel.
5. Click Next a couple of times.
6. Select the icons you want installed.
7. Click next then Install.
8. Watch the progress bar then click Finish.

You can optionally read everything on the install panels and change options if you want.

If a PuTTY client is not already installed on your system, download a copy from the PuTTY website.

To enable X11 forwarding as the default in the PuTTY configuration for a saved session perform the following:

1. Select the session from the saved session in the "Session" panel and click "Load".
2. Use the "Connection - SSH - X11" panel, and check the "Enable X11 forwarding" box
3. Go back to the "Session" panel and click "Save".

For most that is all there is to it.  If your X display is somewhere unusual, you will need to enter its location in the "display location" box of the "Connection - SSH - X11" panel; if this is left blank, PuTTY will try to find a sensible default in the environment, or use the primary local display (:0) if that fails.

Entering an X display location in PuTTY is not necessary for Xming.

To test that everything is working, open a new session with X11 forwarding enabled, and type xlogo . You could also use xeyes, xclock or any X application installed on the machineyou have connected to. The xlogo application is almost always installed and in the default path ofany server that allows you to run X window applications.

It is always best to insure everything is working with xlogo or another lightweight X windows application before trying to configure and run a more complex X windows application.

If you start an X application on the target machine but haven't started the Xming X server on the local PC you will get a "Can't open display" error.

The Xming server doesn't need to be started before you open the PuTTY session.

If you do get the "Can't open display" error and find that the Xming server is not running,start the server and try again.

The "Can't open display" error without a display name may indicate that X11 forwarding is not enabled.

• Contact User Support if you encounter any problems.