Unix machines have been able to run software on a remote machine and display the GUI locally for almost two decades. Linux and Mac OS X support X Forwarding with no extra software. Any terminal on Linux should do X Forwarding, Mac users need to run “Applications > Utilities > XTerm“. In a command line terminal run “ssh -Y jdoe@compute.example.edu matlab” and you’ll be running matlab on “compute.example.edu” but seeing it on your desktop.
Windows users need two pieces of software: an secure shell program (ssh) to establish the remote connection and an X Server to handle the local display.
Prerequisites
Configuring Putty
- Add Unix hostname
- Switch Protocol to SSH
- Type name of session in saved sessions
- Click ‘Save’
- Expand the ‘SSH’ tab from the ‘Category’ list
- Choose ‘X11’ from ‘SSH’ list
- Check ‘Enable X11 Forwarding’
- Choose ‘Session’ from ‘Category’ list
- Click ‘Save’
Starting the X Server on Windows
Configuring Xming
Just run “All Programs > Xming Xming” and it should work if you’ve got PuTTY configured.
Connecting
- Start Xming
- Start Putty
- Double click on the saved session you want
- Enter username and password as requested
- You should now be able to run X applications from the host
on your local desktop