Re: xterm Xt error: Can't open display

[René Berber <r dot berber at computer dot org>]

claire wilson wrote:

> i have installed the latest version of cygwin after removing my older
> version as i wanted to run the latest version. all i want to do is
> emulate linux on my windows machine. i start cygwin from the start
> menu, and then: try to run xterm.exe from the resulting cygwin window
> but this always fail with xterm Xt error: Can't open display. i have
> tried setting my display to localhost:0, 1.27.0.0.1:0 and many other
> things none seem to work.

That is normal, if you don't have a X server running...

> try to run startxwin.bat i get the
> following error startxwin.bat - Starting on Windows NT/2000/XP/2003 
> 11363 [main] run 5336 tty_list::allocate: No tty allocated 8 [main]
> run 4388 tty_list::allocate: No tty allocated (the contents of
> Xwin.log are listed below) however if i run startx, i do get an xterm
> but it lacks alot of funcitonality.

You mean it is a different xterm?  What functionality is missing?

> i have tried going back to my
> original install, this no longer works either.
> 
> i have spent all day trying to work out how to fix this (googling,
> mail list archive searches etc) and have failed so any help you could
> supply would be very much appreciated!

I think in your old installation you had changed the startup or your user's .xinitrc; this last one is usually the one that opens the xterm.

If you don't have a ~/.xinitrc then it is a global script opening the xterm, that should be /etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc.  If that is the case you can copy that one to your .xinitrc and make changes there.

For instance you can edit the last line (commented below) and instead start xterm with your favorite options:

#exec xterm -e /usr/bin/bash -l
exec xterm -sb -sl 1024 -rv -geometry 80x25+0+0 -name login

or even better, something like:

rxvt -rv -display localhost:0.0 -sl 1024 -e bash -li

(those are simple examples, you can do much more with other parameters).

> cat /tmp/XWin.log _XSERVTransmkdir: ERROR: euid != 0,directory
> /tmp/.X11-unix will not be created. (II) XF86Config is not supported
>  (II) See http://x.cygwin.com/docs/faq/cygwin-x-faq.html for more
[snip]
> winInitMultiWindowWM - DISPLAY=127.0.0.1:0.0 winMultiWindowXMsgProc -
> pthread_mutex_unlock () returned. winMultiWindowXMsgProc -
> DISPLAY=127.0.0.1:0.0 winInitMultiWindowWM - Could not open display,

Any anti-virus or "Internet security" software blocking Xwindows ports?

If you did get a xterm, as you say above, then these errors are probably not important since that xterm means X was running fine, at least once.
-- 
René Berber


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