X server doesn't start

[Jon Turney]

On 19/05/2026 13:44, Fabio Rossi via Cygwin wrote:
>>> LoadPreferences: Loading /etc/X11/system.XWinrc
>>> LoadPreferences: Done parsing the configuration file...
>>> winDetectSupportedEngines - RemoteSession: yes
>>
>> Huh, this indicates that you're using RDP (or similar). Is that the
>> case?  If so, do things work correctly in a local session?
> 
> I confirm I was connected via RDP, I have also tried with a local session after disabling RDP service: same result.
> 
>>> winDetectSupportedEngines - DirectDraw4 installed, allowing ShadowDDNL
>>> winDetectSupportedEngines - Returning, supported engines 00000005
>>
>> Is the XWin process hung at the point? or has it crashed?
> 
> the process exits cleanly, the return code is 0.
> 
>> Since it seems like the problem is occurring while initializing DD4,
>> perhaps adding the command line argument '-engine 1' might work around it?
> 
> I had already tried also with '-engine 1' but the result is the same.
> 
Well, this is quite odd.

I'm not sure I believe the "doesn't work at all on Windows 11" theory, 
since I'd think we'd be hearing more about it, but something's not right.

You might try with '-logverbose 3', which might give a little more 
information about how far it's getting.

I don't know what else to suggest apart from maybe stepping through the 
code with gdb (install the xorg-server-debuginfo package as well) to see 
where it's getting lost...