-1

I'm having quite a bit of difficulty installing X server on a VM running Debian Wheezy. I basically am just looking to be able to SSH to the box using X11 forwarding.

After installing xserver through the apt packaging system, (apt-get install xorg xserver-xorg) I'm unable to actually run the server:

$ sudo startx

X.Org X Server 1.12.4
Release Date: 2012-08-27
X Protocol Version 11, Revision 0
Build Operating System: Linux 3.11-2-amd64 x86_64 Debian
Current Operating System: Linux dev 3.2.0-4-amd64 #1 SMP Debian 3.2.63-2+deb7u1 x86_64
Kernel command line: root=UUID=a6d65598-f93e-498a-a494-5fd5bcdb1aef ro console=hvc0 quiet -- quiet console=hvc0
Build Date: 17 December 2013  07:37:58PM
xorg-server 2:1.12.4-6+deb7u2 (Julien Cristau <[email protected]>) 
Current version of pixman: 0.26.0
    Before reporting problems, check http://wiki.x.org
    to make sure that you have the latest version.
Markers: (--) probed, (**) from config file, (==) default setting,
    (++) from command line, (!!) notice, (II) informational,
    (WW) warning, (EE) error, (NI) not implemented, (??) unknown.
(==) Log file: "/var/log/Xorg.0.log", Time: Mon Nov 10 23:19:43 2014
(==) Using system config directory "/usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d"

Fatal server error:
no screens found

Googling around a bit, there seems to be a consensus that this may have something to do with the video drivers.

This seems to be validated somewhat by checking the log, as suggested by the above error message. The relevant portion of the log reads:

[788459.523] (II) Module vesa: vendor="X.Org Foundation"
[788459.523]    compiled for 1.12.1, module version = 2.3.1
[788459.523]    Module class: X.Org Video Driver
[788459.523]    ABI class: X.Org Video Driver, version 12.0
[788459.523] (II) LoadModule: "fbdev"
[788459.524] (II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/drivers/fbdev_drv.so
[788459.524] (II) Module fbdev: vendor="X.Org Foundation"
[788459.524]    compiled for 1.12.1, module version = 0.4.2
[788459.524]    ABI class: X.Org Video Driver, version 12.0
[788459.524] (II) VESA: driver for VESA chipsets: vesa
[788459.524] (II) FBDEV: driver for framebuffer: fbdev
[788459.524] (--) using VT number 7

[788459.524] (WW) Falling back to old probe method for vesa
[788459.524] (WW) Falling back to old probe method for fbdev
[788459.524] (II) Loading sub module "fbdevhw"
[788459.524] (II) LoadModule: "fbdevhw"
[788459.524] (II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/libfbdevhw.so
[788459.524] (II) Module fbdevhw: vendor="X.Org Foundation"
[788459.524]    compiled for 1.12.4, module version = 0.0.2
[788459.524]    ABI class: X.Org Video Driver, version 12.1
[788459.524] (EE) open /dev/fb0: No such file or directory
[788459.524] (EE) No devices detected.

So it seems that while looking for a driver, startx attempts to open the device /dev/fb0 (not sure what that is - a framebuffer?), fails, and aborts.

So apparently I may need to edit the video driver settings in /etc/X11/xorg.conf. Except, my system doesn't have /etc/X11/xorg.conf, or an xorg.conf file anywhere for that matter. So I've basically hit a dead-end here.

Any tips/suggestions/solutions?

5
  • Why are you installing an X server at all? Nov 11, 2014 at 4:27
  • So that I can ssh to the VM and run graphical applications remotely that require X11
    – Siler
    Nov 11, 2014 at 4:32
  • You don't need an X server for that! Nov 11, 2014 at 4:32
  • Hmm... when I try to run anything graphical, I get cannot open display IP:0.0 errors
    – Siler
    Nov 11, 2014 at 4:37
  • This isn't the actual problem you're having. You should start over with the actual problem, not this dead-end. Nov 11, 2014 at 4:51

2 Answers 2

1

You don't need an X-server for this: the X server remains on your local computer (the one that actually has a screen - hey, that error message said something about that); the system running the applications only needs the X *libraries.

Actually setting up the secure connection is as simple as:

ssh -X

This can be turned on by default for all ssh connections by putting ForwardX11 in a matching host entry in ~/.ssh/config (see ssh_config(5)).

This is all subject to X11Forwarding in /etc/ssh/sshd_config (see sshd_config(5)), which is disabled in vanilla openssh sshd but enabled by default in many distros.

-3

You don't need an X-server for this. You need the X-server up and running on the machine where you tunnel to. You even don't need to tunnel anything unless you are behind NAT or some tricky firewall:

export DISPLAY=<IP of machine where you are sitting at:0.0 and on your desktop: xhost +

This will provide with decent diagnostics too.

1
  • "Disable all security" is not really a good idea.
    – o11c
    Nov 11, 2014 at 5:15

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