Having Problems with X11 Forwarding and root

[James Mcphee]

ok.  So you start on box1, ssh -X to box2.  echo $DISPLAY.  xauth list.  su
to user2 on box2.  export DISPLAY=<the display from user1>.  xauth add
$DISPLAY . <the hash from the correct display from xauth list>.  Launch X
application.



On Wed, Apr 18, 2018 at 5:21 PM, Mark Phillips <mark at phillipsmarketing.biz>
wrote:

> There is an application I need to run as root on my Linode server, but it
> has to run in a gui.
>
> I have ssh and X11 forwarding set up between my Ubuntu 14.04 system and my
> Linode (swordfish). It works just great for a non-root user (xcalc,
> xconsole, the application I need to run, etc). However, when I try to run
> the application on the server as root, I get the error message "X11
> connection rejected because of wrong authentication." For xcalc running as
> root, I get
> X11 connection rejected because of wrong authentication.
> Error: Can't open display: swordfish:10.0
>
> I have tried all sorts of google solutions - copying the user's
> .Xauthority to /root/ (also changing the ownership and permissions). But I
> just can't seem to log into swordfish as a normal user using ssh -X, su to
> root, and get the X11 forwarding to work.
>
> I also went so far as to install vnc4server on the Linode, xfce window
> manager, and vnc4viewer on my Ubuntu machine. That all works when I access
> the vnc server as a normal user, but I can't get any X11 apps to run as
> root (ie from a root command line in a terminal in the vnc window). The
> error message when I try to run xcalc or other X11 apps is "No protocol
> specified. Can't open display :1".
>
> What are the special Linux guru magical incantations/spells to make X11
> forwarding work for root?
>
> Thanks!
>
> Mark
>
>
> ---------------------------------------------------
> PLUG-discuss mailing list - PLUG-discuss at lists.phxlinux.org
> To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings:
> http://lists.phxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss
>



-- 
James McPhee
jmcphe at gmail.com
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.phxlinux.org/pipermail/plug-discuss/attachments/20180418/af547af8/attachment.html>