Name
Xming - X Server for Microsoft Windows
Synopsis
Xming [:display-number] [option ...]
Description
Xming is an X Server running on Microsoft Windows.
Modes
Xming can operate in five different and incompatible modes:
* one window: This is the default option. The X server appears as a
single Microsoft Windows window and all X windows are contained within
that window. This mode requires an external Windows window manager.
Typically this mode would be used for XDMCP login to a remote machine
using its DM (X Display Manager e.g. KDE, Gnome or just XDM) instead of
a local window manager running on Microsoft Windows.
* nodecoration or [-nodecoration]: This mode is like one window mode
except that the X server window does not have a titlebar or border,
thus maximizing the amount of space available for X windows within the
X server window. This mode requires an external window manager.
* fullscreen or [-fullscreen]: This mode is like one window mode except
that the X server window takes the full screen, covering completely the
Microsoft Windows desktop. This mode requires an external window man-
ager. Can be used with -depth 8 for old 8-bit colour clients.
* rootless or [-rootless]: The X server works on a window covering the
whole screen but the root window is hidden from view. This mode
requires an external window manager.
* multiwindow or [-multiwindow]: In this mode Xming uses its own inte-
grated window manager in order to handle the top-level X windows, in
such a way that they appear as normal Microsoft Windows windows. This
is the recommended option to use.
Notes: -multiwindow mode will crash if an external window manager such
as openbox or xwinwm is launched since -multiwindow uses its own inter-
nal window manager; all other modes require an external window manager
in order to move, resize, and perform other operations on the individ-
ual X windows. Suitable external window managers are twm, openbox and
xwinwm (twm is in Xming tools and clients, with the other two available
from Cygwin/X). When using XDMCP a Microsoft Windows window manager is
not required as the remote Display Manager (DM) performs that task.
Press Alt-F4 to shutdown Xming. See the -[no]winkill and -[no]unixkill
options to change this default. Also Xming has Exit selectable on its
notification area icon menu.
Log
As it runs Xming writes messages indicating the most relevant events to
a log file that by default is Xming.n.log, where n is the display-num-
ber of the X server. This file is mainly for debugging purposes. You
may also just get an Xming.log file from a total failure early in
server startup.
Preferences file
On startup Xming looks for the file Xmingrc in the %HOME% or the
install directory. Xmingrc allows setting preferences for the follow-
ing:
* To include items into the menu associated with the Xming icon which
is in the Microsoft Windows notification area. This functions in all
modes that have a notification area icon.
* To include items in the menu which is associated with the Microsoft
Windows window that -multiwindow produces for each top-level X Window.
That can be done both for the generic case and for particular programs.
* To change the icon that is associated to the Microsoft Windows win-
dow that -multiwindow produces for each top-level X Window.
* To change the style that is associated with the Microsoft Windows
window that -multiwindow produces for each top-level X Window.
* To change the taskbar button properties of the Microsoft Windows
window that -multiwindow produces for each top-level X window.
The format of the Xmingrc file is given in the Xmingrc manual page.
Options
All normal server options are shown using -help. It is also prudent to
look at the output of -help to check the options that are operative in
your version of Xming.
The following command line switches are Xming specific, all of which
are optional:
-clipboard
Enables the integration between the X11 clipboard and Microsoft
Windows clipboard. The default is disabled.
-clipupdates num_boxes
Specify an optional threshold, above which the boxes in a
shadow update operation will be collected into a GDI clipping
region. The clipping region is then used to do a single bit
block transfer that is constrained to the updated area by the
clipping region. There is some overhead involved in creating,
installing, destroying, and removing the clipping region, thus
there may not be much benefit for a small number of boxes (less
than 10). Diminished effect on current Windows versions
because they already group GDI operations together in a batch,
which has a similar effect.
-[no]compositealpha
X windows with per-pixel alpha are composited into the Windows
desktop (i.e. a Windows window can be seen through any
transparency in an X window placed over it).
This option has no effect on Windows 8 and 8.1.
This option has no effect if -compositewm is disabled.
The default is disabled.
-[no]compositewm
Use Composite extension redirection to maintain a bitmap image
of each top-level X window, so window contents which are
occluded show correctly in Taskbar and Task Switcher previews.
The default is: ≥ 7.7.0.45 enabled and previously disabled.
-depth depth
Specify the colour depth, in bits per pixel, to use when run-
ning in -fullscreen with the DirectDraw4 engine. This parameter
is ignored if -fullscreen is not specified.
-[no]emulate3buttons timeout
Emulate a three button mouse; pressing both buttons within
timeout milliseconds causes an emulated middle button press.
The default timeout is 50 milliseconds. Note that most mice
with scroll wheel have middle button functionality, usually you
will need this option only if you have a two button mouse with-
out scroll wheel. Default is to enable this option if Windows
reports a two button mouse, disabled otherwise.
-engine engine_type_id
This option, which is intended for Xming developers, overrides
the server's automatically supported engine type. This parame-
ter will be ignored if the specified engine type is not sup-
ported on the current system. The supported engine type ids
are 1 - Shadow GDI and 4 - Shadow DirectDraw Non-Locking.
-from local-address
Specify the local address the server binds.
Changes the default from 127.0.0.1 for IPv4 in all Xming modes.
Note: this used to be an XDMCP mode only option.
-fullscreen [-depth depth] [-refresh rate_in_Hz]
Run the server in -fullscreen mode, as opposed to the default
windowed mode.
Currently -fullscreen may only be applied to one X screen.
-help Write help text to the log file and a popup notepad window.
-[no]hostintitle
In -multiwindow mode, append @hostname to the Windows title,
for X applications running on remote hosts, when their host
name is available. The default is enabled.
-icon Icon_File
Override the window icon for the root window from default.
Icon_File allows the three formats documented in Xmingrc.
-ignoreinput
Ignore keyboard and mouse input. This is usually only used for
testing and debugging purposes.
-[no]keyhook
Enable [disable] a low-level keyboard hook for catching special
key combinations like Alt+Tab and passing them to the X Server
instead of letting Microsoft Windows handle them.
-lesspointer
Hide the Microsoft Windows mouse cursor when the mouse is over
any Xming window (regardless of whether that window is active
or inactive). This prevents the Microsoft Windows mouse cursor
from being placed over the X cursor.
-logfile File_Name
Change the log file from the default, Xming.n.log, to the one
indicated by File_Name.
-logverbose level
Control the degree of verbosity of the log messages with the
integer parameter level. For level=0 only fatal errors are
reported, for level=1 simple information about configuration is
also given, for level=2 (default) a detailed log information
(including trace and debug output) is produced. Bigger values
will yield a still more detailed debug output. Not many mess-
ages respect this setting and the default value is 2.
-[no]multimonitors or -[no]multiplemonitors
Create a screen 0 that covers all monitors [the primary
monitor] on a system with multiple monitors. Fake xinerama data
is created describing the individual monitors, (This is similar
to the 'merged framebuffer' or 'pseudo-xinerama' mode provided
by some drivers for the X.Org X server).
This option is currently enabled by default in -multiwindow
mode.
-multiwindow
Start the integrated Microsoft Windows-based window manager,
which launches each top-level X Window in its own Microsoft
Windows window. Not to be used together with -rootless or
-fullscreen.
-nodecoration
Do not give the Xming window a Microsoft Windows window border,
titlebar, etc. This parameter only applies to windowed mode
screens, i.e., this parameter is ignored when the -fullscreen
parameter is specified.
-[no]primary
Default is X11 PRIMARY selection enabled. When set -noprimary:
only map the X11 CLIPBOARD selection (the cut/copied text), but
not the PRIMARY selection (the highlighted text), to the
Windows clipboard. Useable when -clipboard is enabled.
-refresh rate_in_Hz
Specify an optional refresh rate to use when running in
-fullscreen with the DirectDraw4 engine. This parameter is
ignored if -fullscreen is not specified.
-resize [=none|scrollbars|randr]
Select the resize mode of an X screen.
The default is none if -fullscreen is used, randr otherwise.
-resize=none
The screen is not resizable.
In windowed mode, if the window has decorations, a fixed frame
is used.
Alternative name is -noresize.
-resize=scrollbars
The screen window is resizeable, but the screen is not
resizable.
In windowed mode, if the window has decorations, a resizing
frame is used. Scrollbars are drawn when needed to allow the
entire X screen to viewed by adjusting them. This also permits
screens bigger than the Windows virtual desktop to be used.
This parameter is ignored in -multiwindow or -rootless modes.
Alternative name is -scrollbars.
-resize=randr
The screen is resizable and the screen window is resizeable.
In windowed mode, if the window has decorations, a resizing
frame is used. Resizing the Windows window will use the RANDR
extension to change the size of the X screen. Likewise,
changing the size of the X screen using the RANDR extension
will cause the size of the Windows window containing the X
screen to be changed.
In -multiwindow or -rootless modes, if the X screen is of the
same dimensions as a Windows monitor or the virtual desktop,
the X server will respond to the WM_DISPLAYCHANGED sent when
those dimensions change by resizing the X screen. Changing the
size of the X screen using the RANDR extension is not
permitted.
The maximum dimensions of the screen are the dimensions of the
Windows virtual desktop.
-resize
On its own -resize is equivalent to -resize=randr.
-rootless
Run the server in -rootless mode. Not to be used with -multi-
window or with -fullscreen.
-screen scr_num [W H [X Y] | [[WxH[+X+Y]][@m]] ]
This parameter can be used to specify the scr_num, width W,
height H and position X Y of one or several Xming screens; each
screen will open in its own window. When using many screens,
do not duplicate screen numbers (scr_num). Xming default behav-
iour is to create a single screen that is roughly the size of
the current Microsoft Windows display area.
Screen specific parameters can be applied as a default to
all screens by placing those screen specific parameters before
any -screen parameter. Screen specific parameters placed after
the first -screen parameter will apply only to the immediately
preceding -screen parameter. Additionally a monitor number (m)
can be specified to start the server on, at which point, all
coordinates become relative to that monitor.
Note: screen numbers (which count from zero) must be unique and
contiguous. Physical monitor numbers count from 1.
-scrollbars
Alternative name for -resize=scrollbars.
-swcursor
Disable the usage of the Windows cursor and use the X11 soft-
ware cursor instead.
This option is ignored if -compositewm is also enabled.
-[no]trayicon
Do not create a notification area icon. Default is to create
one icon per screen. You can globally disable notification area
icons with -notrayicon, then enable them for specific screens
with -trayicon for those screens.
-[no]unixkill
Enable or disable the Ctrl-Alt-Backspace key combination as a
signal to exit the X server. The Ctrl-Alt-Backspace key combi-
nation is disabled by default.
-version
Write version and help text to the log file and a popup notepad
window.
-[no]wgl
Enable [disable] the GLX extension to use the native Windows
WGL interface for hardware accelerated OpenGL (AIGLX). This is
disabled by default: -nowgl.
-[no]winkill
Enable or disable the Alt-F4 key combination as a signal to
exit the X Server. The Alt-F4 key combination is enabled by
default.
-xkblayout layout
-xkbmodel model
-xkboptions option
-xkbrules rule
-xkbvariant variant
These xkb options configure the xkeyboard extension to load a
particular keyboard map as the X server starts. The behaviour
is similar to the setxkbmap program. The keyboard layout data
is located at xkb. Additional information can be found in the
README files there and in the setxkbmap manual page.
For example, in order to load a German layout for a pc105
keyboard use the options:
-xkblayout de -xkbmodel pc105
Alternatively, you can use the setxkbmap program after Xming is
running or even the xmodmap program for loading the old-style
keyboard maps.
The default is to select a keyboard configuration matching your
current layout as reported by Windows, if known, or the default
X server configuration if no matching keyboard configuration is
found.
Authors
This list is by no means complete, but contributors to the Xming
project include (in alphabetical order by last name):
Stuart Adamson, Michael Bax, Jehan Bing, Lev Bishop, Dr. Peter Busch,
Biju G C, Robert Collins, Nick Crabtree, Early Ehlinger, Christopher
Faylor, John Fortin, Brian Genisio, Fabrizio Gennari, Alexander
Gottwald, Ralf Habacker, Colin Harrison, Matthieu Herrb, Alan Houri-
hane, Pierre A Humblet, Harold L Hunt II, Dakshinamurthy Karra, Joe
Krahn, Paul Loewenstein, Kensuke Matsuzaki, Takuma Murakami, Earle F.
Philhower III, Benjamin Riefenstahl, Yaakov Selkowitz, Suhaib Siddiqi,
Jack Tanner, John Turney and Nicholas Wourms.
Table of contents
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