Enable X11-Forwarding on VPS

CentOS

Note: This was tested on CentOS 7.9 but should apply to all available versions. Some minor differences may be present.

1. Install Xauth with yum install xorg-x11-xauth
2. Make sure X11Forwarding is enabled by running grep X11Forwarding /etc/ssh/sshd_config, the output should look like: X11Forwarding yes If the output is X11Forwarding no, edit the value in the sshd config with vim /etc/ssh/sshd_config and restart sshd service sshds restart
3. Connect to the VPS ssh -X user@ip
4. Install an X application to verify that it works (for example: yum install xclock and then run it with xclock)

Ubuntu

Note: This was tested on Ubuntu 20.04 but should apply to all available versions. Some minor differences may be present.

On a Ubuntu 20.04 VPS the package xauth is already installed by default.

1. Make sure X11Forwarding is enabled by running grep X11Forwarding /etc/ssh/sshd_config, the output should look like: X11Forwarding yes If the output is X11Forwarding no, edit the value in the sshd config with vim /etc/ssh/sshd_config and restart sshd service sshds restart
2. Connect to the VPS ssh -X user@ip
3. Install an X application to verify that it works (for example: apt install xarclock and then run it with xarclock)

Debian

Note: This was tested on Debian 11.2 but should apply to all available versions. Some minor differences may be present.

On a Debian 11.2 VPS the package xauth is already installed by default.

1. Make sure X11Forwarding is enabled by running grep X11Forwarding /etc/ssh/sshd_config, the output should look like: X11Forwarding yes If the output is X11Forwarding no, edit the value in the sshd config with vim /etc/ssh/sshd_config and restart sshd service sshds restart
2. Connect to the VPS ssh -X user@ip
3. Install an X application to verify that it works (for example: apt install xarclock and then run it with xarclock)