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X11 forwarding

ezTerm bundles VcXsrv on Windows so X11 forwarding works with no extra install. Remote GUI apps (xeyes, gedit, JetBrains IDEs, etc.) appear as native Windows windows on your desktop.

In the SSH session edit dialog, tick Forward X11. Save and (re)connect.

When the SSH channel opens, russh’s server_channel_open_x11 handler pipes each incoming X11 channel bidirectionally to a loopback TCP connection on VcXsrv. The X server lifecycle is ref-counted per display — VcXsrv starts on the first X11-enabled session and exits when the last one closes.

If you’d rather use a system VcXsrv install:

  1. Install VcXsrv at %ProgramFiles%\VcXsrv\ (the default path).
  2. Delete the vcxsrv/ subfolder next to ezterm.exe.
  3. ezTerm will fall back to the system install.

X11 forwarding works on Linux against the user’s existing X server. On macOS it requires XQuartz, which ezTerm does not manage — install it yourself.