[Xen-users] Re: Newbie: How to run Xwindows in the guest OS

[Matt Palmer <mpalmer@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Thu, Sep 22, 2005 at 06:15:00AM -0000, Srinivasan S wrote:
> Question:  How do I get X to run in the guest operating systems ie. Suse
> or Ubuntu ?

I don't really think you can, at least not directly.  The problem is that
the X server typically wants direct access to the video hardware, and the
domU guest isn't allowed near it.  Short of making your dom0 serial-console
only, I don't think you could do it.

I vaguely recall something about a framebuffer device appearing in Xen 3,
which you could point the X session in your domU at, but I could be
completely off-the-mark.

A way (not the only one, though) to get full X sessions happening is to
install an appropriate X server in your dom0, configure the domU to expose
it's display manager via XDMCP over the network (you can restrict who can
connect, for security), and then run something like

X -query <domU IP address>

in the dom0.  Make it an init script if you want.  That should start the X
server in the dom0, and then connect it to the display manager on the domU,
which should produce a nice GUI login screen.

Note that things probably won't run as well as they would normally, and 3D
accelerated graphics almost certainly won't work.

- Matt

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