Running an X server on Windows from Cygwin with a Japanese keyboard

This page was created on Fri Oct 09 2009 and last changed on Sat Oct 05 2024.

To run an X server on Windows under Cygwin, use

C:\cygwin\bin\XWin.exe

C:\cygwin64\bin\XWin.exe

if you are using 64-bit Windows.

The basic program starts a big block window which covers your window screen, without a window manager. You can use the twm window manager.

If you want your X windows to share the screen with Windows windows, you can run the X server with the option

C:\cygwin\bin\XWin.exe -multiwindow

This does not allow cut and paste. If you want to also be able to cut and paste between the X windows and the Windows windows, there is an option -clipboard

C:\cygwin\bin\XWin.exe -multiwindow -clipboard

which makes it possible.

The -clipboard option also alters the behaviour of the keyboard. My keyboard is a Japanese model, so I use the following two options

C:\cygwin\bin\XWin.exe -multiwindow -clipboard -xkblayout jp -xkbmodel jp106

This gives correct correspondence between the keyboard and the output on the X Windows windows.

If you often use XWindows from Windows, it can be run as a scheduled task in Windows. You need to navigate to the following page:

Start/Control Panel/System and Maintenance/Administrative Tools/Schedule tasks

on Windows Vista, or

Start/Control Panel/System and Security/Administrative tools/Schedule tasks

on Windows 10.

On the "Schedule tasks" window, go to "Task Scheduler Library", then click on "Create Task...". Then enter the command name and arguments for running XWin under the "Actions" tab. You can choose to start XWindows on log in under the "Triggers" tab.

Running an X server on Windows from Cygwin with a Japanese keyboard

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