Do I launch the app XLaunch for every login to use GUI in Ubuntu WSL in windows 10 pro?

Solution 1:

Let have some background first. To configure general X11 connection, we have to set the DISPLAY variable in WSL with this command export DISPLAY=:0. Also don't forget to use this export LIBGL_ALWAYS_INDIRECT=1 command which enables direct rendering. If these were done then go to the next step: configuring VcxSrv.

VcxSrv has many command line options (XWin man page). You can get the option details with vcxsrv.exe --help command. For WSL, mainly three options are required (can be changed).

-multiwindow
Run the server in multiwindow mode.

-clipboard
Enable [disable] the clipboard integration. Default is enabled.

-wgl
Enable the GLX extension to use the native Windows WGL interface for hardware-accelerated OpenGL.

The command will be: vcxsrv.exe :0 -multiwindow -clipboard -wgl.

Now the final step is to launch it before WSL launches. There may be multiple ways to do this. Here I mention two of them.

1. Create a shortcut with that previous command. You should mention the full path in that command. e.g. E:\VcXSrv\vcxsrv.exe :0 -multiwindow -clipboard -wgl. Here is a screenshot.

Then put that shortcut in %AppData%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup folder to automatically start VcxSrv when PC boots up.

2. Another way is to add the full command in registry with this command as administrator:

reg add "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run" /V VcxSrv /D "E:\VcXSrv\vcxsrv.exe :0 -multiwindow -clipboard -wgl"

Follow any one of the above two methods, not both. VcxSrv.exe will launch when you restart your PC.

Solution 2:

1. Open %AppData%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup in File Explorer

2. Create there a new file named config.xlaunch with the following content:

   <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
   <XLaunch WindowMode="MultiWindow" ClientMode="NoClient" LocalClient="False" Display="0" LocalProgram="xcalc" RemoteProgram="xterm" RemotePassword="" PrivateKey="" RemoteHost="" RemoteUser="" XDMCPHost="" XDMCPBroadcast="False" XDMCPIndirect="False" Clipboard="True" ClipboardPrimary="False" ExtraParams="" Wgl="True" DisableAC="True" XDMCPTerminate="False"/>
   

Solution 3:

An easy solution I've found to work:

1. Run XLaunch, choose your desired settings, and click "Save configuration" just before Finish.

2. Save the config file in your Startup folder which you can find by hitting Windows key + r and running shell:startup.

This will launch an Xserver with the saved configuration when Windows starts.

For WSL2, see this question to have your .bashrc set DISPLAY when starting Ubuntu/WSL, which also links to this subsection to let the WSL2 subnet through Windows firewall.