Cygwin/X User's Guide
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# Chapter 2. Setting Up Cygwin/X

# Installing Cygwin/X

Cygwin has a nice setup program that downloads and installs the necessary Cygwin packages for you.

1. Open the Cygwin, http://cygwin.com/ page in your web browser

2. Click on the "setup-x86.exe" (32-bit installation) or "setup-x86_64.exe" (64-bit installation) link to download the appropriate setup program from the primary Cygwin server. Save it to the directory that you would like to store the downloaded packages in (e.g. `c:\download`). Do not save to `c:\cygwin`, as that is the default directory for the extraction and installation of the downloaded packages.

3. Run the Cygwin setup program and you will see the welcome screen:

4. Click Next to proceed to the next screen.

5. Choose, Install from Internet, this will still save the package files to your download directory so that you can install Cygwin on any number of machines:

6. Click Next to proceed to the next screen.

7. The default Install Root is `c:\cygwin` which should be fine for most installations. Leave Default Text File Type as UNIX. Leave Install For set to All unless you lack local administrative privileges.

8. Click Next to proceed to the next screen.

9. Local Package Directory should default to the directory that you ran the setup program from:

10. Click Next to proceed to the next screen.

11. Choose your proxy setup, or, just choose Direct Connection if no proxy is needed:

12. Click Next to proceed to the next screen.

13. Select your nearest mirror for downloading:

14. Click Next to proceed to the next screen; setup will download a list of available packages as it moves to the next screen.

15. On the next screen you will select the packages that will be downloaded and installed. A listing of the Cygwin/X packages is given below; a listing of the general Cygwin packages would be beyond the scope of this document.

    Cygwin/X packages are located in the `X11` category.

    - `xorg-server` (required, the Cygwin/X X Server)

    - `xinit` (required, scripts for starting the X server: xinit, startx, startwin (and a shortcut on the Start Menu to run it), startxdmcp.bat )

    - `xorg-docs` (optional, man pages)

    - `xlaunch` (optional, a wizard for starting X sessions)

    - You may also select any X client programs you want to use, and any fonts you would like to have available.

    - You may also want to ensure that the `openssh` package is selected if you wish to use ssh connections to run remote X clients.

    - You may also want to ensure that the `inetutils` or `rsh` packages are selected if you wish to use telnet or rsh connections to run remote X clients. (not recommended)

    You can run setup again in the future to add more packages.

16. Click Next to begin the download process, you may want to try another mirror if you see a "Connecting" message on this screen for a long period of time:

17. After the packages are downloaded, setup will automatically begin to install them:

18. I highly recommend allowing Cygwin Setup to create Desktop and Start Menu icons for you; these icons simply launch a bash shell:

19. Click Finish to close the setup program.

You have now successfully installed Cygwin/X.

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Windowing mode |  | Using Cygwin/X