Linux – Starting a program on the desktop from SSH in Ubuntu

Adding

export PROMPT_COMMAND='echo -ne "\033]0;${USER}@${HOSTNAME}: ${PWD/$HOME/~}\007"'

to my .bash_profile fixed the problem.

It appears as if the string in PROMPT_COMMAND gets executed every time the prompt is displayed. From the man page:

PROMPT_COMMAND

If set, the value is executed as a command prior to issuing each primary prompt.

The proper method seems to have some issue:

http://cygwin.1069669.n5.nabble.com/Windows-GUI-programs-e-g-notepad-start-but-are-invisible-after-ssh-login-td56256.html

http://cygwin.com/ml/cygwin/2007-10/msg00334.html

Reinstall 'sshd' specifying the '-i' flag to 'cygrunsrv' or edit the current service under "Administrative Tools"->"Services" and check "Allow service to interact with desktop" in the "Log On" tab of the service's "Properties".

So I try some hack. I create a cygwin_screen.cmd and put it in the Windows Startup folder.

@echo off 
C:
chdir C:\cygwin\bin
bash --login -i "/home/username/bin/start_screen.sh"

start_screen.sh is simple and it will make sure that we have the screen to attach to.

#!/bin/bash
screen -dmS "my_screen"

Now I can remote login to Windows from ssh client and attach to that screen when I want to run the Windows GUI application.

$screen -d -r my_screen

$notepad.exe
$cygstart my_doc.doc