Johnny Matthews | Enable GUI applications in Multipass

We’ll split this up into sections based on the machine you’re running things on. Let’s start with your MacOS device:

MacOS device

1. Install Xquarts:

   brew install --cask xquartz

2. Restart your device. Kinda annoying I know, but it’s necessary.

3. Once you’ve booted back up, open XQuarts.

4. In the top menubar, select XQuarts -> Settings.

   

5. Select the security tab and check Allow connections from network clients.

6. Restart XQuartz.

7. Grab the IP address of your VM. Replace hackbox with whatever you called your VM:

   multipass list | grep hackbox | awk '{print $3}'

   192.168.64.8

   You can also just run multipass list to view all your VM details:

   multipass list

   Name                    State             IPv4             Image
   hackbox                 Running           192.168.64.8     Ubuntu 24.04 LTS

8. Clear, and then allow connections to the X server:

   export DISPLAY=:0
   xhost +192.168.64.8

9. Get your device’s IP address on the network:

   ifconfig en0 | grep inet | awk '$1=="inet" {print $2}'

   192.168.228.115

   Make a note of this IP address; we’re gonna use it in a few seconds.

Virtual machine

Now we’re gonna move into the VM running in Multipass:

1. Update the package list and install x11-apps:

   sudo apt update
   sudo apt install -y x11-apps

2. Set the DISPLAY variable to point to your MacOS device’s X server, appending :0 to the end of the IP address:

   export DISPLAY=192.168.228.115:0

3. Try and run xclock:

   

4. That’s it!

For future session

1. On your Mac:

   # Start XQuartz:
   open -a XQuartz
   
   # Get the IP of your VM running in Multipass:
   VMIPADDRESS=$(multipass list | grep attackbox | awk '{print $3}')
   
   # Allow connections
   export DISPLAY=:0
   xhost +$VMIPADDRESS
   
   # Get your Mac's current IP (it might change after every restart):
   ifconfig en0 | grep inet | awk '$1=="inet" {print $2}'

2. In your VM:

   export DISPLAY=<YOUR_MAC_IP>:0