# Installing using Windows Subsystem for Linux

**URL:** <https://community.mrtrix.org/t/installing-using-windows-subsystem-for-linux/1005>\
**Category:** Uncategorized\
**Tags:** installation, linux, mrview\
**Created:** [July 4, 2017, 1:45pm UTC](https://community.mrtrix.org/t/installing-using-windows-subsystem-for-linux/1005 "2017-07-04T13:45:52Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Daniel\_Saad](https://community.mrtrix.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/d/ecae2f/32.png) [@Daniel\_Saad](https://community.mrtrix.org/u/Daniel_Saad)\
**Post date:** [July 4, 2017, 1:45pm UTC](https://community.mrtrix.org/t/installing-using-windows-subsystem-for-linux/1005/1 "2017-07-04T13:45:53Z")

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After a successful build using Windows Subsystem for Linux (Bash on Ubuntu on Windows) and ./set\_path, MRView does not work. It reads:

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mrview: cannot connect to X server

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Config and build were ok so I am unsure what the problem is here.  
Anyone familiar with WSL and how to proceed from here?

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MRtrix build type requested: release

Detecting OS: linux  
Machine architecture set by ARCH environment variable to: native  
Looking for compiler [g+±4.9]: g+±4.9 (Ubuntu 4.9.4-2ubuntu1~14.04.1) 4.9.4  
Checking for C++11 compliance: ok  
Checking for ::max\_align\_t: ok  
Checking for std::max\_align\_t: ok  
Detecting pointer size: 64 bit  
Detecting byte order: little-endian  
Checking for variable-length array support: yes  
Checking for non-POD variable-length array support: yes  
Checking for zlib compression library: 1.2.8  
Checking for TIFF library: not found - TIFF support disabled  
Checking for Eigen 3 library: 3.2.0  
Checking JSON for Modern C++ requirements: OK  
Checking shared library generation: yes  
Checking for Qt moc: moc (version 4.8.6)  
Checking for Qt qmake: qmake (version 4.8.6)  
Checking for Qt rcc: rcc (version 4.8.6)  
Checking for Qt: 4.8.6

writing configuration to file ‘./config’: ok

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**Author:** ![jdtournier](https://community.mrtrix.org/user_avatar/community.mrtrix.org/jdtournier/32/2594_2.png) [@jdtournier](https://community.mrtrix.org/u/jdtournier)\
**Post date:** [July 4, 2017, 3:42pm UTC](https://community.mrtrix.org/t/installing-using-windows-subsystem-for-linux/1005/2 "2017-07-04T15:42:24Z")

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This is totally expected: Ubuntu Bash doesn’t provide a graphics (X11) stack. This was mentioned by @ThijsDhollander a while back in [this post](http://community.mrtrix.org/t/mrtrix-fsl-ants-on-the-windows-subsystem-for-linux/377) (although it’s a minor side comment). You _might_ be able to get it to work using a separate standalone X server (see e.g. [this post](http://www.pcworld.com/article/3055403/windows/windows-10s-bash-shell-can-run-graphical-linux-applications-with-this-trick.html)), but I doubt it: you need OpenGL 3.3 support, I’d be (pleasantly) surprised if any X server solutions out there would provide such support… This is why we are still currently using the MSYS2 install, as per the [installation instructions](http://mrtrix.readthedocs.io/en/0.3.16/installation/windows_install.html#install-and-update-msys2) - this provides a _native_ Windows executable, with full graphics support.