In the Raspberry pi docs regarding ssh, https://www.raspberrypi.com/documentati ... s.html#ssh there is mention of using ssh to forward X11 windows from another machine.
It notes that "Raspberry Pi OS uses the Wayland window server by default. You can only forward X11 if you use the X window server. To enable window forwarding over X11, switch your desktop to the X window server in Control Centre or the Raspberry Pi configuration CLI."
However, unless I've misunderstood something, I can report that it works just fine in Wayland.
I have a Pi 5 with Pi OS Trixie installed, and running Wayland (tho I imagine X11 is also bundled in there). I also have a Pi 4 with a full install of Bookworm, which is running headless and configured not to start any window manager nor to auto log in.
From the Trixie Pi running Wayland, I can and then or and the program starts and displays as expected. It all just works!
So I'm very pleased, but also curious as the documentation seems to be a little misleading? I didn't have to switch from Wayland to X11 to make this work.
One minor gripe tho : under X11, remote windows would also have the nodename in the window title banner, which made it a lot easier to use. Under Wayland, chrome running locally vs chrome running remotely can't be differentiated easily. Is there a way to get the nodename back in the title bar of remote windows?
It notes that "Raspberry Pi OS uses the Wayland window server by default. You can only forward X11 if you use the X window server. To enable window forwarding over X11, switch your desktop to the X window server in Control Centre or the Raspberry Pi configuration CLI."
However, unless I've misunderstood something, I can report that it works just fine in Wayland.
I have a Pi 5 with Pi OS Trixie installed, and running Wayland (tho I imagine X11 is also bundled in there). I also have a Pi 4 with a full install of Bookworm, which is running headless and configured not to start any window manager nor to auto log in.
From the Trixie Pi running Wayland, I can
Code:
ssh -Y bookwormpi.lanCode:
chromium &Code:
pcmanfm &So I'm very pleased, but also curious as the documentation seems to be a little misleading? I didn't have to switch from Wayland to X11 to make this work.
One minor gripe tho : under X11, remote windows would also have the nodename in the window title banner, which made it a lot easier to use. Under Wayland, chrome running locally vs chrome running remotely can't be differentiated easily. Is there a way to get the nodename back in the title bar of remote windows?
Statistics: Posted by Chimneyfactory — Wed Dec 17, 2025 1:00 pm