Headless With X - ArchWiki

# Headless With X

This article or section is being considered for deletion.

Reason: This article actually just tells to configure a monitor normally as if it was there, nothing more, and the example `10-monitor.conf` is practically the same as the one in Xorg#Monitor settings. Maybe Xorg#Monitor settings or Xorg#Tips_and_tricks could mention that setting a monitor is needed also for headless configurations, then this article could just redirect there (please don't actually delete this title, see also the backlink(s)). And then why reboot? And what difference does it make whether X is started automatically or not? (Discuss)

Related articles

- systemd/User
- Automatic login to virtual console
- Start X at login
- Display manager
- Silent boot
- Xinitrc
- x11vnc

This article explains how to have X running while a machine boots headless, i.e., without a monitor. By default this does not happen, because X detects the absence of a monitor and does not start.

First copy the following text:

    Section "Monitor"
        Identifier             "Monitor0"
    EndSection

    Section "Device"
        Identifier             "Device0"
        Driver                 "vesa" #Choose the driver used for this monitor
    EndSection

    Section "Screen"
        Identifier             "Screen0"  #Collapse Monitor and Device section to Screen section
        Device                 "Device0"
        Monitor                "Monitor0"
        DefaultDepth           24 #Choose the depth (16||24)
        SubSection             "Display"
            Depth              24
            Modes              "1024x768_75.00" #Choose the resolution
        EndSubSection
    EndSection

into this file, as root:

    /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/10-monitor.conf

and reboot.

Note:

This does presume that you have set up X to start automatically, either from virtual console and login, or using a display manager.

If it works, you're done, X will run fine with or without a screen. If not, you have a video card causing issues. One quick way to handle this is to try different drivers instead of "vesa". A list can be had by running "X -configure" without X running. One ATI video card confirmed to need this, worked well using "ati" instead of "vesa".

Categories:

- X Server
- Boot process