Cygwin/X, by default, runs in windowed mode with the largest window that will fit on your Windows desktop, using the best performing engine that is installed on your system; you do not need to pass any parameters to XWin.exe to use the default behavior. Below is the syntax for XWin.exe parameters.
XWin.exe
[-help]
[-clipboard
[-nounicodeclipboard]
]
[-clipupdates
clip_updates_above_n
]
[-emulate3buttons
timeout_in_milliseconds
]
[-engine
engine_number
]
[-fullscreen
[-depth
depth_in_bits_per_pixel
]
[-refresh
refresh_rate_in_herz
]
]
[-ignoreinput]
[-lesspointer]
[-multiwindow]
[-multimonitors]
[-nodecoration]
[-rootless]
[-screen
screen_number
width
height
...]
[-scrollbars]
[-[no]trayicon]
[-[no]unixkill]
[-[no]winkill]
[-[no]keyhook]
[-xkbrules
XKBRules
]
[-xkbmodel
XKBModel
]
[-xkblayout
XKBLayout
]
[-xkbvariant
XKBVariant
]
[-xkboptions
XKBOptions
]
[-logfile
path_to_logfile
]
[-logverbose
verbosity_level
]
Below is an example command line for XWin.exe.
XWin.exe -screen 0 800 600 -fullscreen -depth 32 -refresh 85 -emulate3buttons 100 -nowinkill -unixkill
Table 3-1. Parameter Descriptions
Parameter | Description |
---|---|
[-help] |
Print a list of supported commandline options and their description similar to this list. |
[-clipboard [-nounicodeclipboard] ] |
Enables the integrated version of xwinclip, which provides integration between the Cygwin/X clipboard and Windows clipboard. Do not use in conjunction with the xwinclip program. -nounicodeclipboard disables Unicode clipboard even if Cygwin/X is running on a NT-based platform |
[-clipupdates clip_updates_above_n ] |
Groups together the regions in each update to the screen when there are more than the specified number of regions in an update. This works by fitting a clipping region around the updated regions, then transferring that entire region of the shadow frame buffer to the screen, rather than making many individual calls to transfer small portions of the shadow frame buffer to the screen. This has a diminished effect on NT-based platforms because they already group GDI operations together in a batch, which has a similar effect. |
[-emulate3buttons timeout_in_milliseconds ] |
Note: scroll wheel mice often allow you to click the scroll wheel for middle mouse button functionality. Thus, most users with a scroll wheel mouse will not need to use this parameter. This option allows users with a two-button mouse to emulate a third mouse button by pressing both mouse buttons within the optional timeout specified in milliseconds. The default timeout is 50 milliseconds. |
[-engine engine_number ] |
Do not use this parameter unless you are a Cygwin/X developer or are instructed by a Cygwin/X developer to do so. Cygwin/X's default behavior is to determine if DirectDraw or DirectDraw4 are present, then to examine the -depth and -fullscreen parameters to determine the engine with optimum performance that supports the specified depth and window configuration. |
[-fullscreen [-depth depth_in_bits_per_pixel ] [-refresh refresh_rate_in_herz ] ] |
The -fullscreen parameter tells Cygwin/X to open a given screen in fullscreen mode. The -depth parameter can only be used with -fullscreen and a DirectDraw based engine to specify the display depth that should be used for the fullscreen Cygwin/X screen. The -refresh parameter can only be used with -fullscreen and a DirectDraw based engine to specify the refresh rate that should be used for the fullscreen Cygwin/X screen. |
[-ignoreinput] |
Ignore keyboard and mouse input. This is usually only use for testing and debugging purposes. |
[-lesspointer] |
Hide the Windows mouse cursor when the mouse is over any Cygwin/X window (regardless of whether that window is active or inactive). This prevents the Windows mouse cursor from being placed overtop of the X cursor. |
[-multimonitors] |
Create a root window that covers all monitors on a system with multiple monitors. |
[-multiwindow] |
Start the integrated Windows-based window manager, which launches each top-level X window in its own Windows window. Not to be used together with -rootless nor -fullscreen. |
[-nodecoration] |
Do not give the Cygwin/X window a Windows window border, title bar, etc. This parameter only applies to windowed mode screens, i.e., this parameter is ignored when the -fullscreen parameter is specified. |
[-rootless] |
Use a transparent root window with an external window manager (such as twm). Not to be used with -multiwindow nor with -fullscreen. |
[-screen screen_number width height ...] |
This parameter does not have to be specified. Cygwin/X's default behavior is to create a single screen that is roughly the size of the current Windows display area. This parameter may be used to specify the screen number, height, and width of one or several Cygwin/X screens; each Cygwin/X screen will be opened in its own window. When using multiple screens, be sure not to duplicate any screen numbers. Do note that, as of 2002-01-08, using multiple screens is not fully implemented; there are several bugs that must be fixed by someone that uses the multiple screens feature. Screen specific parameters, such as -fullscreen, can be applied as a default to all screens by placing those screen specific parameters before any -screen parameter. Screen specific parameters placed after the first -screen parameter will apply only to the immediately preceeding -screen parameter. |
[-scrollbars] |
Enable resizing of the server display window. Do not use in conjunction with -multiwindow nor with -rootless. |
[-[no]trayicon] |
Enable or disable the tray icon; the default is to enable the tray icon. |
[-[no]unixkill] |
Enable or disable the Ctrl-Alt-Backspace key combo as a signal to exit Cygwin/X. The Ctrl-Alt-Backspace key combo is disabled by default. |
[-[no]winkill] |
Enable or disable the Alt-F4 key combo as a signal to exit Cygwin/X. The Alt-F4 key combo is enabled by default. |
[-[no]keyhook] |
Enable or disable grabbing of special windows keys like the Menu key or Alt-Tab. This is disabled by default. |
[-xkbrules XKBRules ] |
Set the rules to use for XKB. This defaults to xorg. |
[-xkbmodel XKBModel ] |
Set the model to use for XKB. This defaults to pc105. |
[-xkblayout XKBLayout ] |
Set the layout to use for XKB. This defaults to a layout matching your current layout from windows or us if no matching layout was found. |
[-xkbvariant XKBVariant ] |
Set the variant to use for XKB. This defaults to not set. |
[-xkboptions XKBOptions ] |
Set the options to use for XKB. This defaults to not set. |
[-logfile path_to_logfile ] |
Set the location of the logfile. This defaults to /tmp/XWin.log. |
[-logverbose verbosity_level ] |
Set the level of logging verbosity. Currently only a few log messages respect this setting. |