No clue why the directions for this are buried deep in WLS issues. This is how I setup my Cypress on Ubuntu WSL2 working for both on and off VPN with some corp firewall.
Before executing any command, be sure to read and understand it, I ask you to run two shell scripts which I wrote. You should review any shell script provided by anyone before blindly running it. I'm not doing anyting bad, but I advise you to check for yourself.
sudo apt install libgtk2.0-0 libgtk-3-0 libgbm-dev libnotify-dev \
libgconf-2-4 libnss3 libxss1 libasound2 libxtst6 xauth xvfb \
x11-apps build-essential ca-certificates libcurl3-gnutls \
libcurl4 libcurl4-openssl-dev
mkdir ~/bin
echo "export PATH=~/bin:\$PATH" >> ~/.bashrc
Inside a firewall sometimes it is a PITA to get it to recognize certifications. I made a script to add the certs from github domains. If you're not behind a firewall and you can route to github hosts, then you do not need this.
cd ~/bin
wget --no-check-certificate https://gist.githubusercontent.com/pjobson/c7983da02ddb81c2c7457775111a4266/raw/90d23250c3466b7a39a76c2082591bd4880b7f5d/install_certs.sh
chmod +x install_certs.sh
sudo ./install_certs.sh
curl -k -L https://git.io/n-install | bash
source ~/.bashrc
n lts
node --version
npm --version
Download and install vcxsrv: https://sourceforge.net/projects/vcxsrv/
WSL uses its own SUBNET and has a different IP than Windows, so you need to tell WSL to use your Windows IP address and display.
In WSL, run:
netsh.exe interface show interface
Mine returns this at home while on the VPN:
Admin State State Type Interface Name
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Enabled Connected Dedicated Ethernet 3
Disabled Disconnected Dedicated Ethernet 2
Enabled Connected Dedicated Wi-Fi
Enabled Connected Dedicated vEthernet (WSL)
Whereas at work off the VPN it returns:
Admin State State Type Interface Name
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Disabled Disconnected Dedicated Ethernet 3
Disabled Disconnected Dedicated Ethernet 2
Enabled Connected Dedicated Wi-Fi
Enabled Disconnected Dedicated Ethernet
Enabled Connected Dedicated vEthernet (WSL)
In this example, my VPN connection is Ethernet 3 where as my non-VPN connection is Wi-Fi. In my case I need to use the IP for the VPN while at home and the IP from the Wi-Fi at work. I'm not 100% sure why this is, but I dislike Windows, so whatever.
I wrote a script which will output the display based on VPN or Default.
cd ~/bin
wget --no-check-certificate https://gist.githubusercontent.com/pjobson/3c5c23edd8e49cef7816372f4931f564/raw/8121f630571c8391f031d378f9381590ecbda003/getdisplay.sh
chmod +x getdisplay.sh
~/bin/getdisplay.sh 'VPN Interface' 'Default Interface'
Note: If you're not on a VPN and just to use a single interface, you can just pass it twice. The script is written for my specific use case, so it will always require two.
~/bin/getdisplay.sh 'Default Interface' 'Default Interface'
Of course change the VPN Interface and Default Interface to whatever yours are.
Mine for example is:
~/bin/getdisplay.sh 'Ethernet 3' 'Wi-Fi'
This should output something like this. If it returns nothing, you probably are using the wrong interfaces.
10.10.10.10:0.0
Edit .bashrc, add the following, again making the interfaces your own.
# set DISPLAY variable to the IP automatically assigned to WSL2
export DISPLAY="$(~/bin/getdisplay.sh 'VPN Interface' 'Default Interface')"
sudo /etc/init.d/dbus start &> /dev/null
sudo vi /etc/sudoers.d/dbus
Add:
<your username> ALL = (root) NOPASSWD: /etc/init.d/dbus
source ~/.bashrc
echo $DISPLAY
This should again display something like:
10.10.10.10:0.0
Open XLaunch from start menu.
Config:
- Select: Multiple Windows (default)
- Select: Start no client (default)
- Check: Disable access control
- Uncheck: Native opengl
- Save configuration on startup folder, location:
%AppData%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup
Start -> Run
%windir%\system32\WF.msc
Right-Click Inbound Rules -> New Rule...
- Rule Type: Program
- Program -> This Program Path: %ProgramFiles%\VcXsrv\vcxsrv.exe
- Action: Allow the Connection
- Profile: Check all
- Name: VcXsrv
Just run one of the x11-apps installed at the top.
xeyes
Should open the xeyes application.
General:
cd code_path
npm init
If you're NOT behind a firewall:
npm install cypress --save-dev
If you are behind a firewall, you need to get the zip file and point NPM to use it.
# Version -------------------------------------------------VVVVV
wget --no-check-certificate https://cdn.cypress.io/desktop/9.5.3/linux-x64/cypress.zip -O ~/cypress.zip
CYPRESS_INSTALL_BINARY=~/cypress.zip npm install cypress --save-dev
If you get a certificate error, disable strict-ssl in npm.
npm config set strict-ssl false
Then start it.
./node_modules/.bin/cypress open
Frequently I'll temporarily add the path to it to my PATH.
export PATH=./node_modules/.bin/:$PATH
cypress open
I wanted to add a note that you can forward traffic from your AWS EC2 instance through WSL to the X Server in Windows.
In your WSL create a ~/.ssh/config file and add:
Host <AWS_HOST_IP_ADDRESS>
HostName <AWS_HOST_IP_ADDRESS>
User <AWS_HOST_USERNAME>
IdentityFile ~/.ssh/<AWS_HOST_PEM_FILE>
Port 22
ForwardX11 yes
Host *
IdentitiesOnly=yes
PreferredAuthentications=publickey
Compression yes
ServerAliveInterval 30
ServerAliveCountMax 1200
LogLevel INFO
Then you can ssh to your EC2 host inside WSL. From your EC2 install xorg-x11-apps and run xeyes, this should open that app within your Windows x-server. You should be able to run cypress headed from your EC2 and have it open in Windows.