Getting a HeadlessException: No X11 DISPLAY variable was set

Question

    Exception in thread "main" java.awt.HeadlessException: No X11 DISPLAY variable was set, but this program performed an operation which requires it.

        at java.awt.GraphicsEnvironment.checkHeadless(GraphicsEnvironment.java:159)
        at java.awt.Window.(Window.java:432)
        at java.awt.Frame.(Frame.java:403)
        at javax.swing.JFrame.(JFrame.java:202)
        at DrawGUI.(DrawGUI.java:15)
        at ShapeCreator.(ShapeCreator.java:31)
        at ShapeCreator.main(ShapeCreator.java:138)

What does this error message mean? And how can I solve it?

Answer 1

I assume you're trying to tunnel into some unix box.

Make sure X11 forwarding is enabled in your PuTTY settings.

Answer 2

This appears to be a more general SWING/AWT/JDK problem that just the JBOSS installer:

The accepted answer below solved the issue for me :

Unable to run java gui programs with ubuntu

("sudo apt-get install openjdk-6-jdk")

Answer 3

Your system does not have a GUI manager. Happens mostly in Solaris/Linux boxes. If you are using GUI in them make sure that you have a GUI manager installed and you may also want to google through the DISPLAY variable.

Answer 4

Problem statement – Getting java.awt.HeadlessException while trying to initialize java.awt.Component from the application as the tomcat environment does not have any head(terminal).

Issue – The linux virtual environment was setup without a virtual display terminal. Tried to install virtual display – Xvfb, but Xvfb has been taken off by the redhat community.

Solution – Installed ‘xorg-x11-drv-vmware.x86_64’ using yum install xorg-x11-drv-vmware.x86_64 and executed startx. Finally set the display to :0.0 using export DISPLAY=:0.0 and then executed xhost +

Answer 5

I think you are trying to run some utility or shell script from UNIX\LINUX which has some GUI. Anyways

SOLUTION: dude all you need is an XServer & X11 forwarding enabled. I use XMing (XServer). You are already enabling X11 forwarding. Just Install it(XMing) and keep it running when you create the session with PuTTY.