Arch Linux

noteless

Member

Registered: 2015-10-14

Posts: 3

[SOLVED] "can't open display" error after using NetworkManager

Hello, sorry my first post in the arch forums has to be a system issue.

So, currently I've (tried to) setup a minimal arch install based on i3wm.  I've configured my system to autologin in vt1 then autostart X, then start i3.  This was working while I was using netctl to manage my network connection, but I decided to swap to network manager for ease of use.  (Using the nm-applet) NM properly connects me to my WPA2 Enterprise network.

The issue appears whenever I connect/reconnect to network using networkmanager applet.  Before I mess with NM I'm able to use my system as I could before.  However, after messing with NM settings I am unable to launch any windowed applications. 
Example calling xterm from a terminal (still in the i3 environment).

$ xterm
No protocol specified
xterm: Xt error: Can't open display: :0

After looking over some of my config files and the arch wiki I'm at a loss.  Be sure to tell me if there is any other information I should be including or if I'm not following something correctly. Go easy on me, its my first time a linux forum.

Last edited by noteless (2015-10-15 14:29:23)

Raynman

Member

Registered: 2011-10-22

Posts: 1,539

Re: [SOLVED] "can't open display" error after using NetworkManager

Does NM change your hostname (after X starts) to something supplied by the DHCP server, perhaps?

noteless

Member

Registered: 2015-10-14

Posts: 3

Re: [SOLVED] "can't open display" error after using NetworkManager

Yup.  It was an issue with the hostname (though more so my fault than NM's). 

I have the problem resolved now.  At some point in time it seems that my /etc/hostname file was deleted. So, it looks like the hostname was defaulting to localhost and NM would then change the hostname 'localhost' to 'localhost.localdomain'.  Fix was as easy as resetting my hostname in /etc/hostname.  I'm suprised I didn't notice the different hostname in my terminal prompt. . .  :\

Thanks for the help.  I was prepping to do a reinstall of my arch system, and I'm happy that won't be needed. 

fsckd

Forum Fellow

Registered: 2009-06-15

Posts: 4,173

Re: [SOLVED] "can't open display" error after using NetworkManager

Glad you were able to fix it so easily. Don't forget to mark this thread as solved. (Directions on how are here.)

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