How to Run an Application in Another X11 Session on Raspberry Pi

On a Raspberry Pi, as in any Linux system, it is possible to manage multiple graphical sessions simultaneously.

X11 or the X Window System is a windowing system for Unix and Linux systems that provides the foundation for the graphical user interface (GUI). It allows users to run graphical applications and manage windows on their desktop.

This can be useful for running multiple graphical applications in different X11 (X Window System) sessions without interfering with each other. It is also very useful when we have a Raspberry Pi in a setup with multiple displays, some of which may be “non-standard”.

For example, this is common in the case of a machine intended to play a video, or an application, or even a robot with a screen, where one of the displays is not a “normal” screen.

In this article, we will explore how to run a graphical application in another X11 session on Raspberry Pi and, if necessary, how to access another user’s session by importing their authentication token.

Run Application in Another Session

To run an application in another X11 session, we use the following command:

Run in Another User’s Session

If we need to run the application in an X11 session that belongs to another user, we must first import the authentication token (xauth token) of the user who owns that session.

This is done with the following command:

By executing this command, we import that authentication token into our session, allowing us to run applications in the other user’s session.