Python tkinter (and hence IDLE) is not working in WSL terminal

Question

Idk why I got this errors when trying to open IDLE in WSL terminal

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/bin/idle", line 5, in <module>
    main()
  File "/usr/lib/python3.6/idlelib/pyshell.py", line 1485, in main
    root = Tk(className="Idle")
  File "/usr/lib/python3.6/tkinter/__init__.py", line 2023, in __init__
    self.tk = _tkinter.create(screenName, baseName, className, interactive, wantobjects, useTk, sync, use)
_tkinter.TclError: no display name and no $DISPLAY environment variable

See https://stackoverflow.com/questions/37604289/tkinter-tclerror-no-display-name-and-no-display-environment-variable — Tin Nguyen, Mar 31 '20 at 09:48

cup · Answer 1 · 2020-03-31T09:59:21.113

1

Install XMing on your machine. Make sure it is running before you start WSL.

In WSL, change your .profile. At the bottom append

export DISPLAY=:0.0

Close your WSL window and reopen.

You can then run any X application including idle.

edited Mar 31 '20 at 09:59

answered Mar 31 '20 at 09:50

cup

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1

XMing has not been updated for a long time. Better use `VcXsrv`. – acw1668 Mar 31 '20 at 17:27

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Mar 31 '20 at 09:48

IDLE is an application with GUI that requires X11 or Wayland to be installed on the system.
The "no $DISPLAY environment variable" error means that the system has no displays excluding terminals.
"no display name" means that you did not provide a display to display IDLE on.

Python tkinter (and hence IDLE) is not working in WSL terminal

2 Answers2