wkhtmltopdf: cannot connect to X server

Question

I have been using wkthmltopdf to convert html to pdf documents on-the-fly on my linux web server. The program originally needed X11 or similar X server to run correctly, but through many requests by developers to have this run on servers without GUI, I am pretty sure it runs a virtual X server in the static version. I have been using the static (stand-alone) version of the program and it works great! I would put the executable file in a folder, and run:

./wkhtmltopdf file1.html file2.pdf

However I would like to install this program system-wide. I used the apt-get install wkhtmltopdf (just installed yesterday) and since I am running on a 64 bit system, I also needed apt-get install ia32-libs. After installation I can find the version like this:

wkhtmltopdf --version

output:

Name:
  wkhtmltopdf 0.9.9

License:
  Copyright (C) 2008,2009 Wkhtmltopdf Authors.



  License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later <http://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>.
  This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it. There is NO
  WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.

Authors:
  Written by Jakob Truelsen. Patches by Mário Silva, Benoit Garret and Emmanuel
  Bouthenot.

Now when I try to run the program installed via aptitude, I get the following error:

wkhtmltopdf: cannot connect to X server

Does anyone know how I can fix this? I guess this version is missing a virtual X server or something.

score 210 · Answer 1 · edited Jul 18 '18 at 00:00

210

or try this (from http://drupal.org/node/870058)

Download wkhtmltopdf. Or better install it with a package manager:
```
sudo apt-get install wkhtmltopdf
```
Extract it and move it to /usr/local/bin/
Rename it to wkhtmltopdf so that now you have an executable at /usr/local/bin/wkhtmltopdf
Set permissions: sudo chmod a+x /usr/local/bin/wkhtmltopdf

Install required support packages.

sudo apt-get install openssl build-essential xorg libssl-dev

Check to see if it works: run
```
/usr/local/bin/wkhtmltopdf http://www.google.com test.pdf
```
If it works, then you are done. If you get the error "Cannot connect to X server" then continue to number 7.
We need to run it headless on a 'virtual' x server. We will do this with a package called xvfb.
```
sudo apt-get install xvfb
```
We need to write a little shell script to wrap wkhtmltopdf in xvfb. Make a file called wkhtmltopdf.sh and add the following:
```
xvfb-run -a -s "-screen 0 640x480x16" wkhtmltopdf "$@"
```
Move this shell script to /usr/local/bin, and set permissions:
```
sudo chmod a+x /usr/local/bin/wkhtmltopdf.sh
```

Check to see if it works once again: run

/usr/local/bin/wkhtmltopdf.sh http://www.google.com test.pdf

Note that http://www.google.com may throw an error like "A finished ResourceObject received a loading finished signal. This might be an indication of an iframe taking to long to load." You may want to test with a simpler page like http://www.example.com.

edited Jul 18 '18 at 00:00

Evan Donovan

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answered Mar 13 '12 at 13:36

TimoSolo

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1

I tried that tutorial originally, and it didn't quite work, also I didn't like having to create the wrapper with symbolic link. Like I wrote in my answer, if you just move the static executable to the `/usr/bin/` directory you can use it from anywhere. They added a virtual x-server to static executable, so no need to make the wrapper script. – jeffery_the_wind Mar 13 '12 at 13:43
it worked for me.. in some situations. I think installing missing 32bit libraries fixed it for me - thanks for that tip – TimoSolo Mar 14 '12 at 07:03
What is the statement in number 6 `If you get the error "Cannot connect to X server" then continue to number 6.` supposed to mean? I'm very confused by this. Do you mean to say to continue to number 7? – Noz Apr 08 '13 at 19:43
Yes, that is what is meant...the original article had mis-numbered the items. So go on to #7 – dwaz May 01 '13 at 18:53
thanks, renumbered.. The suggested answer should work in most cases though, so try that first – TimoSolo May 02 '13 at 10:50
with pdfkit in python I get a Exec error when I try this :/ even though it works fine in terminal – Charles Haro Apr 15 '15 at 23:00
And if you have a script with a hardcoded installation path; you can create a symlink to run the shell script. Works like a charm (y) – Alex2php Jul 30 '15 at 10:52

score 62 · Answer 2 · edited Nov 28 '12 at 12:32

62

This solved the issue for me:

sudo apt-get install xvfb
xvfb-run --server-args="-screen 0, 1024x768x24" wkhtmltopdf file1.html file2.pdf

edited Nov 28 '12 at 12:32

Aleksander Blomskøld

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answered Nov 28 '12 at 12:12

syzspectroom

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3

This is the easiest and safest approach, since the standard installation of wkhtmltopdf doesn't include the x-server. – Peter Dec 04 '14 at 14:39
1

This is how to solve "cannot connect to X server" in the vast majority of cases. – tripleee Oct 24 '16 at 08:27
3

On Redhat based distros use `sudo yum install xorg-x11-server-Xvfb` resp. `sudo dnf install xorg-x11-server-Xvfb`. – TNT Mar 26 '17 at 10:09

score 28 · Answer 3 · edited Mar 28 '13 at 00:02

28

I tried to do sudo apt-get install wkhtmltopdf but without any success. Instead I recommend you try:

Download the latest executable (.11 rc1) :

wget https://wkhtmltopdf.googlecode.com/files/wkhtmltopdf-0.11.0_rc1-static-i386.tar.bz2
uncompress it :

tar -vxf wkhtmltopdf-0.11.0_rc1-static-i386.tar.bz2
rename it :

mv wkhtmltopdf-i386 wkhtmltopdf
chmod it to executable :

chmod a+x wkhtmltopdf
place it into /usr/bin :

sudo mv wkhtmltopdf /usr/bin

edited Mar 28 '13 at 00:02

montrealmike

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answered Mar 07 '13 at 05:30

Yakob Ubaidi

1,846
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https://code.google.com/p/wkhtmltopdf/issues/detail?id=730 seems like vs 11.0_rc1 has some issues – montrealmike Mar 28 '13 at 00:05
this worked for me but the pdf generation failed so I replaced the above instructions with `https://wkhtmltopdf.googlecode.com/files/wkhtmltopdf-0.9.9-static-i386.tar.bz2` – martincarlin87 Sep 30 '13 at 14:28
1

downloading wkhtmltox-linux-amd64_0.12.0-03c001d.tar.xz works for me now. For some reason the latest does not. – chasetheskyforever Jul 17 '14 at 15:35
1

I can confirm this worked for me: (getting latest stable version atm) wget http://download.gna.org/wkhtmltopdf/0.12/0.12.3/wkhtmltox-0.12.3_linux-generic-amd64.tar.xz tar -vxf wkhtmltox-0.12.3_linux-generic-amd64.tar.xz chmod a+x wkhtmltox/bin/wkhtmltopdf sudo mv wkhtmltopdf /usr/local/bin/wkhtmltopdf – Magico Feb 17 '16 at 14:21

score 27 · Answer 4 · edited Jul 11 '18 at 06:50

27

Just made it:

1- To download wkhtmltopdf dependencies

# apt-get install wkhtmltopdf

2- Download from source

# wget http://downloads.sourceforge.net/project/wkhtmltopdf/xxx.deb

# dpkg -i xxx.deb

3- Try

# wkhtmltopdf http://google.com google.pdf

Its working fine

It works!

edited Jul 11 '18 at 06:50

Bala

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answered Nov 14 '14 at 12:28

Sfblaauw

1,556
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I had to run `apt-get install -f` after installing the package to get the dependencies. Otherwise worked like a charm. Much prefer this method to the others described. – dmuir Jan 30 '15 at 03:42
2

I agree. This solution got me to the current rev. The dpkg -i command did generate some ambiguous info but regardless, it worked: `wget -q http://downloads.sourceforge.net/project/wkhtmltopdf/0.12.2.1/wkhtmltox-0.12.2.1_linux-trusty-amd64.deb` followed by `sudo dpkg --install wkhtmltox-0.12.2.1_linux-trusty-amd64.deb` – Bill Butler Feb 23 '15 at 23:17
this is still the better solution provided to this question. – versvs Jul 02 '15 at 15:07
1

I had to run `sudo mv wkhtmltopdf /usr/bin` from the `/usr/local/bin/` directory, but this worked great! I tried every other method on this page with no luck before hand.. – shaneparsons Oct 14 '15 at 16:13
this should get higher upvotes as a latest and simpler solution without relying other packages (which also solves 'Cannot connect to X server' problem). and I have issues with relative css path not being loaded when using xvfb. – zynick Jan 25 '16 at 17:39

PRIHLOP · Answer 5 · 2016-03-29T09:28:01.670

16

I found method to resolve this problem without fake X server. In newest version of wkhtmltopdf dont need X server for work, but it no into official linux repositories.

Solution for Ubuntu 14.04.4 LTS (trusty) i386

$ sudo apt-get install xfonts-75dpi
$ wget http://download.gna.org/wkhtmltopdf/0.12/0.12.2/wkhtmltox-0.12.2_linux-trusty-i386.deb
$ sudo dpkg -i wkhtmltox-0.12.2_linux-trusty-i386.deb
$ wkhtmltopdf http://www.google.com test.pdf

Solution for Ubuntu 14.04.4 LTS (trusty) amd64

$ sudo apt-get install xfonts-75dpi
$ wget http://download.gna.org/wkhtmltopdf/0.12/0.12.2/wkhtmltox-0.12.2_linux-trusty-amd64.deb
$ sudo dpkg -i wkhtmltox-0.12.2_linux-trusty-amd64.deb
$ wkhtmltopdf http://www.google.com test.pdf

User felixhummel got very good solution, but repository with utilite has changed.

edited Mar 29 '16 at 09:28

answered Jan 22 '16 at 13:08

PRIHLOP

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for some reason this was working for me and the newer version (0.13) was not thank you! – talsibony Sep 01 '16 at 07:24
This is the solution that worked for me, i have tried lot of other resolution but none of them worked. As i am new to php/Laravel environment so i have no deep knowledge of these libraries & dependencies, but this solution is awesome simply saved my hours :) – Amit Sep 23 '16 at 07:15
Really this solution is awesome today i moved to production and got same issue, without wasting anytime i just run these solution and it worked smoothly :) – Amit Sep 25 '16 at 09:36
gna.org is now shut down. :( – Jya Nov 28 '17 at 05:28

score 11 · Answer 6 · answered May 21 '13 at 19:16

Expanding on Timothy's answer...

If you're a web developer looking to use wkhtmltopdf as part of your web app, you can simply install it into your /usr/bin/ folder like so:

cd /usr/bin/
curl -C - -O http://wkhtmltopdf.googlecode.com/files/wkhtmltopdf-0.11.0_rc1-static-i386.tar.bz2
tar -xvjf wkhtmltopdf-0.11.0_rc1-static-i386.tar.bz2
mv wkhtmltopdf-i386 wkhtmltopdf

You can now run it anywhere using wkhtmltopdf.

I personally use the Snappy library in PHP. Here is an example of how easy it is to create a PDF:

<?php

// Create new PDF
$pdf = new \Knp\Snappy\Pdf('wkhtmltopdf');

// Set output header
header('Content-Type: application/pdf');

// Generate PDF from HTML
echo $pdf->getOutputFromHtml('<h1>Title</h1><p>Your content goes here.</p>');

felixhummel · Answer 7 · 2015-01-21T21:54:28.470

Update to latest wkhtmltopdf version from SourceForge (0.12 as of this writing). It does not need an X Server to run.

Example for Ubuntu 14.04:

$ cd /tmp/                                                                                                                                                                                                       
$ wget -q http://downloads.sourceforge.net/project/wkhtmltopdf/0.12.2.1/wkhtmltox-0.12.2.1_linux-trusty-amd64.deb
$ dpkg -x wkhtmltox-0.12.2.1_linux-trusty-amd64.deb foo

$ echo '<p>hi</p>' | ./foo/usr/local/bin/wkhtmltopdf - /tmp/hi.pdf
Loading pages (1/6)
Counting pages (2/6)                                               
Resolving links (4/6)                                                       
Loading headers and footers (5/6)                                           
Printing pages (6/6)
Done                                                                      

$ head -n3 /tmp/hi.pdf 
%PDF-1.4
1 0 obj
<<

I have installed 0.12.1 and it still prompts me cannot connect to X server. Am I missing something? — Ales Maticic, Jan 09 '15 at 12:35
Tried it again and this works for me (no install, just to keep the box clean). See edit above. — felixhummel, Jan 21 '15 at 21:47

Matthias · Answer 8 · 2017-04-22T18:10:19.630

for 14.04.1-Ubuntu https://wkhtmltopdf.org/downloads.html

wget https://downloads.wkhtmltopdf.org/0.12/0.12.4/wkhtmltox-0.12.4_linux-generic-amd64.tar.xz -O mktemp.tar.xz
tar xf mktemp.tar.xz
sudo cp wkhtmltox/bin/wkhtmltopdf /usr/bin/wkhtmltopdf
sudo chmod +x /usr/bin/wkhtmltopdf
rm mktemp.tar.xz
rm wkhtmltox -rf
apt-get update
apt-get install -y libxrender1 libxtst6 libxi6
wkhtmltopdf http://www.google.com test.pdf

score 6 · Answer 9 · answered May 02 '14 at 18:35

sudo -i
apt-get install wkhtmltopdf xvfb libicu48
mv /usr/bin/wkhtmltopdf /usr/bin/wkhtmltopdf-origin
touch /usr/bin/wkhtmltopdf && chmod +x /usr/bin/wkhtmltopdf && cat > /usr/bin/wkhtmltopdf << END
#!/bin/bash

/usr/bin/xvfb-run -a -s "-screen 0 1024x768x24" /usr/bin/wkhtmltopdf-origin  "\$@"
END

score 6 · Answer 10 · answered Sep 13 '15 at 15:10

Problem is probably in old version of wkhtmltopdf - version 0.9 from distribution repository require running X server, but current version - 0.12.2.1 doesnt require it - can run headless.

Download package for your distribution from http://wkhtmltopdf.org/downloads.html and install it - for Ubuntu:

sudo apt-get install xfonts-75dpi
sudo dpkg -i wkhtmltox-0.12.2.1_linux-trusty-amd64.deb

Parag Tyagi · Answer 11 · 2016-07-21T13:16:03.357

wkhtmltopdf > 0.11 doesn't have this X-server issue.
So installing 0.12.2.1 on a linux server.

At first install xvfb server:
```
sudo apt-get install xvfb
```
Get needed version of wkhtmltopdf from http://wkhtmltopdf.org/downloads.html

Install wkhtmltopdf:

sudo dpkg -i wkhtmltox-0.12.2.1_linux-trusty-amd64.deb

or install with wget

URL='http://download.gna.org/wkhtmltopdf/0.12/0.12.2.1/wkhtmltox-0.12.2.1_linux-trusty-amd64.deb'; FILE=`mktemp`; wget "$URL" -qO $FILE && sudo dpkg -i $FILE; rm $FILE

Install dependency (if needed):
```
sudo apt-get -f install
```

Create symblic link in /usr/local/bin/:

echo 'exec xvfb-run -a -s "-screen 0 640x480x16" wkhtmltopdf "$@"' | sudo tee /usr/local/bin/wkhtmltopdf.sh >/dev/null
sudo chmod a+x /usr/local/bin/wkhtmltopdf.sh

Now try below and it should work,

/usr/local/bin/wkhtmltopdf http://www.google.com test.pdf

jeffery_the_wind · Accepted Answer · 2012-03-08T16:55:39.120

5

I just figured out that I can simply move the static executable to the /usr/bin/ directory and execute it from anywhere.

edited Mar 08 '12 at 16:55

answered Mar 07 '12 at 16:47

jeffery_the_wind

17,048
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score 3 · Answer 13 · answered Aug 28 '15 at 18:01

3

solution for Centos7:

yum -y install xorg-x11-fonts-75dpi \
               xorg-x11-fonts-Type1 \
&& rpm -Uvh http://download.gna.org/wkhtmltopdf/0.12/0.12.2.1/wkhtmltox-0.12.2.1_linux-centos7-amd64.rpm

We run into this problem inside docker containers and the above install has wkhtmltopdf with patched QT

answered Aug 28 '15 at 18:01

DmitrySemenov

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for me URL was not working, I used this one: `sudo rpm -Uvh https://github.com/wkhtmltopdf/wkhtmltopdf/releases/download/0.12.2.1/wkhtmltox-0.12.2.1_linux-centos7-amd64.rpm` – WebOrCode Nov 29 '17 at 13:36

score 3 · Answer 14 · answered Jan 12 '17 at 11:23

3

It is recommended to use at least 0.12.2.1.

Starting from wkhtmltopdf >= 0.12.2 it doesn't require X server or emulation anymore. You can download new version from http://wkhtmltopdf.org/downloads.html

answered Jan 12 '17 at 11:23

David Ginanni

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score 1 · Answer 15 · answered Apr 15 '14 at 15:42

I did follow the instructions here and made wkhtmltopdf work for me but I would like to offer a bit of perspective which I discovered while doing my own little dance with wkhtmltopdf - xvfb.

This is important because the same reason that causes it to throw the infamous cannot connect to X server error is also causing it to run with sever limitations even if you do provide it a X server. These limitations include not being able to take multiple input sources, set header and footers, etc (check the Reduced Functionality section of the manual).

wkhtmltox by itself doesn't require a X11, however it's making use of QT libraries which do. In newever versions of wkthmltox developers made a patch for QT which allows it to run with a X11.

Currently some versions are built against patched QT and some are not. You can check your version by running wkhtmltopds --version. There should be a line at the end saying Compiled against wkhtmltopdf patched qt.

So, to conclude, if you install and use a version that uses the patched libraries it should work on a linux server without the xvfb server, as I can confirm.

score 1 · Answer 16 · edited Jan 29 '20 at 04:04

Pay attention: your file could be wkhtmltopdf.sh or wkhtmltopdf, check it on second step

You must copy it into directory : /usr/local/bin, make sur it's executable and add symlink of wkhtmltopdf.sh like :

1- the command :

sudo apt-get install wkhtmltopdf

2 - insert the binary in directory /usr/bin so the browser can't have permission to execute in this directory. You must copy the wkhtmltopdf.sh to directory /usr/local/bin cause the browser have permission in this directory like:

sudo cp /usr/bin/wkhtmltopdf.sh /usr/local/bin/wkhtmltopdf.sh

3 - After make sur the binary have permission of execution like :

sudo chmod a+x /usr/local/bin/wkhtmltopdf.sh

4 - so now you can test, it's work like:

/usr/local/bin/wkhtmltopdf.sh http://www.google.com google.pdf

it make download the pdf in the current directory in your terminal

5 - Optional now you can add symlink in your directory /usr/local/bin like

ln -s /usr/local/bin/wkhtmltopdf.sh /usr/local/bin/wkhtmltopdf

score 1 · Answer 17 · answered Jun 24 '20 at 07:52

1

Just tell the Qt backend to not use X:

QT_QPA_PLATFORM=offscreen wkhtmltopdf <input> <outfile.pdf>

answered Jun 24 '20 at 07:52

loonix

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score 0 · Answer 18 · edited Feb 04 '20 at 15:46

0

For 64-bit Use:

wget http://wkhtmltopdf.googlecode.com/files/wkhtmltopdf-0.9.9-static-amd64.tar.bz2

tar xvjf wkhtmltopdf-0.9.9-static-amd64.tar.bz2

sudo mv wkhtmltopdf-amd64 /usr/bin/wkhtmltopdf

sudo chmod +x /usr/bin/wkhtmltopdf

edited Feb 04 '20 at 15:46

Taazar

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answered Jun 25 '16 at 11:09

Thilina Hasantha

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score 0 · Answer 19 · answered Apr 12 '17 at 12:13

Download file from this link
Extract it and move executable file(/wkhtmltox/bin/wkhtmltopdf) to /usr/bin/
Rename it to wkhtmltopdf if current name is not wkhtmltopdf. So that now you have an executable at /usr/bin/wkhtmltopdf
Set permissions: sudo chmod a+x /usr/bin/wkhtmltopdf
Install required support packages. sudo apt-get install openssl build-essential xorg libssl-dev
Now, check with wkhtmltopdf http://www.google.com test.pdf hint: detail information from this link

score 0 · Answer 20 · answered Sep 25 '17 at 08:17

0

Just install a version 0.12.4 or higher. This seems to solve the problem.

See How can I install the latest wkhtmltopdf on Ubuntu 16.04?.

answered Sep 25 '17 at 08:17

Martin Thoma

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ThienSuBS · Answer 21 · 2019-11-13T16:04:25.563

If you config wkhtmltopdf for Rails or Somethings in Centos, you can follow these step bellow:

Go to https://wkhtmltopdf.org/downloads.html and copied the link of rpm file.

In centos server bash.

wget link_of_wkhtmltopdf_rpm.rpm
rpm -ivh link_of_wkhtmltopdf_rpm.rpm
which wkhtmltopdf

=> You will get path of wkhtmltopdf.

Setup for wicked_pdf or pdfkit with path in step 4. This is sample config with wickedpdf. config/initializers/wicked_pdf.rb

if Rails.env != "production"
    path = %x[which wkhtmltopdf].gsub(/\n/, "")
else
    path = "path_of_wkhtmltopdf_in_step_4"
end
WickedPdf.config = { exe_path: path }

Restart server.

DONE.

wkhtmltopdf: cannot connect to X server

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