wkhtmltopdf: cannot connect to X server - wkhtmltopdf

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.

Answer 1

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.

Answer 2

This solved the issue for me:
sudo apt-get install xvfb
xvfb-run --server-args="-screen 0, 1024x768x24" wkhtmltopdf file1.html file2.pdf

Answer 3

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

Answer 4

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!

Answer 5

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.

Answer 6

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>');

Answer 7

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
<<

Answer 8

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

Answer 9

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

Answer 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

Answer 11

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

Answer 12

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

Answer 13

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

Answer 14

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

Answer 15

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.

Answer 16

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

Answer 17

Just tell the Qt backend to not use X:
QT_QPA_PLATFORM=offscreen wkhtmltopdf <input> <outfile.pdf>

Answer 18

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

Answer 19

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?.

Answer 20

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.

Answer 21

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