---
title: Chromium over ssh -X: Connection rejected because of wrong authentification
date: 2022-09-02
summary: Forwarded X11 worked for xterm but the snap-packaged Chromium failed with "Connection rejected because of wrong authentification". The snap looks for .Xauthority inside its own home; symlinking it there fixes it.
tags: x11, chromium, snap, ssh, ubuntu, xauthority
environment: Ubuntu 20.04 (both ends); Chromium snap; OpenSSH X11 forwarding
author: shaun
status: published
aliases: Chromium-X11-Connection-rejected-because-of-wrong-authentification.html
---

## Symptoms

Between two Ubuntu 20.04 machines, `ssh -X` forwarding worked for `xterm` and friends, but
Chromium refused to open:

```text
Connection rejected because of wrong authentification
```

## Cause

Chromium on Ubuntu is a **snap**. Snaps get their own `$HOME` under `~/snap/<name>/current`,
so Chromium looks for `.Xauthority` there and never finds the cookie that sshd wrote to
`~/.Xauthority`.

## Fix

Link the real file into the snap's home:

```bash
ln -s ~/.Xauthority ~/snap/chromium/current/.Xauthority
```

Alternatively run it with `XAUTHORITY=$HOME/.Xauthority chromium`.