Xming & Putty - Manage Linux On Windows

It's been around for a while but I still get many surprised looks when I open YaST, virt-manager or other screens on a Windows workstation so I'd thought I'd post it as a tip.

When running Linux you can redirect X output to a remote station by using the ' ssh -X <remote host>' and then just running the apps that you want to see locally. This by itself is something I find really well implemented and very cool.

Now how to this this in Windows?

First you need two applications;
1) Xming - http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.p...ckage_id=175377
2) Putty - http://the.earth.li/~sgtatham/putty/.../x86/putty.exe

Install Xming and run it (X will appear in your systray), this app makes it possible to display the X output on Windows.

Now start putty, enter the hostname of the remote Linux host *and* in the connection options select ' Enable X11 forwarding' (find this option on the left under > Connection -> SSH -> Tunnels)
You can save this session with this option for later use.

Initiate the connection with putty using the ' Open ' button, log in on the server

Now you have the command prompt of the remote server and will be able to launch X applications on your local Windows workstation, for example try (if you have GNOME installed);
gedit &

Some tools will only run if you have root (or sudo) rights, like yast2.

You also don't need X running on the remote Linux side either, so this is also ideal when the Linux machine itself is in runlevel 3 (no GUI).

Hope you find this useful.

Cheers,
Wj

Hello,

I was trying to do what you said,... and no luck...., below is the message I recieved every time I try to run a X application on my Windows XP box managing a SuSE 10.3 box..... Any Ideas? :blink:

hrsrv:~ # kate
kate: cannot connect to X server localhost:10.168

Cheers,

Harold

hrsrv:~ # kate
kate: cannot connect to X server localhost:10.168
[/b]

Hi Harold,

Maybe the/a firewall on the XP machine is blocking something? If your Xming is running and putty has the X11 forwarding switch set it should work.

One thing i did not mention is to set putty to port 22 (SSH), but would guess you have that set.

Cheers,
Wj

Hi Harold,

Another thread brought me back to this one and made me realize what the error could be you are getting.
On the system you are trying to redirect the output from, are you logged in (on the desktop) with the same account that you are using to log in with ssh?

This can also produce a similar error seeing X is already open for that user account on the station itself. At least I've seen this happen with Ubuntu but not remember having this error with OpenSUSE... I normally remotely login with a maintenance account so I'm not sure.. but I will test and report back.

Cheers,
Wj

Hello,

At the begining I thought that your comments "being logged on the console" could be the problem, but no luck... there is no user logged in the console. I'm using the a VNC connection to administer the SuSE box from my Windows XP box and I have also close all the connection and no luck......

I also tried logging with root account to see if that was the problem, and no luck..... I have set the KIS firewall in Windows XP box to accept all incomming communication from the network (in order words no restrictions for LAN) and still no luck.

Below the message shown by the putty client:

login as: root
Using keyboard-interactive authentication.
Password:
Last login: Wed Feb 20 08:57:18 2008 from 192.168.1.60
Have a lot of fun...
hrsrv:~ # kate
kate: cannot connect to X server localhost:12.0


Any ideas???

Cheers,

Harold

I'm boggled...

If you have set 'Enable X11 forwarding' in putty, the firewall is not the problem and it's a (close to) standard 10.3 setup I'm clueless.


You could check /etc/ssh/ssh_config & sshd_config to make sure ForwardX11Trusted & X11Forwarding is set to yes.

Other than that it should work?

Do you have the option to try this from another Windows box or maybe a live CD to check if it works then...?

Cheers,
Wj

There are many ways to do this sort of activity. I manage my mother's openSUSE-10.2 Linux PC a continent away, by using ssh, nx, and vnc. I manage her PC from an openSUSE-10.3 PC, but in truth I can also do it (and I have successfully tested this) from a WinXP PC using putty(for ssh), by using the WinXP nx client, and by using the WinXP tightvnc client.

I also recently setup her winXP and winME boot partitions to be managed remotely from my openSUSE-10.3 PC, by installing tightvnc server on those two Windows boot partitions, and accessing them via tightvnc on my openSUSE-10.3 PCs.

The hardest part (which wasn't really that difficult) was to ensure her firewalls were setup with the appropriate selective ports open. ... That includes her router firewall (with appropriate port mapping), her zone alarm firewall (on her winXP/winME boot partitions) and her openSUSE-10.2 firewall.

This is amazing!
I had been using VNC for quite some time, but this seems like a more more integrated/seamless option.

I love it! Props to you for sharing this. Awesome!!!

One note - the Enable X11 Forwarding option is under "Connection -> SSH -> X11", not "Connection -> SSH -> Tunnels"

Hi guys, i have a question. There is a way to connect with Xming to an opened session ??? My purpose is to connect with a session already opened locally and use the same session to view and controlled outside, via local lan or internet, like rdp in windows or a session with VNC opened. I don't like VNC much, but it function to me and i want to try an alternative. Thanks in advance

Not as far as I know...

If you want to view a running session you will have to use VNC. This method is meant to redirect output to your own screen and not to share the output with others.

There may be ways to do this but again not that I know of.

Cheers,
Wj