It took me some time to figure this one out. I found many sites / blogs / wikis / forums giving very elaborate instructions on how to do this, but they all seemed much to complicated. What I wanted to do seemed like a simple “want” to me. How do I access my Ubuntu linux box remotely (over the LAN) from a windows xp machine? My linux machine runs Ubuntu. If you are trying to RD into another distro you will have to modify these instructions accordingly. So here is what I did:
- Activate XDMCP on Ubuntu - SYSTEM >> Preferences >> Remote Desktop - “Allow other users to view your desktop” - “Allow other users to control your desktop”
- Install Cygwin/X onto the Windows XP machine. - Download and run setup.exe from http://www.cygwin.com/ - Install the standard packages on Cycwin/X along with :
- X11 –> X-Startup-scripts - X11 –> xorg-x11-base (this will set a lot of x11 dependencies to install also — you want to install these)
- Run Cycgwin
- In the Cgywim terminal enter the following command: $ XWin.exe :1.0 -unixkill -scrollbars -screen 0 1280 1024 -emulate3buttons -once -query (NAME / IP) & Put the name of the linux computer or its IP address
- You should then see the Ubuntu login page. Voila.
It’s possible I installed one or two other things on the Ubuntu system. I don’t recall just now as I tried so many other ways to get this functionality working I now forget exactly what was done for what. If you try the above and it does not work, let me know and I’ll figure out what else has to go onto the Ubuntu system. I know I installed freeNX although I am not sure if this was for the Cygwin connection or not. If you want to use SSH to Ubuntu via Cygwin there are some instructions here. I tried various SSH related ways of going about this. SSH from Windows directly and SSH via the Cygwin terminal. I kept getting the error that the port was not open. I tried port 177 (which XDCMP users) and 5901 and others, all to no avail. I am not sure how to make these ports available from Ubuntu. But the Xwin route works great.
A little extra info on this tip can be found here, along with links for further research
Hey great writeup; alternately, you can use logmein free to access a linux box from a windows system, but not vice versa unfortunately. But hey it’s free and it works. Why not
I consider your message spam, in light of the fact is is misleading and promoting what is in effect NOT a free product. I shall leave it here, however, because it gives me a chance to comment on logmein.
I’ve checked out Logmein. I don’t like the fact it involves using the services of a third party. It also involves downloading an internet enabled java application that I have no easy way to identify the security risk of. Why should I go via the internet to access a computer on my local network? Seems unnecessary to me.
Logmein does not appear to be free. As soon as I add more than one computer it goes into a trial mode for the Pro (paid) version. Nor does it give me access to my linux box.
Thanks but no thanks.
Jonathan,
I’m sorry you took such offense to my message. I wasn’t trying to do anything other than reccomend a method that’s worked for me in the past.
I think you’re a bit confused as to the different versions of the logmein product; when you sign up you get something like a 30 day trial to Pro which yes is a pay product. When that expires you have two options: start paying for the pro version or continue using the free version, which, as stated in its name, is a free program. The latter has a few features (remote printing, file transfer) disabled but its still a very handy program that I use to great effect.
You make a very good point in regards to having the system on a local network. That is kind of dumb to do; i’ll admit. But as a backup program that’s web based (and hence available wherever you go), it’s damn useful. I cant tell you how many times I’ve gone to a colleague’s office, realized I forgot to bring a file or email it to him or something, and i’ll just access my home system through his web browser and bam! done. For this reason I am a huge fan of web-based remote access programs, whether its logmein or not. LMI is the only consistently free one I’ve found however.
As for it not working on your linux box I honestly have no idea whats up with that. I may have gotten confused and its probably opposite of what I said (linx->windows but not vice versa). I’m new to linux so i’m still learning things
All I wanted to do was give some helpful tips as to a program I’ve had success with. I really did not mean to offend you or give you the impression I was spamming you.
Thanks “Tiki” for getting back on this.
I didn’t feel offended by your message. I simply assumed it was spam.
The brievity and format of your message made it look rather suspiciously like spam. Then when I checked out Logmein and found what looked like a product requiring payment for any worthwhile functionality, I thought “spam” for sure.
I apologise for jumping to the wrong conclusion.
Based on what you have explained, I must agree—it does have some very useful features. I was jumped to the wrong conclussion when as soon as I went to add a 2nd computer it presented me with a page saying I must either buy the pro version or trial it. I assumed that the pro version must be required for having more than one system loaded on an account. I gather that is not correct. Yes?
In terms of Linux…
Have you managed to install the application on Linux? When I tried to access it from my Linux box I could only see the option to download a windows setup.exe file, as opposed to a Linux package. Let me know if you found a Linux package. Perhaps I didn’t look hard enough.
With thanks,
Jonathan
Tiki originally said it only works from windows to Linux..
Thanks Tom.
How right you are.
Cheers,
Jonathan