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Connect remotely to Ubuntu from Windows

Connect remotely to Ubuntu from Windows

Postby gries818 » Wed Dec 31, 2008 2:04 am

With Linux based operating systems (and I think UNIX-like operating systems in general) you can remotely connect from another computer using the XDMCP protocol of the X Window System that all graphical based Linux (and UNIX) use. It is fairly easy to connect remotely from another Linux box (the default login page on Ubuntu has an option in the menu in the lower lefthand side of the screen), but it is also possible with a little tinkering to connect from a Windows station.

Windows users will need to install cygwin, a program designed to bring a UNIX-like command-line to Windows. With the right know-how, it is possible to configure Linux or Unix applications for Windows (providing that cygwin is installed). For this application, cygwin brings an implementation of X Window System to Windows, allowing you to access your desktop remotely. Cygwin can be downloaded from: http://www.cygwin.com/ .

Step 1: Once downloaded, double click to install. This is the first screen:

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Step 2: Click next to come to the screen asking where you to choose a "Download Source". You will want to download from the internet.

Step 3: You will be prompted for the install location. You can install anywhere you would like; I always install to C:\cygwin.

Step 4: You will be prompted for a "local package directory"... this is where cygwin downloads all the files it needs to install to. I usually make a C:\cygwin_temp folder because this can be deleted after the installation is complete.

Step 5: The cygwin installer will ask for your connection settings. Unless you have anything special setup on your network, select Direct Connection:

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Step 6: Cygwin will download a list of mirrors from its site; just wait until it loads the next screen. When it does, select any mirror you want. In my experience a few are occasionally down, so just select another if you cannot connect.

Step 7: Once cygwin downloads some more data, you will be given a list of packages to choose from. Unfortunately, I've never been able to get an exact working configuration of what packages are actually need to use XDMCP, so always install all the packages under the X11 category. Just click on the title and it should change from saying to 'Default' to 'Install':

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Step 8: Most of the tutorials I have read say it is also a good idea to install the openssh server/client programs. You can find them under the 'Net' category. Just click once to toggle its status to 'Install'.

Step 9: Click next to start the install.

When the installation is done, you will need to do some configuring on your Ubuntu machine. None of the tutorials gave me a complete answer on all of the settings that need to be changed in Ubuntu to get it to work properly with Windows, so here are the settings I changed in Ubuntu to get it to work.

Step 1: Go to System > Administration > Login Window. You will be required to enter your password. Uncheck the 'Disable multiple logins for a single user' if it is checked.

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Step 2: In that same dialog, go the 'Remote' tab and make sure that 'Style' setting is set to 'Same as Local'.

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Step 3: Close the Login Window dialog and go to System > Preferences > Remote Desktop and make sure your settings match these:

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Now you will need to configure cygwin to connect to your Linux machine. Luckily, this is very easy.

Step 1: Copy C:\cygwin\bin\startxdmcp.bat to your Desktop. Once a copy has been placed on your desktop, you may rename it to whatever you like.

Step 2: Right click on the batch file (on the Desktop) and click edit. Once notepad has opened up, change the selected IP address below to whatever the IP address is of the computer in which you are trying to connect.

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Step 3: Save the file. Everything is ready to go; you can double click the batch file on the Desktop and it should open a window to your Linux machine (note: it may take a second to load, so be patient.

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This guide has only been tested on Ubuntu and XP, but I believe it should be fairly similar on other OS setups, but you may make some changes to get it to work right. We're here to help! :yesnod:
Last edited by gries818 on Wed Dec 31, 2008 4:26 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Connect remotely to Ubuntu from Windows

Postby imnuts » Wed Dec 31, 2008 3:09 am

Using something like x11vnc which starts up a VNC server using the current display (:0 by default) seems like it would be easier, though I'm not sure about how secure it may be compared to XDMCP.
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Re: Connect remotely to Ubuntu from Windows

Postby gries818 » Wed Dec 31, 2008 4:27 am

imnuts wrote:Using something like x11vnc which starts up a VNC server using the current display (:0 by default) seems like it would be easier, though I'm not sure about how secure it may be compared to XDMCP.


Yeah, I think it is a lot easier, but I actually read it is slower. I don't know how accurate that is though because I didn't try it.
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Re: Connect remotely to Ubuntu from Windows

Postby imnuts » Wed Dec 31, 2008 2:47 pm

Yeah, VNC is/can be fairly slow. I connect via wired lan and still notice lag on the connection, though it isn't to bad most of the time. However, it does work better than windows remote desktop over slower connections.
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