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HowtoremotelyconnecttoLinuxmachinesfromWindows
Updated:December22,2008
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Afriendofmineaskedmehowtodothis,soIdecidedtowriteatutorial.Ifyou'reusingboth
WindowsandLinuxonseveralcomputers,aneedmightariseforyoutoconnecttotheLinux
machinenowandthen.YourLinuxmachinemightservemanypurposes:itcouldbeaserver,
amediacenter(likeMythTV),abackupstoragearea,orjustanotherdesktop.Youmaywant
toconnecttothismachineorevencontrolit.Well,forsharing,wehaveSamba.
ConfiguringSambaisveryeasy.Ihavedemonstratedthisinseveralarticles.Youcanfind
detailedstepbystepinstructionsinthereadingsectionbelow.Now,forremotecontrol,we
havethistutorial.Let'sseehowwecanconfigureourLinuxboxtoberemotelycontrolled
fromWindows.
IwilldemonstratehowtotakecontroloveraLinuxmachineusingSSHandVNC.SSHstands
forSecureSHell,anetworkprotocolthatallowsyoutoexchangedatabetweentwo
connectednetworkdevicesusinganencryptedtunnel.Thetunnelisnotlimitedtojust
transferringdata.Youcanuseittocontrolthemachineontheotherend,forwardinsecure
applicationsthroughthetunnelandmore.VNCstandsforVirtualNetworkComputing,a
desktopsharingsystemthatallowsyoutocontrolothermachines.

Prerequisites

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Beforewebegin,Iwouldliketopointoutthatthepurposeofthistutorialistodemonstrate
howremoteconnectivityandcontrolcanbeachieved.Itisnotacomprehensivesecurity
guideintothepitfallsanddangersofopeningaporttoremoteconnectionsandtheintegrity
oftransmittedinformation.Thistutorialassumesasafenetworkwherebothendsstrive
towardamutualgoal.
IfyouplantodeployasetuplikethisovertheInternet,youmustbeawarethattherecould
bepeoplewhomighttrytobreakintoyoursystemandtakecontroloverit.Ortheymight
wanttosniffsensitivedatayouexchangeusingtheseprotocols.
Alocalareanetwork(LAN)setupbehindafirewallisonething.Aworldwideopensetupis
somethingelseentirely.
Attheveryminimum,theuseofSSHorVNCovertheInternetwillrequiretheuseof
firewallswithloggingenabled,mandatoryencryptionwithlongandfrequentlyrotatedkeys
andstrongpasswords,nonstandardports,alimitonthenumberofunsuccessfulattempts,a
timelimitbetweenfailedlogins,norootaccess,andpossiblyevenothersecurityprecautions.
Inoursetup,wewilltalkaboutacozyLANatyourhomeoranoffice,farfromthedangersof
theInternet.So,nowthatweknowwhatwe'reabouttodo,letusbegin,VNCfirst.

VNC
WewilldemonstrateusingUbuntu(8.10).UbuntucomeswiththeVNCsoftwarealready
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installed.Youonlyhavetoconfigureitforremoteaccess.Furthermore,Ubuntumakesthings
simplebyusingnofirewallinitsdefaultconfiguration,sinceitcomeswithnoopenports
andthus,theuseofafirewallisunnecessary.
UbuntuusestheVinoprogramforVNCconnectivity.YoucanpowerVinobygoingtoSystem
>Preferences>RemoteDesktop.ThiswillopentheconfigurationmenuforVino.
Now,weneedtocheckseveralboxes:AllowotheruserstoviewyourdesktopandAllow
otheruserstocontrolyourdesktop.Wealsowantsecurity,sowewillrequireapasswordand
aconfirmation.

UnderAdvanced,wecanfurtherconfiguretheconnection.Encryptionisstronglyencouraged.
Youmayalsowanttoconsideranonstandardport.

CheckthatyourVNCportisopennow.Youcanusenmaptodothat.It'sincludedinmost
distributionsorcanbeeasilydownloadedfromrepositories.

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Now,weneedtoconfiguretheWindowsmachine.WerequireaVNCprogramtoconnectto
ourLinuxbox.Therefore,downloadaVNCprogramandinstallit.Therearemanychoices,
butyoureasiestbestiseitherRealVNCorTightVNC.Onceyoulaunchtheprogram,specify
theaddressoftheremotemachine:

vncclient2

P.S.Pleasenotethatyourchoicesmaydiffer.Itdependshowyouwishtoconfigureyour
software.Inthiscase,Imadenoadjustmentsandjustfireduptheprogramwiththedefault
optionsset.OntheUbuntumachine,you'llbeaskedtoconfirmtheconnectionattempt:

AndherewehaveaLinuxboxcontrolledbyaWindowsmachine:

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Jobdone.Easypeasy.

SSH
Thistime,weneedtoinstallthesshpackageinUbuntu.Somedistributionswillhaveit
installed,otherswillhaveitintherepositories.Onceitisinstalled,eitherviaSynapticorthe
aptget(onthecommandline,sudoaptgetinstallssh),checkthattheSSHportisopen:

Thedefaultportis22.
Now,inWindows,installansshclientsoftware.AgoodchoiceisPuTTY.Itissimple,
lightweightandwillalsorunfromremovablemedialikeUSBdrives.
PuTTYisacommandlinetool.Openthecommandline(Run>cmd),navigatetothePuTTY
folderandrunPuTTYagainsttheremoteIPaddress,somethinglike:
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putty192.168.1.143
You'llbeaskedtoimportthekeyoftheremotemachine.Thisisasecurityprecaution,so
thatyoureallyknowyou'reconnectingtothecomputeryouwant.
Importkey

Authenticatewiththepassword:

Andyou'reloggedin:

Nowstartworking:
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Morereading
Andafewmorelinksyoumightlike:
InstallingPCLinuxOSFulltutorialPage4
SharingfoldersbetweenWindowsandLinux

Conclusion
ThetaskofestablishingaremoteconnectionwithLinuxmachinesisaverysimplething.The
entireprocedureshouldtakeyoulessthan5minutes.Ofcourse,ifyou'retryingtoachieve
thisinaninsecureenvironment,youshouldtakemanynecessarystepstomakesurethat
bothyourLinuxmachine,yourclientandalltheinformationyou'reabouttoexchangeare
safefromintrusion,snoopingorotherpotentialdangers.Thismeansstrongencryption,non
trivialpasswordsandseveralothertricks.
Inyourhomeenvironment,wherethetaskissomuchsimpler,therearesimpleandeasyto
usetoolsforthejob.IfyourLinuxmachineservesafileorprintingserver,amediacenteror
issimplylocatedbeyondthereachofyourlazyfingers,gainingcontroloverittakesvery
littleeffort.
Inthecaseofssh,youmayalsowanttouseremoteconnectivityifyou'reshortofanother
monitororjusttopracticeLinuxcommandline.Eitherway,it'ssimpleandfun.
Enjoy!

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