ssh X11 forwarding not working on FreeBSD 6.2

[Michael S. Eubanks]

On Wed, 2007-07-25 at 09:49 -0500, Terry Todd wrote:
> I made a mistake in my last post.
> 
> SSH X11 forwarding sets the DISPLAY variable to something like:
> localhost:10.0
> 
> It should not be the address of the Windows box because that bypasses
> X11 forwarding.
> 
> Terry Todd
> 
> 
> On Wed, Jul 25, 2007 at 09:01:35AM -0500, Terry Todd wrote:
> > 
> > Michael,
> > 
> > Thanks for the directions.  Using your method does work.  However
> > your method bypasses X11 forwarding.
> > 
> > > 6.  Log into the FreeBSD machine using PuTTY.  Set the DISPLAY
> > > environment variable equal to the IP address and display of the XP
> > > machine.  The command I used was:
> > >
> > > export DISPLAY=192.168.xxx.xxx:0
> > 
> > What I want to get working is X11 forwarding where you don't set
> > the DISPLAY variable explicitly.  With X11 forwarding the DISPLAY
> > variable is automatically set to something like, 
> > [IP address of Windows box]:0.0.
> > 
> > Terry Todd
> > 
> > 
> > On Wed, Jul 25, 2007 at 12:16:24AM -0700, Michael S. Eubanks wrote:
> > > On Tue, 2007-07-24 at 13:29 -0500, Terry Todd wrote:
> > > > On Tue, Jul 24, 2007 at 10:54:22AM -0700, Michael S. Eubanks wrote:
> > > > ...
> > > > > Question.  How many X servers do you have running?  Are you logged into
> > > > > a window manager when you are attempting to connect?
> > > > > 
> > > > 
> > > > Only one instance of Xming is running on the Windows XP system.
> > > > I am using PuTTY to connect to the FreeBSD system and the other
> > > > systems.  The other systems all work.  FreeBSD X11 forwarding does
> > > > not work.  It is an off the shelf standard install of 6.2.
> > > > 
> > > > Manually setting the DISPLAY variable on the FreeBSD system to
> > > > [IP address of Widows XP system]:0.0 will allow it to work but
> > > > that's not what I want to do here.  I want it to automatically
> > > > forward the X11 session through ssh like it does when connecting
> > > > to the FC6 system.
> > > > 
> > > > Terry Todd
> > > > 
> > > 
> > > Okay.  I was able to get it running.  I received a slightly different
> > > error when I tried running an application the first time.  My error is
> > > from Xming and displays as follows (using X forwarding):
> > > 
> > > AUDIT: Tue Jul 24 23:47:34 2007: 608 C:\Program Files\Xming\xming.exe
> > > client 4 rejected from IP 192.168.10.101
> > > 
> > > This error simply means to add the ``-ac'' option to the Xming desktop
> > > shortcut.  Let me walk you through what I did.  Before I begin, I'm
> > > using 6-STABLE (now on 6.2) with Xorg 7.2.
> > > 
> > > 
> > > QUICK INSTRUCTIONS
> > > 1.  Make sure to install Xming using both the Xming installer program
> > > and Xming fonts installer.
> > > 
> > > 2.  Modify the Desktop Xming shortcut to include the following
> > > arguments:  ``:0 -clipboard -multiwindow -ac''.  The ac option accepts
> > > client requests and quells the error that I had above.
> > > 
> > > 3.  Start Xming using the shortcut you just created
> > > 
> > > 4.  I'm going to guess that you may leave your sshd_config file the way
> > > it is - I did.
> > > 
> > > 5.  Install the Xming Portable PuTTY package.  Make the changes shown to
> > > the PuTTY configuration as shown here before you connect to the FreeBSD
> > > machine (NOTE the X11 forwarding to localhost:0 - I think this is how
> > > you said your config was):
> > > 
> > > http://www.straightrunning.com/XmingNotes/trouble.php
> > > 
> > > 6.  Log into the FreeBSD machine using PuTTY.  Set the DISPLAY
> > > environment variable equal to the IP address and display of the XP
> > > machine.  The command I used was:
> > > 
> > > export DISPLAY=192.168.xxx.xxx:0
> > > 
> > > 7.  Make sure your Windows Firewall is either turned off or allows
> > > incoming requests for Xming.
> > > 
> > > 8.  Execute a command like xeyes.  It should show on the windows
> > > desktop.
> > > 
> > 

<...snip...>


Glad to hear you got it working - you are right though.  Here's a quick
link.

http://www.ssh.com/support/documentation/online/ssh/adminguide/32/X11_Forwarding.html

Considerring the client uses a special local display setting, would it
work to set the environment variables in PuTTY itself, although, that
would seem to be manual again.  With respect to X, check out the xauth
man page.  I'm curious as to whether the xauth file needs to exist in
the user's home directory.  I think the instructions (pictures) showed a
key being added to the PuTTY session config.

Cheers,
 Michael S. Eubanks
 mse_software at charter.net