Set up putty with X11 forwarding
From SurfLab
Contents |
putty/X11 how-to
Introduction
putty is a great freely-available ssh program for Windows. You can also use it to ssh to a remote unix machine and open X-windows locally if you have an X server for Windows. This also allows you to run OpenGL programs remotely.
Putty Settings
- Connection > SSH > X11 - check "Enable X11 Forwarding"
- [Also recommmended] Connection > "Seconds between keepalives" - set to some reasonable values, e.g. 120
You can optionally save these settings so you never have to set them again by going to Session > "Saved Sessions" and typing "Default Settings" (if you just click on "Default Settings" from the list, it will change all your settings back) and then clicking Save.
X-11 Server
You need to run an X-server in the background. Two such servers available for windows are Cygwin/X11 (free) and X-Win32 (available on many public labs at UF). Just run it in the background and make sure it is running in "Multiple Window" mode. You are in "Multiple Window" mode if all you see is an "X" icon in your system tray (both Cygwin and X-Win32) and there is no large background X window that has shown up.
After the X-server is running in the background, log in using putty to a unix machine in CISE, e.g. sand.cise.ufl.edu, rain.cise.ufl.edu, or one of lin313-xx.cise.ufl.edu, where xx is 01 through 12. You should now be able to remotely run programs from the command line that open up windows on your computer.
