Getting X over SSH

[Wayfarer247]

Hey, my friend and are messing around with a computer. I want to get X (Gnome) over SSH. I can ssh into the computer, that is fine. But when I run an application, I get:


$ xclock
Error: Can't open display:

So I have tried: $ ssh -x user@ipaddresss

Same thing. I have tried to start Gnome and X.


$ gnome-session
(gnome-session:17396): Gtk-WARNING **: cannot open display:


$ startx
xauth: /home/epic/.Xauthority not writable, changes will be ignored
xauth: error in locking authority file /home/epic/.Xauthority
xauth: error in locking authority file /home/epic/.Xauthority
xauth: error in locking authority file /home/epic/.Xauthority

X: user not authorized to run the X server, aborting.
No protocol specified
giving up.
xinit: Permission denied (errno 13): unable to connect to X server
xinit: No such process (errno 3): Server error.
xauth: error in locking authority file /home/epic/.Xauthority
Couldnt get a file descriptor referring to the console

The computer we are working with does not have a monitor setup, but Gnome does work (We set it up and all that).

Any ideas? I would really like to get X working over SSH!

[goexplode]

So I have tried: $ ssh -x user@ipaddresss

The options "-x" and "-X" work differently. "-x" disables X11 forwarding, while "-X" allows X11 forwarding. Try is with the capital X.

Furthermore, check "/etc/ssh/sshd_config" and be sure you have "X11Forwarding yes" somewhere in there.

[Wayfarer247]

Hmmmm, I have tried both. For testing's sake though, I tried again.

I got this message upon logging in:


$ ssh -X user@IPADDRESS

/usr/bin/X11/xauth: /home/epic/.Xauthority not writable, changes will be ignored

So then I try again:



$ xclock
X11 connection rejected because of wrong authentication.
Error: Can't open display: localhost:10.0

I tried the other stuff too again:


$ sudo gnome-session
[sudo] password for user:
X11 connection rejected because of wrong authentication.

(gnome-session:17646): Gtk-WARNING **: cannot open display: localhost:10.0
user@IPAddress:~$ startx
xauth: error in locking authority file /home/user/.Xauthority
xauth: error in locking authority file /home/user/.Xauthority
xauth: error in locking authority file /home/user/.Xauthority
xauth: error in locking authority file /home/user/.Xauthority

X: user not authorized to run the X server, aborting.
No protocol specified
giving up.
xinit: Resource temporarily unavailable (errno 11): unable to connect to X server
xinit: No such process (errno 3): Server error.
xauth: error in locking authority file /home/user/.Xauthority
Couldnt get a file descriptor referring to the console


Kinda confused here, but thank you for that reminder! So, any other ideas?

[Wayfarer247]

Bump!

[quantumstitch]

what are the permissions of .Xauthority? Should be,


[quantumstitch@dethklok:~]$ ls -l .Xauthority
-rw------- 1 quantumstitch quantumstitch 376 2008-07-09 13:40 .Xauthority

[Wayfarer247]

Thanks for getting back to me. I ran the same command:


epic@computer:~$ ls -l .Xauthority
-rw------- 1 root root 122 2008-07-10 20:17 .Xauthority



I am not logged on as root.

**Edit**

Also, when I run the command "$ ssh -X user@computer" on Mac OS X (10.5.4) the X11 icon appears on the dock, which, to me, means that X is getting forwarded to my computer, or at least the information that x SHOULD be forwarded is being sent. I have been testing this on Fedora9 and OS X.

[prem1er]

Remove the .Xauthority file. A new one will be created next time you ssh in. Tell me if that works.

[prem1er]

If that doesn't work I there is a post on another forum that I have seen work before too. Try this. I have seen this problem sooooo many times and usually just removing the file works for me.

"Actually there is a faster solution to this(but has a potential disadvantage).

You just need to copy the .Xauthority file from the home directory of the user you have logged in to the root's homefolder.

As root do:
cp /home/username/.Xauthority /root/

Note that this allows the root to launch x-programs from all the machines that the user is allowed(something you might not want to do).

Since xdm creates a new mit-magick-cookie the Xauthority every time it is launched this should be done every time you restart X (or reboot)."

[timcredible]

if you want, run xNest instead of individual apps so you can get the normal desktop.


ssh -X user@host
after login,
xNest :30 -display 0:0 -query localhost

it's been a while since i've done this over ssh tunnel, so the 0:0 may be something else when using ssh, i forget.

[Wayfarer247]

Success! I deleted the file, and now it works! Hurray for me! Thank you, thank you.

So.... now, I'm always looking for more. I would like to have a complete desktop view of the computer I am sshing into. I tried running xNest (on the server and my laptop) but it didn't recognize the command. Is there some other way to get the entire desktop to appear? I tried "gnome-session" but that didn't end well. :D

Ideas?

And thank you again for getting me this far!

[Wayfarer247]

*Bump*

Unbelievable how many people post on this forum!

[Wayfarer247]

*Bump*

[neurostu]

Is there any particular reason why you need to do it over ssh? If you want to get access to the Desktop you should probably consider using VNC.

I personally only used X forwarding to forward individual applications, and used VNC when I wanted the desktop.