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Using XWinLogon

Introduction

Access to a Linux graphical desktop from a Microsoft Windows PC can be achieved by using XWinLogon. Other methods are available, XWinLogon achieves the result with a minimum of fuss though. XWinLogon can be downloaded from the sourceforge website here.

There is very little user documentation available on how to configure the Linux PC to be able to function with XWinLogon.

This article details the steps taken to successfully use XWinLogon as a graphical client to a remote PC running Suse Linux 9.1.

Linux Configuration

By default Suse Linux 9.1 does not allow remote access. This can be changed by following the following steps:

By default the display manager does not listen for connections from outside. In /etc/X11/xdm/xdm-config the following line is changed from

DisplayManager.requestPort: 0

to

! DisplayManager.requestPort: 0

The KDM does not listen to XDMCP "X Windows Display Manager Communications Protocol" by default. The file /etc/opt/kde3/share/config/kdm/kdmrc has a line which is changed from:

[Xdmcp]
Enable=false

to

[Xdmcp]
Enable=true

Sometimes the TCP/IP port XDMCP listens to is commented out. If so it is changed from:

#Port=177

to

Port=177

After all the above changes, the Linux PC is rebooted.

Other Linux systems have more, or less, changes which need to be made. An internet search using "XDMCP" as the text to look for returns many "HOW-TO" documents which detail what other flavours of Linux might require in terms of configuration. The document titled Linux XDMCP HOWTO was found to be very good at explaining all the steps that may be needed.

XWinLogon Options

XWinLogon offers 3 connection types. XDMCP is selected. This option is unencrypted. For a small local network, this is not an issue. It is possible to use SSH (secure shell), but this does require more effort to get to work.

The documentation states that the OpenGL connection mode is only required if 3D graphics are needed. In practise using OpenGL or Standard does not seem to make much difference to performance.

The Window mode used is Single.

The server and user name fields are filled in with the server's IP address, and the username used to log on.

Finally the connect button is pressed and eventually the Linux desktop logon screen is displayed within the XWinLogon window.

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