cygwin xwin -multiwindow

BTW, you shouldn't need any xhost +... command. ssh -X would be all you'd need ... Setting the DISPLAY on the remote side so that all traffic moves through the ssh tunnel, and (and this is a real neat thing) making the traffic look like it's local to the local machine. So just fire up "XWin -multiwindow", "ssh -X remote" and on the remote start whatever app you need.... try it out with an xterm;-).

-- Glenn

If you have problems with the cygwin ssh, do try putty (I just tested with ... mixed results.... for ssh:-). Find putty at http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/

-- Glenn

Here's what I need help with: I can double click the Cygwin icon, type in "XWin -multiwindow", but then what?  I don't see a terminal!!!

If I just type just "startx" I can enter my commands in the terminal that pops up in the X window (i.e. "xhost +134.456.789.012" and "ssh -X -l myusername 123.456.789.012").  Unfortunately, I have tried without the xhost but it will not work for some reason.

Once logged in to 123.456.789.012 I simply type "setenv DISPLAY 135.791.246.802:0.0" then say "/usr/openwin/bin/xclock".

where 123.456.789.012 is a sample name for the computer I'm connecting to
and 135.791.246.802 is a sample name for the computer I'm connecting from
(which I get by looking at the last logged in line)

I have tried putty but it doesn't allow me to use xhost+ anywhere I can see.  Plus if I understand correctly it doesn't handle the xwindow part just the ssh??

(because the xhost+ command has to be typed on my local machine and it takes me straight to the ssh login prompt)

The first command should be:
XWin -multiwindow &
to put X in the background... leaves the terminal free for the next command (or just start two bash windows):
ssh -X myusername@123.456.789.012
which will (hopefully) connect you to the remote host, and establish the relevant tunnel for X as well as set the DISPLAY environment variable for the remote shell to something like localhost:10 ... on the remote (after connecting) you can verify this with
echo $DISPLAY
and perhaps
xterm
... should be all needed.
If that doesn't work for you, please report back, and we'll see what might be the problem... As said, at least one incarnation of ssh that I've tried with has some issues with setting up the X tunnel correctly. This is why I suggested you might try putty, since I know this to be rock-solid for that.

I'll repeat: you do _not_ need the xhost +whatever.domain because the traffic relevant to X will appear to be local to both machines. If you set the DISPLAY to go to your windows machine directly, you'd need the xhost thing for that, you would not use the ssh tunnel for X.

-- Glenn

With putty: enter the relevant name/address (don't forget to choose ssh) then expand/choose Connection->SSH->Tunnels and make sure you've checkmarked "X11 forwarding" and that the local display looks ok (it should be "localhost:0"). Then click Open. When you are connected, putty should have set the DISPLAY for you already.

Tunneling X will waste some bandwidth, since the encryption will "bloat" the X traffic a bit. You can counteract this with compression (-C flag to ssh, Connection->SSH and checkmark "Enable compression" in putty).

-- Glenn

here is my relevant output from cygwin (don't know I didn't think of the & before, thanks):

tcsh: using dumb terminal settings
myusername@123.456.789.012> echo $DISPLAY
DISPLAY: Undefined variable.
bdeckard@123.456.789.012> xterm
xterm Xt error: Can't open display:
bdeckard@123.456.789.012>

I get the exact same results, minus the tcsh line using PuTTY with X11 Forwarding enabled.

Hm, might be that the remote isn't allowing X11 forwarding... If you set DISPLAY manually like this (use putty)
setenv DISPLAY localhost:10
xterm
Still no joy? If so, look at the remote machines sshd_config you should have something like
X11Forwarding yes
#X11DisplayOffset 10
#X11UseLocalhost yes
(the two remarked lines show the default values)

-- Glenn

still no luck.

the system wide file has ForwardX11 no, but I had previously tried changing my user file to yes.  These are the only settings available.  Should I add more?

# Host *
#   ForwardAgent no
#   ForwardX11 yes
#   PubkeyAuthentication yes
#   PasswordAuthentication yes
#   FallBackToRsh no
#   UseRsh no
#   BatchMode no
#   CheckHostIP yes
#   StrictHostKeyChecking ask
#   EscapeChar ~

if not, is there any way to just use xhost + in cygwin before calling xwin -multiwindow &.  When I try that I get a "Can't open display message"  (the only way I've gotten it to work is by running startx and then typing it in that terminal)

I just added those two lines to my file and now got this response (in PuTTY):

Xlib: connection to "localhost:10.0" refused by server
Xlib: Client is not authorized to connect to Server
xterm Xt error: Can't open display: localhost:10

so is there anyway to make xhost work with multiwindow like I originally asked?

Yes. The cygwin bash window is all you need for that:
export DISPLAY=:0
xhost
xhost +whatever.you.like

I think you've been looking at the wrong file though. ssh_config is for the ssh client, while sshd_config is for the sshd server.
The relevant one to look at is on the remote machine.

-- Glenn

the only file I've changed on the server is under my home folder as ~/.ssh/config

when I tried typing the first two commands in the cygwin window I get this response:
xhost: unable to open display ":0"

Is there something I'm missing here?  I downloaded cygwin then added the openssh package and the complete XFree86.

btw, if you get the xhost method to work opening in multiwindow I'm going to boost points to 250 for all your time.  If we somehow get ssh alone to do the job I think this is worth a full 500 points.

actually both files look exactly the same, but I don't have edit rights to the other one (/ect/ssh/sshd_config)

right on with the other comment, I didn't have XWin running.

so presto, you've earned at least 250 points.  Any other suggestions on ssh other than contact the system administrator?

If not then I'll award the points.  Thanks so much.  

Great that at least something works:-).

Apart from talking to the sysadm... nope. If sshd won't allow X11 forwarding, there's not much to do:-).

-- Glenn

When you talk to him/her, do stress that letting X fly all over the network is worse than letting it pass through a nice (compressed) tunnel,,, from a security standpoint;-).

-- Glenn

wait a minute though, why is the xterm window not popping up with my file system instead of the remote file system?

Cygwin has an xterm, perhaps that is the one you're starting, not the one on the remote?

-- Glenn

nevermind that, it worked fine.  I don't know what the eror was.  Thanks again.

You're wellcome.
Having a lot of xterms from a host of machines sometimes makes it very easy to ... mix things up. If that was it, you wouldn't be the first (nor the last... this is personal experience talking:-).

-- Glenn

Our messages crossed, what you said about the cygwin xterm makes sense.  Again thanks for A+++ help!