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cs76737

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Running Xwindows on remote machine through firewall using VPN

I have a Suse 10.2 machine running on my company's network.  I access the company's network using Cisco VPN client from my Windows based computer at home.  I use Putty (ssh client) and Xming (free xhost server) on my computer at home.  

I want to run x-windows applications on my work computer and display them on my home computer.  Here is what I do (1) VPN into corporate network (2) use PUTTY to ssh into machine (3) load Xming and disable access control (4) run "export DISPLAY=XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX:0.0  (5) then I run "xemacs test.xt".  

The windows never appears on my home computer, and there are no error message .  I do not have this problem when I use a Linux machine on my home network.  Any suggestions?  I have a feeling it has something to do with VPN.  

Thank you for any help!
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cs76737

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I was traveling last week, so I apologize for delay.  Will try first thing tomorrow.
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ASKER

I tried the suggestion for slyong, and it still does not work.  Any other ideas?
hmm.. those instruction should get it going.  When you start some program (e.g. xclock) what does it say?
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ASKER

I execute xclock on the remote machine.  The xclock window just never appears on my machine.  Eventually the process on the remote machine fails.
can do you:

$ echo $DISPLAY

and see what it say?
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ASKER

I just tried your instructions on a machine at home.  They work.  I VPN into the work machine, and it doesn't work.  I followed the link you sent, and I made sure that /etc/ssh/sshd_config has X11forwarding enabled.  Do not understand why it isn't working!
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ASKER

When I do printenv DISPLAY, it shows "localhost:10.0" or something like that.  It says the same thing on the machine at home (where the process works) and the machine at work (where it fails).
Hi,

The $DISPLAY is correct.  I am not sure why your office machine is not working.  This method uses standard ssh x-forwarding.  So as long as you can reach a machine using ssh (port 22) it should work.  When you run xclock, the fact that is doesn't complaint about "cannot find display" (or something like that), the x-forwarding should be working.

However, I am not sure why it failed.  Another thing is that if you connect and check the netstat, it should show something like:

tcp        0      0 localhost:x11-ssh-offset    *:*                         LISTEN      -                  
Use "xdpyinfo" instead of xclock.

That will show display server attributes and diagnostics without even showing a window.

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ASKER

Problem is not solved, but I am convinced that it is specific to my corporate network.  I've tested solutions by PowerIT and slyong on other networks, and they work fine.  Since their solutions work in theory and I am not getting more replies, I am closing the ticket and splitting points.