I have a Vista host (V) running on a computer inside a firewalled
network. I am outside the firewall and so cannot access the computer
directly. However, I have access to a Linux host (L) which can access
'V'. Now I have an RDP server running on 'V' which accepts any RDP
connection without a prompt. But an X server is not running on 'L' so
that I cannot open an 'rdesktop' window. Is there a way to access 'V'
from 'L' purely through the command line using the RDP server running
on 'V'?

P.S.: Sorry for the abbreviations. But it got a bit confusing without
them due all the 'host's.

Do you have a VPN or SSH server running on anything, ie on L for example,
inside the firewall that you can connect to from the public internet? If so
you could run the normal Remote Desktop [RDC] client software on a Windows
client or rdesktop on a LINUX client and connect to V after establishing the
VPN or SSH tunnel. No matter how you want to connect to V from the outside
you need a hole in your firewall that you can get through.

http://theillustratednetwork.mvps.or...-HomeUser.html

--

Al Jarvi (MS-MVP Windows - Desktop User Experience)

Please post *ALL* questions and replies to the news group for the
mutual benefit of all of us...
The MS-MVP Program - http://mvp.support.microsoft.com
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no
rights...
How to ask a question
http://support.microsoft.com/KB/555375

"Uncle Sam" wrote in message
...
I have a Vista host (V) running on a computer inside a firewalled
network. I am outside the firewall and so cannot access the computer
directly. However, I have access to a Linux host (L) which can access
'V'. Now I have an RDP server running on 'V' which accepts any RDP
connection without a prompt. But an X server is not running on 'L' so
that I cannot open an 'rdesktop' window. Is there a way to access 'V'
from 'L' purely through the command line using the RDP server running
on 'V'?

P.S.: Sorry for the abbreviations. But it got a bit confusing without
them due all the 'host's.

Perhaps this diagram will make my situation more clear:
http://sameervijaykar.googlepages.com/firewall.jpg
All the hosts inside the firewall can be accessed only through the
host L. Now since L is not running an X server, I cannot start an RDP
session to V from L. I created an ssh connection from L to L2 which
does run an X server but even there I could not start an RDP session,
probably because L is not tunneling the X11 connection. So is there a
way I can start a console RDP connection (either from L or L2) to V?

A different but related question is as follows: I have shared some
folders from V. I tried to access these shares from L using
'smbclient' but I got the following error: "session setup failed:
SUCCESS - 0". Any clues? Perhaps I should post this as a separate
query.

Well, if your running a SSH server on L you can connect to V using RDC
through the SSH tunnel. I do, or did, that all the time when I ran a SSH
server on either a PC inside my router or on the router itself, ie. DD-WRT
running on the router. Do you have a SSH server running on L? There are
loads of examples of port forwarding RDC through a SSH tunnel. Here are two
I have used with either the Tunnelier or PuTTY SSH clients, both Windows
programs. In my case I used the regular Windows RDC client to connect
through the tunnel to multiple PCs.

http://theillustratednetwork.mvps.or...Tunnelier.html

http://theillustratednetwork.mvps.or...esktopSSH.html

Is your remote client a LINUX box?

http://search.live.com/results.aspx?...c=IE-SearchBox

I haven't used a LINUX box since I retired almost six years ago so I can't
answer your samba question. You might start a new thread about that or
hopefully someone else can chime in to help...

--

Al Jarvi (MS-MVP Windows - Desktop User Experience)

Please post *ALL* questions and replies to the news group for the
mutual benefit of all of us...
The MS-MVP Program - http://mvp.support.microsoft.com
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no
rights...
How to ask a question
http://support.microsoft.com/KB/555375

"Uncle Sam" wrote in message
...
Perhaps this diagram will make my situation more clear:
http://sameervijaykar.googlepages.com/firewall.jpg
All the hosts inside the firewall can be accessed only through the
host L. Now since L is not running an X server, I cannot start an RDP
session to V from L. I created an ssh connection from L to L2 which
does run an X server but even there I could not start an RDP session,
probably because L is not tunneling the X11 connection. So is there a
way I can start a console RDP connection (either from L or L2) to V?

A different but related question is as follows: I have shared some
folders from V. I tried to access these shares from L using
'smbclient' but I got the following error: "session setup failed:
SUCCESS - 0". Any clues? Perhaps I should post this as a separate
query.

Here is an example of forwarding an X session through a SSH tunnel.

http://www.linux.org/docs/ldp/howto/...HOWTO/ssh.html

Again dependent on being able to connect to a SSH server on your network
from the outside world.

--

Al Jarvi (MS-MVP Windows - Desktop User Experience)

Please post *ALL* questions and replies to the news group for the
mutual benefit of all of us...
The MS-MVP Program - http://mvp.support.microsoft.com
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no
rights...
How to ask a question
http://support.microsoft.com/KB/555375

"Sooner Al [MVP]" wrote in message
...
Well, if your running a SSH server on L you can connect to V using RDC
through the SSH tunnel. I do, or did, that all the time when I ran a SSH
server on either a PC inside my router or on the router itself, ie. DD-WRT
running on the router. Do you have a SSH server running on L? There are
loads of examples of port forwarding RDC through a SSH tunnel. Here are
two I have used with either the Tunnelier or PuTTY SSH clients, both
Windows programs. In my case I used the regular Windows RDC client to
connect through the tunnel to multiple PCs.

http://theillustratednetwork.mvps.or...Tunnelier.html

http://theillustratednetwork.mvps.or...esktopSSH.html

Is your remote client a LINUX box?

http://search.live.com/results.aspx?...c=IE-SearchBox

I haven't used a LINUX box since I retired almost six years ago so I can't
answer your samba question. You might start a new thread about that or
hopefully someone else can chime in to help...

--

Al Jarvi (MS-MVP Windows - Desktop User Experience)

Please post *ALL* questions and replies to the news group for the
mutual benefit of all of us...
The MS-MVP Program - http://mvp.support.microsoft.com
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no
rights...
How to ask a question
http://support.microsoft.com/KB/555375

"Uncle Sam" wrote in message
...
Perhaps this diagram will make my situation more clear:
http://sameervijaykar.googlepages.com/firewall.jpg
All the hosts inside the firewall can be accessed only through the
host L. Now since L is not running an X server, I cannot start an RDP
session to V from L. I created an ssh connection from L to L2 which
does run an X server but even there I could not start an RDP session,
probably because L is not tunneling the X11 connection. So is there a
way I can start a console RDP connection (either from L or L2) to V?

A different but related question is as follows: I have shared some
folders from V. I tried to access these shares from L using
'smbclient' but I got the following error: "session setup failed:
SUCCESS - 0". Any clues? Perhaps I should post this as a separate
query.

Lastly I forgot to point you to the ssh man page, which I am sure you know
about, if your running LINUX on the remote machine. Check the "X11
FORWARDING" section a little over halfway through the document...

http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/man.cgi?query=ssh

Good luck...

--

Al Jarvi (MS-MVP Windows - Desktop User Experience)

Please post *ALL* questions and replies to the news group for the
mutual benefit of all of us...
The MS-MVP Program - http://mvp.support.microsoft.com
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no
rights...
How to ask a question
http://support.microsoft.com/KB/555375

"Sooner Al [MVP]" wrote in message
...
Here is an example of forwarding an X session through a SSH tunnel.

http://www.linux.org/docs/ldp/howto/...HOWTO/ssh.html

Again dependent on being able to connect to a SSH server on your network
from the outside world.

--

Al Jarvi (MS-MVP Windows - Desktop User Experience)

Please post *ALL* questions and replies to the news group for the
mutual benefit of all of us...
The MS-MVP Program - http://mvp.support.microsoft.com
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no
rights...
How to ask a question
http://support.microsoft.com/KB/555375

"Sooner Al [MVP]" wrote in message
...
Well, if your running a SSH server on L you can connect to V using RDC
through the SSH tunnel. I do, or did, that all the time when I ran a SSH
server on either a PC inside my router or on the router itself, ie.
DD-WRT running on the router. Do you have a SSH server running on L?
There are loads of examples of port forwarding RDC through a SSH tunnel.
Here are two I have used with either the Tunnelier or PuTTY SSH clients,
both Windows programs. In my case I used the regular Windows RDC client
to connect through the tunnel to multiple PCs.

http://theillustratednetwork.mvps.or...Tunnelier.html

http://theillustratednetwork.mvps.or...esktopSSH.html

Is your remote client a LINUX box?

http://search.live.com/results.aspx?...c=IE-SearchBox

I haven't used a LINUX box since I retired almost six years ago so I
can't answer your samba question. You might start a new thread about that
or hopefully someone else can chime in to help...

--

Al Jarvi (MS-MVP Windows - Desktop User Experience)

Please post *ALL* questions and replies to the news group for the
mutual benefit of all of us...
The MS-MVP Program - http://mvp.support.microsoft.com
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no
rights...
How to ask a question
http://support.microsoft.com/KB/555375

"Uncle Sam" wrote in message
...
Perhaps this diagram will make my situation more clear:
http://sameervijaykar.googlepages.com/firewall.jpg
All the hosts inside the firewall can be accessed only through the
host L. Now since L is not running an X server, I cannot start an RDP
session to V from L. I created an ssh connection from L to L2 which
does run an X server but even there I could not start an RDP session,
probably because L is not tunneling the X11 connection. So is there a
way I can start a console RDP connection (either from L or L2) to V?

A different but related question is as follows: I have shared some
folders from V. I tried to access these shares from L using
'smbclient' but I got the following error: "session setup failed:
SUCCESS - 0". Any clues? Perhaps I should post this as a separate
query.

Thank you very much Mr. Jarvi. The method suggested at the following
link works wonders.

http://theillustratednetwork.mvps.or...esktopSSH.html

I can remote desktop to the host V quite effectively.

Excellent...

Thanks for the feedback...

--

Al Jarvi (MS-MVP Windows - Desktop User Experience)

Please post *ALL* questions and replies to the news group for the
mutual benefit of all of us...
The MS-MVP Program - http://mvp.support.microsoft.com
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no
rights...
How to ask a question
http://support.microsoft.com/KB/555375

"Uncle Sam" wrote in message
...
Thank you very much Mr. Jarvi. The method suggested at the following
link works wonders.

http://theillustratednetwork.mvps.or...esktopSSH.html

I can remote desktop to the host V quite effectively.