What is the current way to shell in/out between Windows XP and Linux?
 

It has been quite some time since I used Cygwin based SSH to shell between Windows and Linux. I tried Openssh (which apparently is developed by a
different person now) but I can't shell into it from Linux no matter what I do. I did much searching and posted thread on these forums to no avail
so now I'm thinking I've been out of the loop regarding this subject too long. So if you don't mind what is the way to go to shell back and forth
between Windows (in this case XP Pro) and Linux (Fedora 16)? Is Cygwin still a viable choice? Can I use SSH with Cygwin like I did at one time.
Please bear in mind this is not a matter of life and death, I am simply trying to keep abreast of things and keep my somewhat limited knowledge of
Windows from getting lost in 57 year old cobwebs. I like to help other computer users in my area and I want to brush up on these things. I might
want to shell into a user's Windows machine for some troubleshooting or to upload files for them or whatever. Thank you ahead of time.

Huh? I think you mean OpenSSH for Windows and not OpenSSH-portable as developed by OpenBSD, right?


Since you aren't telling us specifics like what package you used, how its configured, what account you use and what the log says there's not much to go on.


Can't find the URI now but there's a Cygwin-based OpenSSH package for Windows that works quite well and even has a GUI for configuring accounts, read logs etc, etc. The most obvious problems are being able to connect, do that in a more or less secure way and being able to do so without expecting too much work / help from your "hapless victims" ;-p Besides SSH you've got protocols / applications like RDP, VNC and Team Viewer to choose from.

I was not aware of an Openssh developed by BSD. The program I used was Openssh for Windows. Here's the URL home page at Sourceforge:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/sshw...20-%20Release/
When I installed it a key was automatically generated. I followed the instructions for configuration that came with the program. I could shell into Linux from Windows but not into Windows from Linux, despite all attempts of configuration. I kept getting authentication failures no matter what I did. I thought about making a new password but said program did not come with that capability!
I prefer using SSH, not virtual networking stuff because I use a dial up internet connection. Using something like VNC would be so slow or nearly impossible. I don't need or want a GUI anyway.
In the interum I have found the page for Cygwin and have downloaded the setup program for that, I started it and some things there refreshed my memory. Nice to see it is still being developed. I'll have to wait until tonight to finish the setup because my dial up will take a long time even for the minimal packages I want to install. For what it's worth to some members here's the URL:
http://cygwin.com/install.html
Thank you for your reply, unspawn.

Minor nit but it's not some trivial or inconsequential "an" but the OpenSSH: see www.openssh.org.


That's the most "popular" version I suppose but it's an old version (3.8p1-1). CopSSH offers version 5.6, comes with Cygwin obviously and a collection of tools.

As for solving auth trouble I hope you understand the reasons for preferring cold hard evidence like configuration files (as in 'grep -v ^# file|grep .;'), relevant log excerpts and diagnostic output over an account of things.

Yes Openssh is old that's why I referred to the Openssh I used as "an Openssh", the developer for which fairly recently picked up the gauntlet from the old Openssh. I suppose he's a bug or two to work out with that. As I said I was not able to make a user password with the mkpasswd.exe program provided with said program. So I'm rolling tonight with your reference to Cygwin not only for it's Copssh but for the other features it provides. Thank you.