Information regarding the use of virtual desktop, machine and virtual encrypted disk can be found here.
Also some information about remote desktop using RealVNC I have collected hier.
TrueCrypt [3] is a open-source disk encryption software that creates a virtual disk within a file and mounts it as a real disk.
Another interesting software is the Synergy [2] . It makes possible to share a single mouse and keyboard between multiple computers with different operating systems, It's useful for users with multiple computers on their desk since each system uses its own monitor(s). NoMachine NX [1] is also an excellent program for desktop virtualization to carry with you all the power of your office workstation and is available on windows and linux.
Softwares like VMWare Workstation [4] make possible to create and run multiple virtual machines on your desktop or laptop computer. Each virtual machine represents a complete PC, including processor, memory, network connections and peripheral ports. You can install an Operating System (Windows, Linux, …) that runs side-by-side on the same computer.
Remote Desktop:
vncserver - Start a remote display.
Xvnc - Check aktive VNC display connections to my machine.
Virtual Desktop:
synergy - Share keyboard and mouse.
NoMachine NX - A secure remote access, desktop virtualization, and hosted desktop deployment.
Virtual Disk:
truecrypt - mount - Unclean shutdown.
truecrypt - mount USB Volume - Use the HD identification to mount the truecrypt disk.
Virtual Machine:
VMWare Player - How to install the VMWare Player in a Ubuntu OS.
VMWare Tools - How to install the VMWare Tools in a virtual Linux OS.
VMWare Disk-Manager - Increasing the Virtual System hard disk.
VMWare error - Can't power on VWWare guest 32 in a 64Bit vmware host.
vncserver |
|
Start a remote display.
Today I have been accessing my Linux workstation using my Windows PC with RealVNC.
First of all I use ssh to connect the Workstation and start the vncserver. In Windows I have PuTTY for that.
As soon as you are loged on in a terminal at the workstation, vncserver can be started. For that you just need to type vncserver and the next free Display port will be given. I prefere to type my own display port number "8" ;)
The terminal can be closed. The server will continue run.
From my windows I start the VNC viewer.
I must give the server adress with the display port
[worstation name]:[display port]
You will be asked for a login name and password.
When the connection is started, I type xrandr in a terminal to fix the display resolution. Without any arguments xrandr will display the available resolutions that can be selected with -s [resolution].
$ xrandr
SZ: Pixels Physical Refresh
*0 1280 x 800 ( 325mm x 203mm ) *0
1 1280 x 1024 ( 325mm x 260mm ) 0
2 1920 x 1200 ( 488mm x 305mm ) 0
3 1920 x 1080 ( 488mm x 274mm ) 0
4 1680 x 1050 ( 427mm x 267mm ) 0
5 1600 x 1200 ( 406mm x 305mm ) 0
6 1600 x 900 ( 406mm x 229mm ) 0
Current rotation - normal
Current reflection - none
Rotations possible - normal
Reflections possible - none
$ xrandr -s 2
If you just close the vnc viewer window the display port will keep active and you can login again without any changes in your desktop. If you logout from vnc viewer the display port will be closed and you must start vncserver again.
To close a remote desktop use can also use -kill :[display port]. Get access to your Linux using PuTTY again and call vncserver to stop the display port.
Xvnc |
|
Check aktive VNC display connections to my machine.
How to know who is connected via vnc to my machine?
In a terminal use netstat together with grep. In the example below myWindows ist connected.
$ netstat -p | grep Xvnc-core | grep myLinux
tcp 0 0 myLinux:6712 myWindows:88856 ESTABLISHED 54100/Xvnc-core
synergy |
|
Share keyboard and mouse.
Connect two or more computers sharing a single keyboard and mouse. Synergy [2] is an open sorce code that provide interface for windows, linux and mac.
Regarding the instalation in Ubuntu/Kubuntu an complet documentation can be fount at https://help.ubuntu.com/community/SynergyHowto .
I install synergy in a windows machine without any problem. In a linux machine (kubuntu) I have already used the binary distribution for 32 bit also without any problem. For 64 bit linux I have descided to compile the source by my self to avoid any incompatibility with the system.
Compiling Synergy:
Install necessary packages:
sudo apt-get install libxtst-dev
sudo apt-get install build-essential
Setup, compile and install synergy:
$ ./configure -x-libraries /usr/lib -x-includes /usr/include
$ make
$ sudo make install
I create a network with a Linux Host computer. Other two computers, Linux and Windows, are setup to be a Guest.
Linux(tlk105) |
Linux(ift60) |
Win(tlk75) |
'----> |
keyboard/mouse |
<----' |
Setup Server
Create a file called '.synergy.conf' in your home directory. The file should contain:
section: screens
tlk105:
ift60:
tlk75:
end
section: links
tlk105:
right = ift60
ift60:
left = tlk105
right = tlk75
tlk75:
left = ift60
end
Running Synergy
To debug the connection use at the Server side:
synergys -f --config ~/.synergy.conf
at the client side:
At the windows computer every thing runs graphicaly just give the Server IP and start the connection. A message window will appear if something runs wrong.
Autostart
Setup an autostart at KDE desktop, that runs after the login.
- Using a file manager (Konqueror), go to ~/.kde/Autostart
- right click > Create New > File > Link to Application
in the general tab, give it a name like runsynergyc.
application tab: type this in the "Command:" field: synergyc <replace with the server's IP>
The file runsynergyc.desktop will be created with:
[Desktop Entry]
Comment=
Comment[en_US]=
Encoding=UTF-8
Exec[$e]=synergyc 188.229.15.24
GenericName=Desktop network
GenericName[en_US]=Desktop network
Icon=exec
MimeType=
Name=runsynergyc
Name[en_US]=runsynergyc
Path[$e]=~
StartupNotify=true
Terminal=false
TerminalOptions=
Type=Application
X-DCOP-ServiceType=
X-KDE-SubstituteUID=false
X-KDE-Username=
X-Ubuntu-Gettext-Domain=desktop_kdebase
To setup the server to autostart after the login do the same but change the file name to
runsynergys and the "Command:" field to:
synergys --config /PathTo/.synergy.conf
To make the file available for all users, as root move the file .desktop to the Path /usr/share/autostart
NoMachine NX |
|
A secure remote access, desktop virtualization, and hosted desktop deployment.
NoMachine NX offers a solution to access a remote Unix workstation over a secure connection based on ssh. It allows two concurrent users to connect and share the desktop at the same time.
You can easily download it from NoMachine NX [1]. The NX Free Edition offer a client and a server application.
I have installed the server in a Kubuntu i386 Linux distribuition and the client in a Ubuntu amd64. I have already both machines with Secure Shell configured without password, see ssh. But it should work without this.
Test your ssh connection in a terminal window by calling:
user is your host login and
host the name or IP from the remote machine.
Server Installation
Ensure that the Secure Shell server (package openssh-server) is already installed, use dpkg to find out.
You need to install the client, the node and finally the server. The instructions are well explained in the NoMachine download homepage. You can use dpkg to perform the installation.
After the installaiton you will find at the Gnome/KDE menu die NX programs in Applications - Internet - NX Client for Linux.
The NX service can be controlled by the command
$ /usr/NX/bin/nxserver --status|--start|--stop|--restart
Additional commands are listed using
/usr/NX/bin/nxserver --help. An administrator's guide are also available at
http://www.nomachine.com/documentation/admin-guide.php .
Client Installation
Ensure that the Secure Shell application (package openssh) is already installed, see dpkg.
Download the Client NX packages. See dpkg to know how to install it.
After the installation you will find at the Gnome/KDE menu die NX programs in Applications - Internet - NX Client for Linux.
Now you just need to open the NX Connection Wizard on the Client machine to setup a connection.
That's it!!
truecrypt - mount |
|
Unclean shutdown.
I usually work in windows and linux. After some days working with my truecrypt file in a Windows system, I could not mount it again in the Linux machine. The error message was
$LogFile indicates unclean shutdown (0, 0)
Failed to mount '/dev/mapper/truecrypt1': Operation not supported
Mount is denied because NTFS is marked to be in use.
the solution I found at
Forum / TrueCrypt unter ubuntu. Basically it is a force mount following by an unmount to unlock the file.
$ sudo truecrypt --filesystem=none <Path> (<Path> the File path (e.g. ~/geheim.tc))
$ sudo mount -t ntfs-3g /dev/mapper/truecrypt1 /media/mytruecrypt -o force
$ sudo umount /media/mytruecrypt
$ sudo truecrypt -d
After the second command line, the partition should be already mounted. The third and fourth commands will ummount it, making possible its use on the TrueCrypt graphical interface.
truecrypt - mount USB Volume |
|
Use the HD identification to mount the truecrypt disk.
I found usefull the use of a link to mount a truecrypt drive and not go through the GUI. The comman line I use in my Windows PC is
"C:\Program Files\TrueCrypt\TrueCrypt.exe" /v \\?\Volume{701e9a5f-4a80-11e0-a44f-001fd0245cf3}\TrueCrypt\Correia /l z /q /e
The HD Volume can be identified by 'mountvol.exe' in a command prompt window.
C:\>mountvol g: /l
\\?\Volume{701e9a5f-4a80-11e0-a44f-001fd0245cf3}\
The options I use are
v to identify the truecrypt file,
l to choose a drive letter to mount to,
q to close any truecrypt GUI and
e to open an explorer window.
VMWare Player |
|
How to install the VMWare Player in a Ubuntu OS.
The only way I found is using a tar VMPlayer version. Strange to say but the newest tar version I could not find a link to download it from the official homepage. I spend some time searching, but nothing!! I use our friend Google to find for me "vmware player 2.5 tar", BINGOOO. I could download the file "VMware-player-2.5.0-118166.x86_64.tar.gz" .
The next steps are easier:
- for the last installation step, VMWare will ask to compile the application kernel to integrate your system kernel and keep the compatibility. Thus you need your kernel files to finish the installation. Use sudo aptitude -P install build-essential linux-kernel-headers linux-kernel-devel to update your system with the necessary kernel source files and basic compiler tools.
- untar with tar -xzf VMware-player-2.5.0-118166.x86_64.tar.gz
- a new directory will be created from the tar command, just go inside cd vmware-player-distrib
- call as super user sudo ./vmware-install.pl and answer the questions. I just press return for all questions.
- (optional) I found some thing about a vmware any-any patch to update the files, some thing like "vmware-any-any-update-116.tgz". I did not use it because I don't have enough information if they are newer or older than my installed VMWare Player. So is up to you to search a patch and also install it. The procedure will be the same unpack, move to the installation directory and run the install script.
- now you will find at the Gnome Applications menu at System Tools the application VMWare Player. Starting it the lest setup steps will be made. The kernel will be integrated in your VMWare application and all will be working.
Done!
VMWare Tools |
|
How to install the VMWare Tools in a virtual Linux OS.
Using VMWare Workstation is strongly recommended to have installed the VMWare Tools to improve the devices like monitor, mouse or network.
Steps:
- Start the Operating System.
- At the VMWare application menu-bar select VM - Install VMware Tools….
- A CD-ROM will be started on the virtual operating system. If the CD-ROM is not recognized automatically, you need to mount it (Debian based: mount /media/cdrom).
- In the CD-ROM two files can be found: VMWareTools-XXXX.rpm and VMWareTools-XXXX.tar.gz.
- For RedHat based Linux use the rpm command as root to install it: rpm -i VMWareTools-XXXX.rpm. For other Linux system that not use rpm packages, decompress the tar file and install using the scripts found (tar -xzf VMWareTools-XXXX.tar.gz).
- After the installation, call the Perl script vmware-install.pl or the new Version vmware-config-tools.pl.
- In some cases the VMWare must be compiled with the kernel. In such case, a C compiler and the Kernel library must be present in your Virtual OS.
VMWare Disk-Manager |
|
Increasing the Virtual System hard disk.
To increase the Virtual Machine hard disk size, use the program vmware-vdiskmanager available at the VMWare instalation directory.
Steps:
- The virtual OS must not be running.
- Comand line example:
vmware-vdiskmanager -x 8GB /vmachines/suse/CentOS.vmdk
That's it!! But before you try doing something, do a backup will not be a bad idea!
To get some help about the features of this application, run in a console window:
vmware-vdiskmanager --help
VMWare error |
|
Can't power on VWWare guest 32 in a 64Bit vmware host.
The solution is to install the 32-bit libraries required by Ubuntu to recognize the 32-bit operating system.
sudo apt-get install ia32-libs