Cygwin SSH Installation

The Cygwin SSH server is an emulation of the UNIX environment and OpenSSH for Windows. Prior to configuring Cygwin SSH, you should refer to the README located in the Cygwin package distribution under /usr/share/doc/Cygwin/openssh.README. Additional information can be found in the Cygwin User's Guide. The following is a high level overview of SSH installation process.

SSH Client Setup

The machine that executes the browse script *only* requires the SSH client. To setup a Cygwin SSH proceed with the following.
  1. Login as Administrator
    Windows XP - login as a user with Administrator privilege;
    Windows 2003 Server - login as local admin, it will not work for domain users or domain admin.
  2. Make sure the current admin/user has a Windows password set. If not, use the Control Panel->User Accounts to create a password. Its a good idea to log off and log in again to verify the password was successfully created.
  3. Create a folder c:\cygwin for the root directory and c:\cygwinpkg for the package storage
  4. Download cygwin's setup.exe from http://www.cygwin.com/ and save setup.exe in c:\cygwin.
    You might choose to run it directly from the download session or click Start->Run and type: c:\cygwin\setup.exe. As you start setup.exe you will be greeted by the "Cygwin Net Release Setup Program" <Next>.
  5. Assuming you do not already have packages downloaded to your machine you should select the default "Install from the Internet". <Next>.
  6. The Root directory is the location where the final installed binaries will live. Choose a location. It is recommended that you use a path that does not contain spaces. For this reason choose the c:\cygwin you previously created. Selecting "All Users" for the "Install For" option will allow other users to use SSH. The default Text File Type - Unix / binary is recommended. <Next>.
  7. You will be prompted for "Local Package Directory" type: c:\cygwinpkg. <Next>.
  8. Select the connection type. Choose what is applicable. "Direct Connection" is probably applicable in most cases <Next>.
  9. Choose a download site that is located closest to you. <Next>.
  10. The next window displays various software packages that are available. Locate the openssh package. It resides under the "Net" tree. Clicking on the word "skip" will select the package resulting in an "x" being displayed in the Binary checkbox. Selecting openssh will automatically selects openssl since it is a required by openssh. Unless you want the source code leave the second checkbox unchecked.
  11. Click next to start installing Cygwin (the required base package) and SSH. The size of these packages is more than 50MB.
  12. After the Cygwin packages are installed you have the option to create icons on your desktop. <Finish>

SSH Server Setup

Each of the machines that run a browsechild client are required to run an SSHD daemon. To setup the Cygwin SSHD server you must first complete the initial "SSH Client Setup" steps. If you are going to adopt and maintain the SSHD environment subsequent to running the Browse Benchmark you might want to read the customizable features and configuration options presented in the Cygwin User's Guide. These options include the setting of the ntsec (NT Security) environment variable and modifying your PATH to include c:\cygwin\bin.


At a minimum, to setup SSHD you must open a Cygwin window (by double clicking the Cygwin icon) and type: 
ssh-host-config

You will prompted to answer a few questions. The questions will vary depending on whether you want to run SSHD as a service or not. Once completed, start the SSHD server.

Started as a service:

net start sshd

Started on the command line within a Cygwin shell:

/cygwin/sbin/sshd