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X2Go

SETUP

To install the client software on a Windows or Mac machine visit the X2Go client download page to download the appropriate installer package. For Linux machines X2Go should be available from the normal system repositories.

Once installed, start the client and the main window and 'New Session' window should appear.

  •  'Session name' can be anything you'd like
  •  'Host' must be exactly 'cbrglogin3.molbiol.ox.ac.uk'
  •  'Login' should be your CCB cluster username
  •  'Try Auto Login' should be on; if you have SSH keys set up it should use them, if not it'll prompt for your password when you connect
  •  'Session type' must be 'XFCE'

CONNECTING

You should now have the main window with an entry on the right-hand side representing the new session. Clicking your newly created session entry will connect to the system, prompting you for your account password. Once connected X2Go will open a separate window (which can be resized, maximised etc.) with your login session in it.

Please note the following points when using X2Go:

  • In principle X2Go supports advanced features like folder sharing, remote printing and remote audio, however we recommend that you do not attempt to use these
  • Whilst X2Go should allow you to disconnect from a session, leaving it running to reconnect to later, past experience has found this feature to be somewhat unreliable - we strongly recommend that you fully save your work and log out (Using the 'Applications' menu and the 'Log Out' entry at the bottom) each time you want to stop using the system, then create a fresh new login when you want to reconnect.

Troubleshooting

Firstly, check whether you can log in with SSH - if you can't then please contact us for help.

Next, check if you've received an email from us to say that your home directory quota is full. If you have, follow the instructions in that e-mail to free up space.

A final common issue is if your .bashrc has been modified. Our standing recommendation is that you don’t do this, as described here. If you’re having issues using X2go and you’ve made any changes to your .bashrc, please reset it to the default by logging in over SSH:

$ cd $HOME

$ mv .bashrc .bashrc.bak

$ cp /etc/skel/.bashrc $HOME

The same issue may occur if you’ve made changes to other login configuration files.

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