Students, staff, and faculty can download PuTTY here: https://it.engr.ncsu.edu/software/catalog/putty/. The site also has accompanying instructions on how to install PuTTY.
PuTTY Errors
Can’t Access PuTTY
If you are getting one of the following error messages,
- “Xlib: PuTTY X11 proxy: wrong authentication protocol attempted”
- “Xlib: PuTTY X11 proxy: MIT-MAGIC-COOKIE-1 data did not match”
- “X11 connection rejected because of wrong authentication”
the issue is that you do not have write access to your AFS Home Directory (or K: Drive). This is either because you are over quota or because the permissions are not correct. Typing quota at the command line will display your quota; typing fs la at the command line will display the permission on the directory. To edit your permissions, follow the instructions from the E115 manual located at http://ncsu.orgsync.com/org/e115/AU_Access_Control_List_Rights.
There are files in the root of your AFS Home Directory that store information and are used when tunneling an X11 session through an SSH connection. If you are over quota or have lost access to that space, then the files can’t be written. To remove files from your K drive, access your K drive via FileZilla or on a Windows lab machine and delete the files.
System Reboot Pending
Many students have reported that they are unable to install PuTTY, and sometimes other programs, because they get the error reading, “The installation can not continue because a system reboot is pending.” To resolve this issue, first try rebooting to clear the error. If a reboot does not resolve the issue, complete the following steps. Be warned that making changes to the registry can have major adverse effects on your system, so proceed with caution.
- Open regedit (Start -> type “regedit“).
- Browse to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager.
- Find the key titled PendingFileRenameOperations located in the right window frame.
- Edit that key and delete whatever is in that key. Do not delete the key itself.
- Once that key is empty, you can run the installer. A reboot is usually not needed.
Can’t Open Display
If a student is attempting to run a program and is receiving an error saying “Can’t Open Display”, most likely, the student needs to make sure X-Win32 is running in the background while PuTTY is running. X-Win32 provides PuTTY with the GUI for the things like “gedit.”
Download X-Win32 here: https://it.engr.ncsu.edu/software/catalog/x-win32/
Follow the installation and setup instructions. After installing and running X-Win32, try running the program that wouldn’t display before (e.g. gedit) in PuTTY again. It should now work with no problems.
Running and setting up X-Win32:
- Run X-Win32.
- Click on My Connection in the left-hand task pane.
- Under the New Connection task pane to the right, click the icon labeled Wizard.
- A new window will appear. Name your connection “remote.eos.ncsu.edu” and select “ssh” as the type, click Next.
- Name the host “remote.eos.ncsu.edu” without quotations. Click Next.
- Log in with your Unity ID and password, and click Next.
- Select Linux for the command. (IMPORTANT – DO NOT select Linux(Xauth)). Click Finish.
- Now under My Connections, you should see your newly created connection called “remote.eos.ncsu.edu”.
- Select this connection and click Launch from the right-hand task pane. Wait patiently for about 20 seconds and a command prompt (terminal) will appear.
Now that the X server is running, you should be able to run GUI programs from PuTTY, or you can use the X-Win32 terminal as an alternative to PuTTY.