sorry but im pulling my hair out. very new to linux so bear with me. i want to tunnel vnc thru ssh from my pclos box (behind a router) to my parents windowsxp box (also behind a router). i know i have to forward port 22 on my router and my parents router as well as software firewalls. now it gets hazy. whats next. which service do i start first or does it matter. what settings on putty on their end do i need, and how do i start a session on my end. do they have to start ssh or vnc on their end too.
do i need to open any other ports on the computer (5901).



thanks

You'll need to setup ssh "tunnels" on your linux box that will take traffic on port 5901 and send it through to the appropriate port on the windows XP machine. A command like the following should do it:

yourmachine> ssh -X -f username@machine2 -N -L 5901:yourmachine:5901

Then, you would fire up vncviewer:

yourmachine> vncviewer localhost:5901

As long as you've got vncserver running on your parents' box, this should do the trick

See HERE for more info

Only on your parents', assuming you are initiating the ssh session. (BTW, their machine must also be running sshd. Which I found easiest under Win/XP by using cygwin.)

i need cygwin on my parents machine. they have to have ssh server running as well as vnc server running. do they need to start their services first before i try to get into their side?? i already have ssh and a vnc viewer on my end, they need a vnc server and ssh server on their end. what about the settings. will the default settings of cygwin be ok.

Yeah, they'll need their ssh server as well as vncserver running before you can connect. I've no experience w/Cygwin, however.