org-howto/env/windows11-setup.org

windows11 setup

• Introduction
  • Remap Keyboard
  • Setup OpenSSH
    • SSH to windows
      • Enable windows ssh server from system settings.
      • passwordless login
    • SSH to WSL2
    • SSH from external host
      • ssh proxy jump
      • forward WSL-2 port

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Introduction

Notes on setup for my primary desktop

Remap Keyboard

Use PowerToys (free from MS) Keyboard Manager allows directly remapping keys

Remap:

from	to
caps lock	ctrl (left)
ctrl (right)	caps lock

without the second mapping, if caps lock gets enabled there's no easy way to cancel it.

Setup OpenSSH

SSH to windows

Enable windows ssh server from system settings.

To verify running:

1. open admin powershell

   > Get-WindowsCapability -Online | Where-Object Name -like 'OpenSSH*'
   
   Name  : OpenSSH.Client~~~~0.0.1.0
   State : Installed
   
   Name  : OpenSSH.Server~~~~0.0.1.0
   State : NotPresent
   

   above shows SSH server not running.

2. enable SSH server (this takes a few minutes):

   > Add-WindowsCapability -Online -Name OpenSSH.Server~~~~0.0.1.0
   
   Path          :
   Online        : True
   RestartNeeded : False
   

3. Start SSH service

   > Start-Service sshd
   

4. configure to start automatically on boot

   > Set-Service -Name sshd -StartupType 'Automatic'
   

5. ssh-agent also needs assistance

   > Get-Service ssh-agent
   
   Status   Name                DisplayName
   ------   ----                -----------
   Stopped  ssh-agent           OpenSSH Authentication Agent
   

   set it to start manually (whenever someone invokes ssh-agent)

   > Get-Service -Name ssh-agent | Set-Service -StartupType Manual
   

passwordless login

1. public key in: C:\Users\<myusername>\.ssh\authorized_keys if non-administrator account C:\ProgramData\ssh\administrators_authorized_keys if administrator account. Note that C:\ProgramData is hidden. Can change directory to it in powershell, but it won't normally appear in file explorer.

2. relax settings in C:\ProgramData\ssh\sshd_config.

   we want to uncomment a few disabled-by-default features:

   PubkeyAuthentication yes
   AllowAgentForwarding yes
   AllowTcpForwarding yes
   

SSH to WSL2

in wsl2 shell:

1. install openssh:

   $ sudo apt-get install openssh-server
   

2. default config listens on port 22:

   $ cat /etc/ssh/sshd_config | grep -i port
   #Port 22
   

   listen on port 2022 instead, since sshd run by windows11 occupies port 22 already

   $ sudo sed -i -E 's:^#Port.*$:Port 2022:' /etc/ssh/sshd_config
   $ cat /etc/ssh/sshd_config | grep -i port
   #Port 2022
   

3. start ssh service

   NOTE: relies on systemd. older WSL2 (sometime before 2023) didn't have systemd, so might need to upgrade first

   $ sudo systemctl enable ssh
   Synchronizing state of ssh.service with SysV service script with /lib/systemd/systemd-sysv-install.
   $ sudo systemctl stop ssh    # in case already running,  perhaps on wrong port
   $ sudo systemctl start ssh
   

   should be able to see it running now

   $ ps -A | grep sshd
     20139 ?      00:00:00 sshd
   

   and verify listening on the right port

   $ netstat -a -n | grep tcp
   tcp        0      0 0.0.0.0:2022            0.0.0.0:*               LISTEN
   tcp        0      0 127.0.0.53:53           0.0.0.0:*               LISTEN
   tcp6       0      0 :::2022                 :::*                    LISTEN
   

   verify wsl2 can ssh to itself

   $ ssh -p 2022 localhost
   

SSH from external host

We have alternatives

ssh proxy jump

in external host's ~/.ssh/ssh_config:

# my windows desktop
Host roly-desktop-23
  User Rcony
  HostName 192.168.1.10

# wsl hosted from windows
Host roly-desktop-23-wsl
  User roland
  HostName localhost
  Port 2022
  ProxyJump roly-desktop-23

Then from external host:

$ eval $(ssh-agent -s)
$ ssh-add
..passphrase..
$ ssh roly-desktop-23-wsl
roland@roly-desktop-23:~$

Note this only works once passwordless ssh to windows is working

forward WSL-2 port

NOTE: Have not had success with ssh port forwarding yet, at least as of 25dec2024.

In admin powershell:

netsh interface portproxy add v4tov4 `
  listenaddress=192.168.1.10 `
  listenport=2322 `
  connectaddress=172.17.64.1 `
  connectport=2022

connect_port :: wsl ssh listening on this port

To rediscover wsl listening on port (from wsl prompt):

$ netstat -l | grep 2022
tcp     0    0    0.0.0.0:2022    0.0.0.0:*   LISTEN
tcp6    0    0    [::]:2022       [::]:*      LISTEN

To rediscover wsl VM's ip address according to windows11:

In powershell:

> ipconfig

Windows IP Configuration
...

Ethernet adapter vEthernet (WSL (Hyper-V firewall)):

   Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . :
   Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::d8b4:eb39:67da:da8f%14
   IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 172.17.64.1
   Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.240.0
   Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :

The address we want is under 'IPv4 Address'. This IP is local to the windows11 instance, it's not visible outside that host.

To see windows11 ports in use:

in powershell:

> netstat -a

Active Connections

  Proto  Local Address   Foreign Address    State
  TCP    0.0.0.0:22      roly-desktop-23    LISTENING