Short Guide To Configure Linux X On Microsoft Windows

This post contains minimal instructions to run X programs on Microsoft Windows from a Ubuntu Linux machine.


On Windows, install PuTTY from https://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/latest.html

On Windows, install Xming from https://sourceforge.net/projects/xming/?source=directory
or http://www.straightrunning.com/XmingNotes

On Windows, run XLaunch (was installed by Xming) and go through prompts:
Display Settings "Multiple Windows"
Session Type "Start no client"
Additional Parameters "Check Clipboard box"

On Windows run PuTTY.
Load a session profile or create a session profile for a Linux machine.
In left panel, go to Connection, SSH, X11.
Click "Enable X11 Forwarding"
X display location "localhost:0.0"
Save that connection profile in PuTTY, so the X11 configuration will be there tomorrow.

On Windows, run Xming. It will run in the background without a Windows display.
On Windows, open the configured PuTTY connection that was previously configured for X11. This should open a command-window on the Linux machine. Enter the following in the command window:
$ echo $TERM
xterm
$ echo $DISPLAY
localhost:10.0

Test X by typing "xclock". A GUI clock from the Linux machine should display on the Windows machine.
Typing "xclock&" will allow you to continue to type in the command window while the xclock GUI also runs.

Enable Punycode Long URL In Firefox To Protect From Domain Phishing

A recent phishing technique is to register domain names with international Unicode characters that look like English characters. The URL will visually look correct, but it will be a different website which often contains malicious content. Puny code is a representation of Unicode with the limited ASCII character subset used for Internet host names.

The Firefox web browser does not provide an indication that a domain name is using look-alike Unicode characters.

These instructions will enable showing long names when the domain names have Unicode characters.

Open a new tab in Firefox and enter this in the address bar, then press the button to proceed:
about:config

Search for punycode:

Right-click on the IDN_show_punycode:

Toggle the setting to true:

Create PDF With Embedded Fonts

Some websites require uploaded PDF files to self-contain their fonts. You may see an error similar to:
"The attached PDF file references a non-embedded font: *Helvetica-2509-Identity-H. Please remove file, embed the font and reattach."

This post describes how to create PDF files with non-embedded fonts using Microsoft Word.

In Microsoft Word press File, Export. This will show the "Info" screen.

Press "Create PDF/XPS"

Choose output directory and file name, then press "Options".

In the dialog box, choose "PDF/A compliant". Press OK.

Press "Publish". The PDF file will be created with all fonts embedded in the PDF document.