SSH authentication failure due to no display set [1]

When connecting with TELNET, I succeed with:

bash-2.05$
SunOS 5.9

WARNING: You have connected to a private computing machine. Unauthorized access to this machine is a violation of United States Federal Law. If you are
not an authorized user of this machine, you are to disconnect immediately.

login:
Password:
Last login: Wed Jan 19 07:44:11 from
Sun Microsystems Inc. SunOS 5.9 Generic May 2002
bash-2.05$ /usr/openwin/bin/xterm -geometry 120x75+5+5 -name wansvr6 -fn 6x10 -s
b -sl 9999 -ls -bg black -fg green -cr red -display 172.21.76.210:1

If you look at my SSH connection, using the same command lines, it fails with the following:

[07:56:27] Resolving host name 'wansvr6'...
[07:56:27] Connecting to 'wansvr6'...
[07:56:27] Connected.
[07:56:27] Version exchange initiated...
[07:56:27] server: SSH-2.0-OpenSSH_3.9p1
[07:56:27] client: SSH-2.0-libssh_1.3.0.5 1881 NetSarang Computer, Inc.
[07:56:27] SSH2 is selected.
[07:56:27] Algorithm negotiation initiated...
[07:56:27] key exchange: diffie-hellman-group1-sha1
[07:56:27] host key: ssh-dss
[07:56:27] outgoing encryption: aes128-cbc
[07:56:27] incoming encryption: aes128-cbc
[07:56:27] outgoing mac: hmac-sha1
[07:56:27] incoming mac: hmac-sha1
[07:56:27] outgoing compression: zlib
[07:56:27] incoming compression: zlib
[07:56:27] Host authentication initiated...
[07:56:27] Hostkey fingerprint:
[07:56:27] ssh-dsa 1024 70:b9:3c:3e:08:1d:e2:b3:c2:51:8f:b9:f9:2f:ae:d5
[07:56:27] Accepted. Verifying host key...
[07:56:27] Verified.
[07:56:27] User authentication initiated...
[07:56:27] Sent user name 'manderso'.
[07:56:27] Sent public key blob.
[07:56:27] Received PK_OK packet.
[07:56:27] Sent signature blob.
[07:56:27] Access granted.
[07:56:27] Sent X11 forwarding request...
[07:56:27] Succeeded.
[07:56:27] Sent pseudo terminal request...
[07:56:27] Start timer (TIMER_SHUTDOWN, 180).
[07:56:27] Succeeded.
[07:56:27] Sent shell request...
[07:56:27] Succeeded.
Last login: Wed Jan 19 07:56:28 2005 from

Sun Microsystems Inc. SunOS 5.9 Generic May 2002
bash-2.05$ /usr/openwin/bin/xterm -geometry 120x75+5+5 -name wansvr6 -fn 6x10 -s
b -sl 9999 -ls -bg black -fg green -cr red -display $DISPLAY
/usr/openwin/bin/xterm Xt error: Can't open display: :0.0
bash-2.05$


Why doesn't SSH set my DISPLAY whereas TELNET does? I've checked permissions on my .Xauthority file, and it's fine. Also, I can get the SSH working on other systems.

From what I've read, it's an issue with the Xforwarding in the /etc/ssh/sshd.conf file, but it is enabled (as you can see above by the SUCCEED after the SET X11 FORWARDING).

Hello Mike,

It seems like your login script (.profile, .cshrc, .bashrc etc) is manually assigning $DISPLAY value. Telnet protocol passes your local IP address for $DISPLAY value and SSH protocol automatically configures it. There is no need to manually setup $DISPLAY value. Remove the login script part where it is manually assigning $DIPLAY value. Following is an example.

export DISPLAY=:0.0

Hope this solves your problem.

Best regards,