1GN1tE / RPC_Service

A minimal interface for Linux on Windows host.

RPC_Service

A minimal interface for Linux on Windows host. This runs a linux as a VM (Virtualbox) in the background and creates a easy interface to interact with it (CLI & GUI) on windows host without changing of tabs and display.

Features

• Run linux command anywhere to change ur shell to linux at that directory.
• Added context menu entry to open ur favourite linux terminal at that directory.
• Run all GUI applications without switiching to Virtual Box tab.

Installation

Prequisites (Windows)

• Install VirtualBox along with Guest Additions (preferably at default location)
• Install Windows X11 server (preferably at default location)
• Install Python3 and add to path
• Install Git and add to path

VM

VirtualBox Configuration

• Install a linux based OS (preferably Ubuntu Server bcz u don't need Desktop Environment)
• Install VBox guest additions (probably need on every kernel update) (build-essential will be needed)
• Configure Settings > Network to use a Host-only adapter. Also add a Network Adapter of Bridged Adapter if u want to use your linux VM on other LAN devices
• Add shared folders of all drives at drive name with Auto-Mount and Make Permanent flags. E.g. C_DRIVE is mounted at /c/

Setting up display

• Change the following in /etc/default/grub

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash" -->  GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash text"
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX=""                     -->  GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX="text"

And run sudo update-grub

• Run sudo systemctl disable display-manager.service if u had any desktop environment
• Run echo "DISPLAY=192.168.56.1:0" | sudo tee -a /etc/environment if ur host is at 192.168.56.1 (See with ipconfig on windows)
• You may also need to run echo "set \$DISPLAY=192.168.56.1:0" | tee -a ~/.profile

Windows

• Clone the repo where you want to install.
• Run install.bat as administrator

Setting up SSH

VM

• Install OpenSSH server sudo apt install openssh-server and run sudo systemctl start sshd.service if the service is off.

Windows

• If you already have a SSH key pair, copy it to .ssh folder inside ur users folder (C:\Users\<username>\.ssh)
• If you dont have a key,
  • Open Git Bash and run the following command substituting the email address ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -C "[e-mail]"
  • When you're prompted to "Enter a file in which to save the key," press Enter. This accepts the default file location. Also keep the passphrase empty and press Enter 2 times.
• If the SSH in VM is configured, run ssh-copy-id <user>@<ip> on Git Bash substituting the username in the VM and it's IP. Write the password and press enter when prompted.

Usage

• Run server-up & display-up on any terminal to start them. (You can also add these scripts to Windows Task Scheduler to run them on startup)
• After sometime (boot of VM) run linux command on any shell to change into linux. You also use the Open Linux Interface Here context menu.
• Run server-down to shutdown the server
• You can change the VM by changing \helper_scripts\vm.txt
• You can change the username, IP, shell, terminal by updating contents of \helper_scripts\config.txt.