iface

Rather bad Windows/Linux RPC interface specialized for a Windows-host/GNU+Linux-guest configuration.

WARNING: The Windows/GNU+Linux iface by is EXPERIMENTAL and has nothing to do with good coding, security, etc. USE AT YOUR OWN RISK.

In this guide, I'll show you how to setup Windows-host + GNU/Linux-guest using a VMWare Workstation.

Setting up a Virtual Network Interfaces

• Open VMWare Workstation
• Go to: Edit -> Virtual Network Editor
• Create one Bridged Network Interface and attach your physical Network Adapter to it (it will be used to get the internet access on your linux guest)
• Create another Host-Only Adapter with set it up like on picture below

Virtual Machine Creation

Create a Virtual Machine as you always do, but attach two of those Network Interfaces to it and install your favourite GNU/Linux Distribution (Btw. I use Arch).

VMWare Tools installation

• Arch Linux: sudo pacman -S open-vm-tools xf86-video-vmware
• Debian/Ubuntu-based: sudo apt install open-vm-tools xserver-xorg-video-vmware
• openSUSE: software.opensuse.org

Clone this repo to your VM

git clone https://github.com/synnek1337/win-linux-setup.git

Attaching host physical drivers to Virtual Machine

Make sure your on 4.x kernel or newer: uname -r
Shut down the Virtual Machine. In VMWare Workstation go to: Edit this Virutal Machine settings -> Options -> Shared Folders -> Check Always enabled -> Add -> Add the root folder of every partition you want to attach and name it DRIVE_C, DRIVE_D etc.

Start the VM, go to win-linux-setup/guest-side-conf-scripts and do sudo python fstab-conf.py !! USE PYTHON 3

Set up Network Interfaces on your Guest

nmtui Set up your host-only interface ipv4 address to 192.168.56.3/24

Set up Network Interface on your Host

Control Panel -> Network and Sharing Center -> Change adapter settings -> right-click on your host-only interface -> Properties -> Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4) -> set it like on picture belown

Set Up SSH Server on guest-side (for easier troubleshoting)

• Install OpenSSH and enable it like it' s described on your distro' s wiki (https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Secure_Shell)

• edit /etc/ssh/sshd_config
  in line 13 change port to something different that 22 (eg. 2137)
  in line 15 change ListenAddress to 192.168.56.3
  in line 57 change PasswordAuthentication to no
  in line 32 change PermitRootLogin to no.

• Generate SSH Keys
  ssh-keygen and enter the passphrase
  go to ~/.ssh/ and rename id_rsa.pub to authorized_keys
  Transfer id_rsa to your host by cp id_rsa /c/...

Set Up PuTTY on Host-side

• Download PuTTY or choco install putty
• Open puttygen
  Conversions -> Import Key -> Save private key
• Edit .\host-side-scripts\startup.bat
  in line 4 enter path to your .ppk file.
• Now you can easily connect to your VM

Install VcXsrv

• Download
• choco install vcsrv

Configure all host-side scripts

• go to .\host-side-scripts
  In line 3 in l-cmd.bat enter path to this repo cloned.
  In line 4 in startup.bat enter PATH to your private key in .ppk format.
  In line 5 in startup.bat enter path to this repo cloned.
  In line 3 in vm-start.bat and vm-stop.bat add path to .vmx file of your VM.

• In shell:startup create link to repo\host-side-scripts\startup.bat

Configure iface

• Edit ./RPC/iface.cfg
  in line 2 enter secure password
  in line 3 enter path to home directory on guest-side
  in line 6 enter path to your terminal emulator
  Use same iface.cfg both on guest and host side.

Add iface to autostart on guest-side

• correct guest-side-scripts\startup.sh
• Install cron check your distro 's wiki (for arch it' s pacman -S cronie)
• crontab -e
@reboot *PATH to startup.sh*
  ctrl+o ctrl+x

Credits

• @gynvael for providing RPC Interface
• @vmware for providing virtualization solutions
• @python for providing Python Programming language