i wanted to access my adsl router at home to change a couple of settings while i was at work. tried logging into my home server via ssh and then using the links browser to access the router. no joy. i could login ok but none of the settings could be accessed.
the solution? create an ssh tunnel to my home server and then use firefox, through the tunnel, to access the router normally.
i have to use xp at work so here’s the rather simple process… you’ll need cygwin (although you could use putty but that’s another story) and ssh access to your remote box at home.
start the cygwin installation procedure and when it gets to the section when you’re asked about software selection, maximise the window and click the + to the left of ‘Net’. scroll down until you see openssh on the right and click on ‘Skip’ so that ‘n/a’ changes into a cross. that’s it so continue with the installation.
when that’s complete start cygwin and in the window that appears issue ssh –D 8888 user@remote.host (replacing user@remote.host with your login details). you should then be asked for your password. that’s it with cygwin.
on to firefox. go to ‘tools’, ‘options’, ‘advanced’ , ‘network tab’ and then click ‘settings’. my settings looked like this… nb only fill in the socks host section
after setting these all traffic should now passing through the ssh tunnel. type 10.0.0.2 or 192.168.0.1 (or whatever your router’s ip is, into firefox’s address bar, and you should be able to access it as normal. hopefully. to close the session just type exit in cygwin to logout out of the server and exit again to quit cygwin itself.
as an added bonus this will also bypass your corporate firewall and proxy servers…surf in secrecy…well as secret as you would be at home…
