GPL Download
Please click here to download a full install of the free GPL version with less features (and it can not run on Windows XP).
Previous release available here.
Even earlier release (Version 0.10) available here.
NOTE: Norton Anti Virus Auto Protect has a
problem with Secure iXplorer V.011 upwards under Windows 9x/ME. See
FAQ below.
NOTE II: Secure iXplorer GPL needs pscp.exe and
plink.exe from the putty home page. It is included in the full
install here above for your convenience.
In case you want to install only the ixplorer.exe file and will
get the other files from the putty homesite yourself, then the
zipped ixplorer.exe file (without install) is available here. As long as the ixplorer.exe,
plink.exe and pscp.exe files are kept in the same directory it will
work fine.
You might want to install putty.exe as well (optional). The home
page for these files is http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/.
Please download the latest putty.exe files for Intel x86 from
there. Alternatively search the Internet for "putty".
Instructions for installing
You have to keep the ixplorer.exe, pscp.exe, plink.exe and
(optionally) putty.exe files in the same directory.
A Note to Administrators
The configuration data is kept in an .INI file (since version 0.12)
and no longer kept in the windows registry. This makes it easy
to create your own Secure iXplore distribution/installation
inclusive a "pre configured" .INI file for simple connection to
your own "home" host.There are only four files needed, which all
can be installed in the same directory: ixplorer.exe, plink.exe,
pscp.exe and ixplorer.ini. It is also possible to store the .INI
file in a different directory. Simply specify the
"IXPLORER_DATAPATH" environment variable to point to wherever you
like.
The syntax of the .INI file is rather self explanatory.
There is one special entry which can only be edited in the .INI
file and not in the application itself. It is called 'NoEdit' and
is found under the [General] section. Setting this value to 1
instead of 0 (default) will hide all the buttons for
editing/adding/deleting connections to remote hosts from the user.
This is not meant as any security feature, but rather as a
convenient way of keeping unexperienced users away from
unintentionally changing any such settings. Any experienced user
can of course change the 'NoEdit' entry back to 0 anytime, or
simply delete the .INI file and enter his/her own personalised .INI
file.
Source code
If you are a programmer and want to do adaptations to the software,
then you can find the source code here. If you have Delphi Version 5
you can build your own executable. I would appreciate a copy of
your adaptations, in case you do any improvements, which could be
of benefit to others. The source code for the third party components
used is available here
Frequently Asked Questions
Error message in Windows
95
Windows 95 does not include the TCP network library WinSock2 by
default. If you experience problems when starting up Secure
iXplorer on a Windows 95 computer, then you will probably have to
download and install the
Microsoft Windows Socket 2 Upgrade. The error message might be
"Missing file WS_2_32.DLL", "Socket Type is not supported" or
something similar.
No success connecting to my
host
Open a console session (a "DOS" box) in order to debug your first
connection to your remote host. Run pscp at the command prompt with
some test files and also connect to the host with "plink -ssh". If
you are succesful with pscp and plink but still have problems with
Secure iXplorer, then you can send a bug report.
No success connecting -login failure
with prompt error message
If you get an error message similar to this: "login failure -Last
line received: xxxxxxxx -Expected remote prompt character: $", then
you need to define a different prompt character in the Remote Host
Properties Dialog Box. If you select the option "Use First Prompt"
the prompt will be automatically installed the first time you
connect to the new host. Otherwise you can also define it manually
as the very last character of your host prompt (excluding any space
characters). If you do not know what your last character of your
host prompt is, then you can use "plink -ssh" to find out.
My host login starts with a query
before I get to the command line prompt
If your host login starts with a query issuing a different prompt
than the command line prompt (eg ':' and '>'), then your systems
administrator needs to do the following modification to the login
script:
The login script on the host can be modified to check to see if the
environment variable 'SSH2_CLIENT' exists. If it exists all prompts
before the command line prompt should be skipped.
Note: The enviroment variable 'SSH2_CLIENT' contains the
destination and source IPs which can then be used to automatically
set the $DISPLAY variable when using X forwarding. This is
especially useful with dynamic IP allocation.
An example snippet from a csh login script follows:
[...]
if("$(SSH2_CLIENT"=="1") then
setenv DISPLAY `echo $SSH2_CLIENT | awk '{print $1}'`
setenv DISPLAY ${DISPLAY}:0.0
[...]
I am getting a "Console process could
not start" error
Norton Anti Virus has a problem with applications calling
CreateProcess under Windows 9x/ME. Secure iXplorer calls
CreateProcess in order to run plink.exe in a hidden window. For
this reason you will have to temporarily disable Norton Anti Virus
Auto-Protect while starting Secure iXplorer. As soon as it has
started you can enable NAV again. Alternatively use Version 0.10,
which calls ShellExecute instead, but lacks many nice features.
Please contact Symantec if you want a
solution to this problem, as I do not know how to do a workaround
for their problem. (It works fine under Windows NT/2000 by the
way).
Ssh suddenly drops
connections This is a problem which has been reported
by several people for the ssh server "sshd" for SunOS 4, Solaris 2,
Linux, and HP-UX 9 and 10, with 1.2.16 and 1.2.17. It happens with
scp, when transferring large amounts of data via ssh's stdin, or
when forwarding an X connection which receives a large amount of
graphics data (such as a MPEG movie).
Try to apply the following patch to 1.2.16 or 1.2.17 for a fix.
This is in 1.2.18 or later.
--- serverloop.c.orig Tue Jan 21 14:38:25 1997
+++ serverloop.c. Tue Jan 21 14:37:54 1997
@@ -405,7 +405,7 @@
buffer_len(&stdin_buffer));
if (len <= 0)
{
- if (errno != EWOULDBLOCK)
+ if ((errno != EWOULDBLOCK) && (errno != EAGAIN))
{
if (fdin == fdout)
shutdown(fdin, 1); /* We will no longer send. */
How to connect to root directory "/"
?
Just press the "Examples" button in the Properties Dialog Box for
your remote connection. The examples given there should give you an
idea of how to specify your own connections.
How can I "move up above" my home
directory
It is not possible to move higher up in the directory tree.
However, since version 0.16 it is possible to, for instance,
connect to the root of the host and open up your home directory by
default. Do like this: Specify your "Host name (and location)" as
"myhost.com:/". This will connect to the root, by default. Now
change the "Host Default Directory" to "home/username" so that this
folder will be the default folder when you open a connection to
this host.
How do I log off from the remote
host?
In most cases there is no need to log off from the remote host,
since your connection will timeout after a short while of
inactivity anyway. Secure iXplorer will determine any timed-out
connection and reconnect automatically (in the background) the next
time you need information from there (the reconnections are logged
in the log file). However, if you want to make sure that you are
completely logged off for some reason, then simply right click on
the remote host icon in the Tree View Pane and select "Log off"
from the available options.
Where are my passwords
stored?
Your passwords are never stored anywhere (except in RAM). Neither
are the connections being kept open, after you have stopped looking
at a directory and finished copying files. This is true even when
Secure iXplorer is still left running in the bottom right corner of
the taskbar.
Can I configure Secure iXplorer to
do...?
I don't know! But whatever can be configured for putty/pscp can be
configured for Secure iXplorer. This application is only a front
end for pscp, so it relies on putty/pscp/plink for all
communication with the remote host. Make your configuration and
test them with putty, pscp and plink. After that Secure iXplorer
should work fine too.
Can I use DSA/RSA pairs of keys instead
of passwords?
Yes, as of Version 0.16 it is now working fine for RSA keys, but
Putty does not support DSA keys, due to security concerns. You can
either use "Putty Saved Sessions" or "Pageant" to handle the
connection for you.
However, you can not use "Putty Saved Sessions" if you use a
passphrase. Secure Explorer has no built in accomodation for
remembering your passphrase (as there will be a query for your
passphrase during each file being copied). I do not plan to build
this functionality into Secure iXplorer. "Pageant" already handles
this, so please use it for this kind of setup.
Why can I not change permission rights
on remote host?
As of Version 0.16 it is possible to do this in the File View Pane,
but not in the Tree View Pane. A Dialogue Box for the changing of
file permissions recursivly in folders is still outstanding.
