Client Configuration Parameters

Both the Windows and the Linux version of the ThinLinc client use the same names for their configuration parameters, although the storage technique used is different (text files vs. registry keys). In this section we will list the parameters and explain their possible values.

ALLOW_HOSTKEY_UPDATE

Set to 1 if SSH host key updates should be allowed. This parameter cannot be changed from the GUI. The result of setting ALLOW_HOSTKEY_UPDATE to 0 is that the client cannot connect to the server if the host key is wrong. This enhances security if there is a risk for a man in the middle attack.

AUTHENTICATION_METHOD

This parameter can be set to password, publickey, scpublickey or kerberos to select the authentication mode used by the client.

AUTOLOGIN

If this parameter is set to 1, the client will automatically login at start, using the server name, user name and password specified in the configuration storage.

CERTIFICATE

Specifies the smart card certificate to use when authenticating.

CERTIFICATE_NAMING

Controls how the client presents a certificate to the user. The parameter consists of a comma separated list of naming tokens that represent bits of information from each card or certificate. Possible tokens:

card_label

The label specified on the smart card.

pin_label

The label associated with the PIN protecting this certificate.

subject_*

A field from the subject in the certificate. Can for example be the common name by specifying subject_cn or subject_commonName. Any registered object identifier descriptor can be used (see IANA for a full list).

issuer_*

A field from the issuer in the certificate, in the same manner as for subject_*.

The client will use as many of the tokens as necessary to give each certificate a unique name. That means that certificates on two different cards can be presented with a different number of tokens depending on how much the information between the certificates overlap. An index number will be added to the name if the names are still not unique when all tokens are used.

CUSTOM_COMPRESSION

Set to 1 if a custom compression method is selected.

CUSTOM_COMPRESSION_LEVEL

The selected compression level. An integer between 1 and 9.

DISPLAY_MODE

The display mode. Can be set to values SIMPLE and ADVANCED, or be left empty. In the latter case, the default behaviour is to use simple mode if a server name is given as a parameter and advanced mode otherwise.

EMULATE_MIDDLE_BUTTON

Set to 1 if the client should emulate middle mouse button when pressing left and right mouse buttons simultaneously.

FULL_SCREEN_MODE

Set to 1 if the client should run in full-screen mode.

FULL_SCREEN_MONITOR_MODE

This parameter selects which monitors the client should be used when in full-screen mode and can be set to one of the following:

current

Use the monitor the client window is currently displayed on.

all

Use all available monitors.

selected

Use the monitors specified in FULL_SCREEN_SELECTED_MONITORS.

FULL_SCREEN_SELECTED_MONITORS

This parameter specifies a comma separated list of monitor numbers that should be used in full-screen mode when FULL_SCREEN_MONITOR_MODE is set to selected. Monitors are numbered from left to right, based on their top left corner, starting from one. If two monitors are perfectly aligned vertically then the top-most monitor is considered first.

HOST_ALIASES

This parameter specifies a list of hostname and port translations. This translation list is consulted whenever the client is about to initiate a network connection. This includes the SSH connection to the ThinLinc agent machine. The syntax for this parameter is:

[fromhost][:fromport]=[tohost][:toport] ...

If fromhost is omitted, the translation will apply to all hosts. The same principle is used for ports. If tohost or toport is omitted, the original host or port will be used. Multiple translations are separated with whitespace. The translation stops as soon as one match is found.

JPEG_COMPRESSION

Set to 1 if JPEG compression is wanted.

JPEG_COMPRESSION_LEVEL

The wanted compression level.

KILL_EXISTING_SESSIONS

Set to 1 if existing sessions should be ended.

Note

It makes little sense to change this value. The client never saves this setting.

LOGIN_NAME

The username.

LOWERCASE_LOGIN_NAME

Set to 1 if the client should convert the entered username to lowercase before logging into the server. This affects both the login user name and the name of the user to shadow (if applicable).

NEW_PASSWORD_REGEXP

This parameter specifies a regular expression. If an interactive SSH prompt matches this expression, the response is taken as a new password. The new password will be used for the SSH connection to the agent machine. It will also be sent to the server to enable Single Sign-On.

NFS_EXPORTS

A list of local drive paths and permissions. The syntax for this parameter is:

[path1],[permissions1],[path2],[permissions2] ...

As seen above, each path should be followed by the desired permissions disabled (not exported), ro (read only) or rw (read and write). See Advanced tab for their meaning. This list specifies local drives to be exported.

NFS_ROOT_WARNING

Set to 1 to enable a warning if running as root and exporting local drives.

NFS_SERVER_ENABLED

Set to 1 if local drives should be exported.

OPTIONS_POPUP_KEY

Key code for key to activate option pop-up menu.

PASSWORD

This parameter allows you to specify a password in the configuration file. It must be specified using a hexadecimal ASCII notation, which means that every character is specified by its hexadecimal value.

Warning

The password value is not encrypted. It should be treated as a clear text password. Avoid storing configuration files with a PASSWORD parameter on disk or transmit such files over networks without encryption.

PKCS11_MODULE

Specifies the PKCS#11 module that will be used to communicate with the smart card. The path can be relative the base prefix of the ThinLinc client or an absolute path.

PRINTER_ENABLED

Set to 1 if local printers should be enabled.

PRINTER_SELECTION

Set to 1 if the local printer selection dialog should be displayed on every print on Windows and macOS clients. Otherwise printing jobs will be sent to the default local printer.

PRIVATE_KEY

This parameter specifies the path to the private key to be used to authenticate the user.

RECONNECT_POLICY

This parameter can be set to single-disconnected or ask to control the client’s reconnect policy. See Advanced tab for their meaning.

REMOVE_CONFIGURATION

If 1, the user configuration file (or the file specified by -C) will be removed after the client has started. Settings changed in the GUI will not be stored to disk. If the client fails to remove the file, it will try to truncate it instead.

SEND_SYSKEYS

Set to 1 if the client should send system keys (like Alt+Tab) to the remote system when in full-screen mode.

SERIAL1_DAEMON_DEVICE

The path to the first local serial port device to be exported.

SERIAL1_PORT_ENABLED

Set to 1 if the first local serial port should be exported.

SERIAL2_DAEMON_DEVICE

The path to the second local serial port device to be exported.

SERIAL2_PORT_ENABLED

Set to 1 if the second local serial port should be exported.

SERIAL_PORTS_ENABLED

Set to 1 if local serial ports should be exported.

SERVER_NAME

The hostname or IP of the ThinLinc server. When using ThinLinc in a cluster setup this should be the hostname or IP of the Master server machine.

SHADOWING_ENABLED

Set to 1 if shadowing should be enabled.

SHADOW_NAME

The username of the user who’s session should be shadowed.

SMARTCARD_AUTOCONNECT

Set to 1 if the client should automatically attempt a connection when a smart card with a suitable certificate is found, this will only work if SMARTCARD_SUBJECT_AS_NAME also is set to 1.

SMARTCARD_DISCONNECT

Set to 1 if the client should disconnect automatically when the smart card used for authentication is removed.

SMARTCARD_EXPORT_ENABLED

Set to 1 if local smartcard readers should be exported.

SMARTCARD_FILTER_n

This is a item list of certificate filters replace n with a sequence number that defined the order of the filter in the list.

The filter string consists of three fields where each field is sperated using a | (pipe), the defined three fields are: name, attributes and key usage which are documented below. Here follows an example of a filter string showing its format:

SMARTCARD_FILTER_1=Telia|o=TeliaSonera|5

name

The name of the filter which will be displayed in the list of filters defined in the user interface.

attributes

This field holds a comma separated list of certificate attributes that is used when matching against available certificates, for example O=TeliaSonera.

key usage

This field is a bitmask value used to match against a certificate’s key usage flags. It indicates the intended usage of the certificate, such as identification, signing etc.

Use this to match certificates that is intended to be used for logon. For example, identification certificates will be matched using a value of 5:

digital signature + key encipherment = 5

The values are described in the following table:

1	digital signature
2	non-repudiation
4	key encipherment
8	data enciperment
16	key agreement
32	certificate signing
64	CRL signing
128	enchiper only
256	decipher only

SMARTCARD_PASSPHRASE_SSO

Set to 1 if the client should transmit the smart card passphrase to the ThinLinc server to enable smart card single sign-on. See Security tab for security implications.

SMARTCARD_SUBJECT_AS_NAME

Set to 1 if the certificate subject should be used as logon name, this will hide the name field from login window.

SOUND_ENABLED

Set to 1 if sound redirection should be enabled.

SOUND_SYSTEM

Which local sound system to use. Only used on platforms that have multiple sound systems to choose from. Possible values:

AUTO

Automatically choose the most appropriate sound system of those available.

PULSE

Use the local PulseAudio server as determined by X11 properties or environment variables.

ALSA

Use the default ALSA device.

OSS

Use the default OSS device.

SSH_ARBITRARY

Custom port number for ThinLinc connection.

SSH_COMPRESSION

Set to 1 to use the compression built into SSH.

SSH_PORT_SELECTION

Port selection for ThinLinc connection. Possible values:

• 0 for port 22 (standard ssh port).

• 1 for port 80.

• 2 for custom port set in the SSH_ARBITRARY parameter.

START_PROGRAM_COMMAND

Specifies the command to use when starting the session, if START_PROGRAM_ENABLED is active.

START_PROGRAM_ENABLED

Specifies if the client should request that the server starts the session with the command supplied by the client.

UPDATE_ENABLED

Set to 1 to enable periodic checks for new versions.

UPDATE_INTERVAL

This parameter specifies the time interval, in seconds, between client update checks.

UPDATE_LASTCHECK

This parameter specifies the time that the last update check was performed.

UPDATE_MANDATORY

If set to 1, updating to new client versions is mandatory.

UPDATE_URL

The HTTP URL to client update configuration file.

VNC_AUTOSELECT

Set to 1 to dymanically autoselect the compression algorithm during the session.

VNC_COLOR_LEVEL

The color level used for the session.

VNC_ENCODING_SELECTION

The encoding to use for VNC. Possible values:

• 0 for Raw

• 5 for Hextile

• 7 for Tight

• 16 for ZRLE

YESNO_PROMPT_REGEXP

This parameter specifies a regular expression. If an interactive SSH prompt matches this expression, a graphical yes/no dialog will be presented, instead of a dialog for text input. Additionally, if the prompt is known to the client, an alternate text will be used. The dialog buttons Yes and No will send yes and no to the server, respectively.