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Connection refused for rexec or rsh sessions

A connection refused error message when attempting to start an rexec or rsh session means that the remote system that you are contacting is either not running rexec or rsh, or it is not listening for rexec or rsh connections on the interface that you are attempting to connect from. This problem is not isolated to X-Win32 and would occur with any rexec or rsh client that attempts to connect to this particular remote Unix, Linux, or BSD (e.g. Red Hat, SuSE, Debian, Ubuntu, HP-UX, AIX, Solaris, or FreeBSD) machine. Follow the steps below to diagnose this connection problem.


NOTE: Connection refused means that the remote host is actively notifying your local computer that the connection attempt was refused; this rules out firewalls as a problem, since a firewall will cause the rexec or rsh connection attempt to timeout in one to two minutes instead of returning this immediate connection refused error. Thus, you do not need to change your

Troubleshooting Steps

  1. Consider using a StarNetSSH session instead of rexec or rsh, as SSH is typically enabled by default on most Unix, Linux, and BSD systems and is much more secure than these older protocols
  1. The rexec or rsh service may be disabled, or enabled only for the loopback address and not for external network interfaces. On most Unix systems, services are enabled via a line in the file /etc/inetd.conf. On modern Unix or Linux systems, inetd has been replaced with xinetd; xinetd settings are stored in separate files in the /etc/xinetd.d/ directory. These files can be modified to enable these services, or to allow them to accept connections from external network interfaces.

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