on linux

Editing files in Ubuntu thru WinSCP

I wasn’t born to edit configuration files using CLI. Although nano usually saves the day, I still love the syntax highlighting of notepad++. Maybe this is because I grew of working on Windows.

But how do you edit config files in a remote Ubuntu server from my Windows desktop? I know I’ve tried that before but it usually involves using a root account to work around the permission issues. Fortunately I came across this post.

Just to make sure I had it recorded, these are the steps I did:

  1. SSHed to 192.168.x.x
  2. Edited the sudoer file: sudo nano /etc/sudoers

  3. Added the following at the end of the file:

     ###added by ghelo 03 nov 2014
 systems1 ALL=NOPASSWD: /usr/lib/openssh/sftp-server
  4. Launched WinSCP in the remote client
  5. Entered login credentials as we normally would
  6. In the advanced button, clicked SFTP and entered sudo /usr/lib/openssh/sftp-server in the Protocol options > SFTP server
  7. Click Login
  8. Done

After doing the steps above, I can now edit the remote server files using Notepad++ sans permission problem.

Happiness!!!