Configuring Pidgin from Behind a Firewall
I use the open source, instant messaging client Pidgin to connect to multiple IM services at once. From my home computer, I had no problem configuring the program to work with AIM, SMS messaging (my cell phone), MSN Messenger, Google Talk, and Yahoo Messenger. But at work I encountered firewall problems with the last three.
Here’s how I was finally able to connect (listing only the changes from the default). I’m running Pidgin 2.5.2. All the setting changes are on the “Advanced” page of the account setup dialog. Of course, what worked for me might not work for you, but hopefully it will help.
MSN Messenger
I checked “Use HTTP Method” and voilà! With that one small change it connected.
Google Talk
- Check “Force old (port 5223) SSL.
- In the “Connect port” field, enter 443.
- In the “Connect server” field, enter “talk.google.com”
It may not have been necessary to enter talk.google.com explicitly, but it doesn’t hurt and it works now so I don’t want to touch it!
Yahoo Messenger
This one was the big pain - pain to find, that is. The solution is actually very simple. I just had to change the port. The Pidgin support site lists a bunch of ports that are known to work with Yahoo: 20, 23, 25, 80, 119, 5050, 8001, 8002. But not all the ports may work on your computer. Naturally, the one that worked for me was the last one I tried: Port 23. And now - finally - it’s working.
I had some other miscellaneous difficulties. For a while, I couldn’t get Google Talk to recognize that I was online. The solution was to delete the account and recreate it. And for a while my buddy icons weren’t displaying. But after exiting and restarting Pidgin a few times, they now all display.
Hope this helps someone.
santiago:
I got this erros even after trying your advice.. ssl connection failed
what could go wrong ?
it is using gnome proxy settings. and have no option for global proxy settings.
thank you in advance.
December 4, 2008, 11:30 amSheryl Canter:
Every firewall is configured differently. What worked for me might not work for someone else. Which account are you having trouble with?
December 4, 2008, 6:02 pmDavid:
Port 23 worked for my Yahoo accout, but I am having trouble with AIM. It defaults to Port 5190. Any suggestions?
December 5, 2008, 10:48 amSheryl Canter:
I never had a problem with AIM - that worked out of the box for me. Try googling “AIM ports” and see if other ports will work on the AIM end. Then try each of them (as with Yahoo). If you can’t find an AIM port list, I’d try some wild guesses - can’t hurt. The worse that can happen is it won’t work. You could try all the Yahoo ports. Try port 80 - you know the firewall will let that through, and maybe it will work on the AIM end.
December 5, 2008, 11:00 amRanish:
Hi Sherly,
December 24, 2008, 1:05 amI am also facing same problem while connecting to Yahoo via Pidgin behind firewall I tried with ports 20, 23, 25, 80, 119, 5050, 8001, 8002 in pidgin still its not working. Could u please let me know what are the other settings u used in pidgin?
.
But when I installed yahoo, and used the option “Firewall With no proxy” i am able to connect, However its inconvenient to use multiple clients.
.
Ranish
Sheryl Canter:
I don’t think I changed any other settings for Yahoo - just the port. I can’t check because I’m no longer at that job behind a corporate firewall.
But even so, it might not help. No two corporate firewalls are exactly the same. What worked for me might not work for you.
December 24, 2008, 1:17 amParas:
I am trying to configure pidgin for XMPP
I have done following settings for this…..
protocol:XMPP
username: paras.shah
Domain: companyname.com
Resource:home
in advance settings-
I have checkd only Force old only5223 then
connect port:5223
connect server:talk.google.com
filetransfer proxies:proxy.jabber.org
and have used Gnome proxy settings in pidgin 2.5.2
but still I have this problem-
Not authorized
can you solve this……
December 30, 2008, 1:33 amParas:
changing some options I got this error
December 30, 2008, 1:37 am“SSL handshake failed”
Sheryl Canter:
Sorry, as I’ve said to several other people, I couldn’t if I wanted to. I don’t have your setup. I just described what worked for me.
December 30, 2008, 1:43 amParas:
in the debug window the error is
(12:32:33) certificate: Successfully verified certificate for talk.google.com
(12:32:33) jabber: XML parser error for JabberStream 0×9678c00: Domain 1, code 5, level 3: Extra content at the end of the document
(12:32:33) jabber: Sending (ssl):
December 30, 2008, 2:05 amParas:
sorry ….i did not see your comment….
December 30, 2008, 2:06 am