Date: 2015oct24 Update: 2016sep8 OS: Windows Keywords: VNC, TeamViewer, X Q. Linux: How can I get a GUI on a headless Linux server? A. On your Windows computer: Install cygwin with packages

xorg-server xinit ssh

Start the cygwin shell Modify /etc/X11/system.Xwinrc so it has:

menu apps { xterm exec xterm ... }

menu root { "Applications" menu apps ... }

From the cygwin shell run:

xwin

Then right click on the X11 icon on your tray and run xterm In xterm:

ssh -Y <userid>@<linux-server>

Then you can try starting an entire session:

mate-session &

If that doesn't work you can run individual GUI applications - eg:

nautilus & firefox & gnome-disks & system-config-networking &

I much prefer the GUI of gnome-disks over non-GUI gdisk.