Date: 2015oct24
Updated: 2016sep8
OS: Windows
Keywords: VNC, TeamViewer, X
Q. 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.