Computer Tips - How can I get a GUI on a headless Linux server?

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.