How to set up GUI and graphical environment on VMs running Linux

You can forward a GUI of an application running within an Xorg session on your VM, to your local computer. There are numerous articles online on how to do this. For Microsoft Windows®, you can use the Xming server:

1. Install any desktop environment (e.g., KDE, Gnome, XFCE, LXQT, Cinnamon, etc.) on your VM. You can just install the metapackage of the desktop environment you need. All required dependencies, including Xorg, will be installed automatically.
2. Set up Xorg forwarding in your SSH client and connect to the VM.
3. Start the graphical application from within the SSH session.
4. The GUI of the application you need will be rendered in a separate window.

You can use Terraform to create a VM with the pre-installed graphical environment. You can use the basic Terraform scenario from this article to write your own configuration.

1. Install Docker.

2. Run a ready-made lightweight Ubuntu image with the pre-installed LXDE graphical environment and x11vnc VNC server:

   docker run -p 127.0.0.1:6080:80 -e HTTP_PASSWORD=<your_password> -v /dev/shm:/dev/shm dorowu/ubuntu-desktop-lxde-vnc
   

3. After running a container, forward port 6080 to your VM.

4. Open http://<address>:6080 in your browser and sign in using the root login and your password. Use the left-hand menu for clipboard and pressing additional keys (Ctrl, Alt, Win, and Tab).

5. Install and run the graphical application.