Using Ubuntu GUI on cloud server

Question

I have a Google Compute Engine VM instance running Ubuntu 14.04.

I use command line through SSH so far to interact with the server.

How can I interact with the Ubuntu VM via a graphical interface?

Answer 1

You can connect to the GCE VM instance via VNC, see this Medium article for how to do this.

The overall flow is mostly the same as for any other Linux server:

• install a desktop environment
• install VNC server on the VM
• start the VNC server
• open firewall to allow clients to connect
• connect your local VNC client
• connect to VNC server

See also this SO question for troubleshooting.