How To Set Up GUI On Amazon EC2 Ubuntu server

Question

I m using an amazon Ubuntu EC2 instance which is only has a command line interface  I want to setup UI for that server to access using remote desktop tools  Is there any way to apply GUI to the EC2 instance

User · Answer

For LXDE Lubuntu    1  connect to your instance  local forwarding port 5901   ssh -L 5901 localhost 5901 -i  xxx pem  ubuntu xxx amazonaws com  2  Install packages  sudo apt update  amp  amp  sudo apt upgrade sudo apt-get install xorg lxde vnc4server lubuntu-desktop  3  Create  etc lightdm lightdm conf  sudo nano  etc lightdm lightdm conf  4  Copy and paste the following into the lightdm conf and save   SeatDefaults   allow-guest false  user-session LXDE   user-session Lubuntu  5  setup vncserver  you will be asked to create a password for the vncserver   vncserver sudo echo  lxpanel  amp   usr bin lxsession -s LXDE  amp          vnc xstartup   6  Restart your instance and reconnect  sudo reboot ssh -L 5901 localhost 5901 -i  xxx pem  ubuntu xxx amazonaws com  7  Start vncserver  vncserver -geometry 1280x800  8  In your Remote Desktop Client  e g  Remmina  set Server to localhost 5901 and protocol to VNC

User · Answer

For Ubuntu 16 04  1  Install packages    sudo apt update sudo apt install --no-install-recommends ubuntu-desktop   sudo apt install gnome-panel gnome-settings-daemon metacity nautilus gnome-terminal vnc4server   2  Edit  usr bin vncserver file and modify as below  Find this line     exec  etc X11 xinit xinitrc n n     And add these lines below    gnome-session  amp  n    gnome-panel  amp  n    gnome-settings-daemon  amp  n    metacity  amp  n    nautilus  amp  n    gnome-terminal  amp  n     3  Create VNC password and vnc session for the user using  vncserver  command   lonely ubuntu    vncserver You will require a password to access your desktops  Password  Verify  xauth  file  home lonely  Xauthority does not exist New  ubuntu 1  lonely   desktop is ubuntu 1 Creating default startup script  home lonely  vnc xstartup Starting applications specified in  home lonely  vnc xstartup Log file is  home lonely  vnc ubuntu 1 log   Now you can access GUI using IP Domain and port 1  stackoverflow com 1  Tested on AWS and digital ocean    For AWS  you have to allow port 5901 on firewall  To kill session    vncserver -kill  1   Refer   https   linode com docs applications remote-desktop install-vnc-on-ubuntu-16-04   Refer this guide to create permanent sessions as service   http   www krizna com ubuntu enable-remote-desktop-ubuntu-16-04-vnc

User · Answer

So I follow first answer  but my vnc viewer gives me grey screen when I connect to it  And I found this Ask Ubuntu link to solve that   The only difference with previous answer is you need to install these extra packages   apt-get install gnome-panel gnome-settings-daemon metacity nautilus gnome-terminal   And use this    vnc xstartup file      bin sh  export XKL XMODMAP DISABLE 1 unset SESSION MANAGER unset DBUS SESSION BUS ADDRESS    -x  etc vnc xstartup    amp  amp  exec  etc vnc xstartup   -r  HOME  Xresources    amp  amp  xrdb  HOME  Xresources xsetroot -solid grey vncconfig -iconic  amp   gnome-panel  amp  gnome-settings-daemon  amp  metacity  amp  nautilus  amp  gnome-terminal  amp    Everything else is the same   Tested on EC2 Ubuntu 14 04 LTS

User · Answer

This can be done  Following are the steps to setup the GUI  Create new user with password login  sudo useradd -m awsgui sudo passwd awsgui sudo usermod -aG admin awsgui  sudo vim  etc ssh sshd config   edit line  PasswordAuthentication  to yes  sudo  etc init d ssh restart   Setting up ui based ubuntu machine on AWS   In security group open port 5901  Then ssh to the server instance  Run following commands to install ui and vnc server   sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get install ubuntu-desktop sudo apt-get install vnc4server   Then run following commands and enter the login password for vnc connection   su - awsgui  vncserver  vncserver -kill  1  vim  home awsgui  vnc xstartup   Then hit the Insert key  scroll around the text file with the keyboard arrows  and delete the pound     sign from the beginning of the two lines under the line that says   Uncomment the following two lines for normal desktop   And on the second line add  sh  so the line reads   exec sh  etc X11 xinit xinitrc     When you re done  hit Ctrl   C on the keyboard  type  wq and hit Enter   Then start vnc server again   vncserver   You can download xtightvncviewer to view desktop for Ubutnu  from here https   help ubuntu com community VNC Clients  In the vnc client  give public DNS plus   1   e g  www example com 1   Enter the vnc login password  Make sure to use a normal connection  Don t use the key files   Additional guide available here  http   www serverwatch com server-tutorials setting-up-vnc-on-ubuntu-in-the-amazon-ec2-Page-3 html  Mac VNC client can be downloaded from here  https   www realvnc com en connect download viewer   Port opening on console     sudo iptables -A INPUT -p tcp --dport 5901 -j ACCEPT   If the grey window issue comes  Mostly because of   vnc xstartup  file on different user  So run the vnc server also on same user instead of  awsgui  user      vncserver

User · Answer

1  Launch Ubuntu Instance on EC2  2  Open SSH Port in instance security  3  Do SSH to instance  4  Execute   sudo apt-get update    sudo apt-get upgrade   5  Because you will be connecting from Windows Remote Desktop  edit the sshd config file on your Linux instance to allow password authentication   sudo vim  etc ssh sshd config   6  Change PasswordAuthentication to yes from no  then save and exit  7  Restart the SSH daemon to make this change take effect   sudo  etc init d ssh restart   8  Temporarily gain root privileges and change the password for the ubuntu user to a complex password to enhance security  Press the Enter key after typing the command passwd ubuntu  and you will be prompted to enter the new password twice   sudo    i passwd ubuntu   9  Switch back to the ubuntu user account and cd to the ubuntu home directory   su ubuntu cd   10  Install Ubuntu desktop functionality on your Linux instance  the last command can take up to 15 minutes to complete   export DEBIAN FRONTEND noninteractive sudo -E apt-get update sudo -E apt-get install -y ubuntu-desktop   11  Install xrdp  sudo apt-get install xfce4 sudo apt-get install xfce4 xfce4-goodies   12  Make xfce4 the default window manager for RDP connections   echo xfce4-session  gt     xsession   13  Copy  xsession to the  etc skel folder so that xfce4 is set as the default window manager for any new user accounts that are created   sudo cp  home ubuntu  xsession  etc skel   14  Open the xrdp ini file to allow changing of the host port you will connect to   sudo vim  etc xrdp xrdp ini    xrdp is not installed till now  First Install the xrdp with sudo apt-get install xrdp then edit the above mentioned file   15  Look for the section  xrdp1  and change the following text  then save and exit   wq     port -1 - to - port ask-1   16  Restart xrdp   sudo service xrdp restart   17  On Windows  open the Remote Desktop Connection client  paste the fully qualified name of your Amazon EC2 instance for the Computer  and then click Connect   18  When prompted to Login to xrdp  ensure that the sesman-Xvnc module is selected  and enter the username ubuntu with the new password that you created in step 8  When you start a session  the port number is -1   19  When the system connects  several status messages are displayed on the Connection Log screen  Pay close attention to these status messages and make note of the VNC port number displayed  If you want to return to a session later  specify this number in the port field of the xrdp login dialog box   See more details  https   aws amazon com premiumsupport knowledge-center connect-to-linux-desktop-from-windows   http   c-nergy be blog  p 5305

[ubuntu] How To Set Up GUI On Amazon EC2 Ubuntu server

For LXDE/Lubuntu

1. connect to your instance (local forwarding port 5901)

2. Install packages

3. Create /etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf

4. Copy and paste the following into the lightdm.conf and save

5. setup vncserver (you will be asked to create a password for the vncserver)

6. Restart your instance and reconnect

7. Start vncserver

8. In your Remote Desktop Client (e.g. Remmina) set Server to localhost:5901 and protocol to VNC

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