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 wa

Answer 1

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 ] && exec /etc/vnc/xstartup
[ -r $HOME/.Xresources ] && xrdb $HOME/.Xresources
xsetroot -solid grey
vncconfig -iconic &

gnome-panel &
gnome-settings-daemon &
metacity &
nautilus &
gnome-terminal &

Everything else is the same.

Tested on EC2 Ubuntu 14.04 LTS.