Debian VM - Access/invoke GUI from CLI screen and access via RDP/WinSCP

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Saumya Saumya

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Dec 26, 2021, 12:36:30 PM12/26/21

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Hello All,

I have a Debian instance on which i want to invoke/acess the GUI version from CLI.

I am not an expert on Linux and all it's magic.

My purpose is to be able to access this instance like Windows (via it's GUI) and be able to downdload some softwares through browsers (firefox, chrome)

** I have installed Apach2 and can access http://{public-ip}

** i have installed firefox, but it says - Error: no DISPLAY environment variable specified

Kevin Babiuk

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Dec 27, 2021, 10:37:20 AM12/27/21

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Hello Saumya,

I hope your having a wonderful day.

From my understanding, you can use this documentation you access the GUI version of a Debian instance [1]. Additionally, these two documentations [2] [3], should be able to explain to you why your experiencing an error when trying to use the GUI version of Debian on Firefox.

Furthermore, if the solution doesn't work, you could try following these instructions which could potentially fix your issue [4]:

1: Login to your server via this command: "ssh -X root@yourIP"

2: Edit /etc/ssh/sshd_config file and add this line to it: "X11UseLocalHost no"

3: Restart sshd for Debian with this command: "/etc/init.d/sshd restart"

4: Check your DISPLAY by running this command: "echo $DISPLAY", once done you should see this "yourIP:10.0

5: Now it should work so check to confirm

Best Regards,

Kevin

Google Cloud Platform Support, Montreal

[1] Debian GUI:

https://cloud.google.com/architecture/chrome-desktop-remote-on-compute-engine

[2] Firefox GUI: