Launching a Linux Ubuntu Desktop instance on AWS Cloud

Connecting via VNC to the graphical interface

There are many reasons why you may need a Linux with an graphical interface, some examples:

  • Developers that need a cloud developer desktop.
  • SysAdmins that need an instance in the cloud to open web tools.
  • Users that just prefer to work with a Linux as their main desktop environment.
  • Users of applications that requires graphical interface

Also, there are reasons to keep your desktop environment on the cloud:

  • Cost effectiveness
  • Speed
  • Flexibility
  • Security

The steps below will help you easily set up a Cloud Desktop based on Linux Ubuntu.

Important: For a better experience with lower latency, select the region closest to you, you can find the closest region in this link: https://clients.amazonworkspaces.com/Health.html

  • Review all the details in the Marketplace page, including costs, and choose your Instance Type. A t3.medium is a good starting point, you can change that later.

  • Follow the next steps on the screen to launch the instance.

  • While the instance is spinning up, install a VNC Viewer client

  • Once the instance status is passing 2/2, copy the Public IP

  • In the VNC Viewer client, select that IP and append the port number, which is 5901 for VNC.

  • VNC will request a password, for this image the password is the first 8 characters of the Instance Id after the dash (Ex: for the instance id i-1234567890abcdef0 , the password would be 12345678)