Question

Is it possible to launch X applications like chrome on linux vps. I need this for testing purposes

I am using ubuntu 14.04 x64. It doesn’t matter that the X-application is slow or fast.

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Marko Mudrinić • October 17, 2016
Accepted Answer

Yes, this is possible. You have two ways to do it.

One would be using VNC. DigitalOcean have great tutorial on Setting up VNC.

Alternative to VNC would be X11 forwarding. It’ll allow you to forward X session via SSH. To use it you must be sure you have enabled X11 forwarding on both sides and xauth installed. If you are using Windows, you can also enable X11 Forwarding under Putty settings.

To enable it server side, open /etc/ssh/sshd_config with text editor, find X11Forwarding line, uncomment it if it is commented (by removing # in front of it) and set it to yes. If you are using Linux or OS X on client, you will want to ssh with:

  1. ssh -X user@ip

Now run any X app and you will see GUI :)

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