Here are my short notes on creating a Linux VPS (virtual private service) which can be remotely accessed via TeamViewer. I prefer TeamViewer over other ways of remotely accessing a desktop, because it works cross-platform and through NAT and firewalls.
The big problem is often that a Linux VPS doesn't have a virtual graphical card. For remote access to the GUI, most VPS providers advise VNC while I prefer TeamViewer.
I've tried a number of Linux distributions on a number of VPS providers. The instructions below fail on VPSes at Scaleway or DigitalOcean, but the combination of Fedora 25 and Linode or Vultr made this all very easy.
First of all, register or log in at Linode or Vultr, and create a VPS. You'll need at least 1 GB of memory.
After it's started, log in via SSH as root and do the following:
# yum -y groupinstall "Fedora Workstation"
Then get the TeamViewer download URL and install the package:
# wget "https://download.teamviewer.com/download/teamviewer.i686.rpm" # yum -y install ./teamviewer.i686.rpm
Next reboot, make sure the GUI starts:
# systemctl set-default graphical.target
If your VPS runs at Vultr, disable Wayland. Edit the file /etc/gdm/custom.conf and remove the comment for the line WaylandEnable=false so GDM uses X.org. Linode already has this correctly set.
Usually you'll also want to add swap space; this adds a gig:
# dd if=/dev/zero of=/swapfile1 bs=1024 count=$1024*1024] # mkswap /swapfile1 # swapon /swapfile1 # chmod 600 /swapfile1
Add following line to /etc/fstab:
/swapfile1 swap swap defaults 0 0
Then, add a user for yourself:
# useradd -m -U mynewusername # passwd mynewusername
Add the new user to the sudoers, and reboot:
# visudo # reboot
If you're on Linode, open remote access via glish, which is Linode's way of giving you graphical access to your VPS, through your browser. Log into the Linode management console, click on the node, then in the tab Remote Access, click the link "Launch Graphical Web Console".
If you're on Vultr, open remote access by navigating to the Instances tab in the management console, then click the three dots at the right of your server and in the menu, click "View Console":
You should see the graphical Linux login screen. In the top left corner, set shell to "Gnome Xorg" (this is important!) and then continue to log into Gnome.
In Gnome, start TeamViewer. Check the three boxes to enable remote access. You'll need to provide TeamViewer username/password, as well as click the link in the email you'll get, to confirm adding this VPS to your TeamViewer device list.
Done!
Note: a current disadvantage is that you're constricted to pretty low resolutions. On Linode, you can't set the resolution to something bigger than 1280x768. On Vultr, the maximum is 1280x1024.