First of all: We recommend not running a server with a GUI for the best performance. However, if having a GUI is important to you, you can use our Windows Server.

KVM Server

You can install a GUI on KVM servers as you have guaranteed resources due to full virtualization. Please note that our host systems do not have graphics cards, so you will have to do without hardware acceleration. If possible, we recommend always working through the console.

OpenVZ vServer

It is technically possible to install a GUI on your OpenVZ Linux server. The following steps are required:

  • Install a desktop environment, for example, KDE.
  • Install your own VNC server.
  • Configure the VNC server to run the correct X-server.
  • Connect to your own VNC server using VNC.

However, we advise against installing a GUI. This has a few disadvantages. Because it is a virtualized operating system and our host systems do not have built-in graphics cards, the graphics of the GUI must be computed on the CPU. There is also no hardware acceleration, which can make the GUI slow.

A GUI also consumes a lot more resources. While a vServer without a UI only consumes about 40 MB of memory in idle state, it consumes about 500 MB of memory (idle) with a GUI.

There is usually a better and less resource-intensive way to execute programs. The Linux console may seem daunting at first, but once you familiarize yourself with it, you will realize that the commands are quite easy to understand.

KDE interface as root: Do not imitate.