XRDP

One of your options, if you want to use the Graphical Desktop for your Ubuntu16 VM, is XRDP. If you run XRDP on Ubuntu16, you can then use any RDP client on your local computer to connect.

Read more about how to set up an RDP client on your local computer.

To install and run XRDP on your Linux VM you can either configure the vcm account -or- the account that you log into with your netid to run XRDP

1. SSH to your VM as either the vcm user or with your netid:
   ssh vcm@vcm-xx.vm.duke.edu
   -or-
   ssh your-netid-here@vcm-xx.vm.duke.edu
   
2. Get an updated package list:
   sudo apt-get update
   
3. Install the xrdp package:
   sudo apt-get install xrdp
   
4. Install a desktop client:
   sudo apt-get install mate-core mate-desktop-environment mate-notification-daemon
   
5. Tell your system to use this desktop:
   sudo sed -i.bak '/fi/a #xrdp multiple users configuration \n mate-session \n' /etc/xrdp/startwm.sh

Now on your local machine, use your RDP client to access your VM.