How To Develop on a Linux Desktop With an Easy-To-Use VM

If you develop for the Linux desktop, you know how important it is to not only have the right environment to work with but also one that can be easily recreated and managed.

There are all sorts of tools for that, such as VirtualBox and VMware. But there’s a command line virtual machine manager that’s far more efficient to use than either of those systems. That tool is called Multipass.

Multipass uses KVM on Linux, Hyper-V on Windows and HyperKit on MacOS (yes, you can install Multipass on those other OSes as well). Multipass supports metadata for cloud-init, so you can even simulate a cloud environment from your desktop.

For many, Multipass is a great way to quickly spin up a Linux virtual machine and develop from the command line for servers. But if you’re a desktop developer, what do you do?

You add a full desktop environment into the mix.

Let me show you how it’s done.

What You’ll Need?

To make this work, you’ll need an OS that supports Multipass. I’ll show you how to install Multipass on Linux, macOS and Windows. It doesn’t matter which OS you use since working with Multipass is the same on each.

Installing Multipass on Linux

To install Multipass on Linux, you’ll need a distribution that supports Snap. If you don’t already have Snap installed, it can be done with a command like:

sudo apt-get install snapd -y

If you’re using a Fedora-based distribution, the command is:

sudo dnf install snapd -y

If you use an Arch-based distribution, the process requires an AUR helper, which can be installed like so:

git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/yay.git
cd yay
makepkg -si

Install Snapd with:

yay -Sy snapd

Start and enable the service with the command:

sudo systemctl enable –now snapd.socket

Installing Multipass on macOS

If you’re using macOS, the installation requires Homebrew, which can be installed with:

/bin/bash -c “$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)”

Once Homebrew is installed, add Multipass with:

brew install –cask multipass

Installing Multipass on Windows

Installing Multipass on Windows requires that you download the proper installer from the Multipass website. Once you’ve downloaded the installer, run it and walk through the wizard.

Launch Your First Multipass VM

Next, we’re going to launch a new virtual machine with Multipass. First, find the version of Ubuntu you want to use with:

multipass find

The above command will list all the available releases, of which we’ll use version 24.04 LTS. To launch the virtual machine, issue the command:

multipass launch 24.04

One the VM is launched, verify it with:

multipass list

Access the VM

With the VM running, access its shell with:

multipass shell NAME

Where NAME is the randomly generated name for the VM. You will immediately be taken to the bash prompt of the running VM.

Installing the Desktop

The VM will be text-based only, so we need to install the desktop. Before we can do that, update apt with:

sudo apt-get update

Next, we’ll install the Cinnamon desktop and an RDP client (hint, hint) with the command:

sudo apt-get install cinnamon xrdp xorgxrdp -y

The installation of the desktop will take anywhere from two to 10 minutes (depending on the power of your hosting machine).

Add a New User

With the desktop installed, you’ll want to add a new user (so you can access the desktop via RDP). To do that, issue the command:

sudo adduser USER

Where USER is the name of the user.

Give that new user sudo privileges by adding them to the sudo group with:

sudo usermod -aG sudo USER

Where USER is the name of the new user.

You’re all set and ready to access the desktop.

Note: If you run into an issue where there’s not enough disk space, you’ll need to stop the VM with:

multipass stop NAME

Where NAME is the name of the virtual machine.

Resize the disk with:

multipass set local.NAME.disk=SIZE

Where NAME is the name of the VM and SIZE is the desired size (in GB).

For example:

multipass set local.worthwhile-cusk.disk=32G

Accessing the Virtual Machine’s Desktop

Before you attempt to access the desktop, you need to find the VM’s IP address, which can be done with the command:

ip a

The IP address will be in the form of 10.235.112.241

Now that you’ve done that, make sure to reconfigure the Xsession-manager with the command:

sudo update-alternatives –config x-session-manager

Make sure to select the option for the Cinnamon desktop.

Once you know the IP address, you’ll need to open an RDP client, such as Remmina. Point that client to the IP address of the virtual machine and then, when prompted, log in.

The screen will be fairly small (Figure 1), but you should still be able to work with it.

Figure 1

You can now start developing for the Linux desktop environment. Granted, you are limited to Ubuntu, but given the popularity of that desktop, that should give you a good start.