want to get a free cloud based vm not fully but yes..kind of vm.

Colab desktop running in the browser

Google Colab might help !

first of all google colab is a free, cloud-based Jupyter Notebook environment that allows users to write and execute Python code in a browser.

but there is some more juicy stuffs you can do it here !

we can make it a full featured vm

Features

  • XFCE Desktop Environment
  • noVNC Browser Access
  • SSH Access ( Using Tailscale or https://pinggy.io )
  • Cloudflare Tunnel for Access the vm on browser
  • Browser Support ( use falkon , google-chrome)
  • GPU Access
  • Linux Terminal
  • Package Installation
  • Temporary VPS-like Environment

What You Can Do

  • browse internet
  • run linux apps
  • install tools
  • access terminal remotely
  • host temporary services to play with it
  • run GUI applications
  • use it as a lightweight cloud desktop
  • practice cybersec stuffs
  • view any temp file that you think may be infected.

running chrome

full root

chrome

ssh

Limitations

  • session expires
  • files are temporary
  • idle disconnects
  • not a real persistent VPS
  • limited resources

but here is some trick :

you CAN make the environment semi-persistent using Google Drive + auto-restore scripts.

Using Google Drive mount:

from google.colab import drive
drive.mount('/content/drive')

you can persist:

scripts browser profiles VSCode settings projects downloaded files SSH configs VNC configs package lists etc sounds great right ? you can find more tips and trick by googling but here is some refs : https://gist.github.com/hiraksarkar/2af99db628c2528cc5362c21da9985cc

https://medium.com/@robertbracco1/configuring-google-colab-like-a-pro-d61c253f7573

Setup Stack

before running any script first mount the drive

from google.colab import drive
drive.mount('/content/drive')

then run the bash script open the attached terminal on colab then just install nano apt install -y nano and paste the script or use

cat > persistent_colab_vm.sh << 'EOF'

# paste script here

EOF

#!/bin/bash

set -e

USERNAME="colab"
PASSWORD="colab123"
VNC_PASSWORD="123456"

PERSIST_BASE="/content/drive/MyDrive/colab-vm"

if [ ! -d "/content/drive/MyDrive" ]; then
    echo
    echo "[!] Google Drive is not mounted."
    echo
    echo "Run this FIRST inside Colab:"
    echo
    echo "from google.colab import drive"
    echo "drive.mount('/content/drive')"
    echo
    exit 1
fi

export USER=root
export HOME=/root
export DISPLAY=:1
export XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=/tmp/runtime-root

mkdir -p $XDG_RUNTIME_DIR
chmod 700 $XDG_RUNTIME_DIR

mkdir -p $PERSIST_BASE
mkdir -p $PERSIST_BASE/chrome-profile
mkdir -p $PERSIST_BASE/workspace
mkdir -p $PERSIST_BASE/vnc
mkdir -p $PERSIST_BASE/scripts

echo "[*] Updating packages..."

apt update -y

echo "[*] Installing packages..."

apt install -y \
xfce4 \
xfce4-goodies \
tightvncserver \
novnc \
websockify \
wget \
curl \
sudo \
dbus-x11 \
falkon

echo "[*] Creating user..."

id -u $USERNAME &>/dev/null || useradd -m -s /bin/bash $USERNAME

echo "$USERNAME:$PASSWORD" | chpasswd

usermod -aG sudo $USERNAME

mkdir -p /home/$USERNAME/.vnc

cat > /home/$USERNAME/.vnc/xstartup << 'EOL'
#!/bin/bash

xrdb $HOME/.Xresources

export XKL_XMODMAP_DISABLE=1

unset SESSION_MANAGER
unset DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS

startxfce4 &
EOL

chmod +x /home/$USERNAME/.vnc/xstartup

echo "$VNC_PASSWORD" | vncpasswd -f > /home/$USERNAME/.vnc/passwd

chmod 600 /home/$USERNAME/.vnc/passwd

chown -R $USERNAME:$USERNAME /home/$USERNAME/.vnc

echo "[*] Restoring browser profile..."

mkdir -p /home/$USERNAME/.config/google-chrome

if [ -d "$PERSIST_BASE/chrome-profile/Default" ]; then
    cp -r $PERSIST_BASE/chrome-profile/* \
    /home/$USERNAME/.config/google-chrome/ || true
fi

chown -R $USERNAME:$USERNAME /home/$USERNAME/.config

echo "[*] Cleaning old sessions..."

pkill Xtightvnc 2>/dev/null || true
pkill websockify 2>/dev/null || true
pkill cloudflared 2>/dev/null || true

rm -rf /tmp/.X1-lock
rm -rf /tmp/.X11-unix/X1

echo "[*] Starting VNC..."

su - $USERNAME -c "
export USER=$USERNAME
export HOME=/home/$USERNAME
vncserver :1 -geometry 1366x768 -depth 24
"

if ! command -v google-chrome &>/dev/null; then

    echo "[*] Installing Chrome..."

    wget -q https://dl.google.com/linux/direct/google-chrome-stable_current_amd64.deb

    apt install -y ./google-chrome-stable_current_amd64.deb || true
fi

if [ ! -f "./cloudflared" ]; then

    echo "[*] Downloading cloudflared..."

    wget -q \
    https://github.com/cloudflare/cloudflared/releases/latest/download/cloudflared-linux-amd64 \
    -O cloudflared

    chmod +x cloudflared
fi

echo "[*] Starting noVNC..."

websockify \
--web=/usr/share/novnc/ \
0.0.0.0:6080 \
localhost:5901 &

cat > $PERSIST_BASE/scripts/save_profile.sh << 'EOL'
#!/bin/bash

cp -r /home/colab/.config/google-chrome/* \
/content/drive/MyDrive/colab-vm/chrome-profile/ || true
EOL

chmod +x $PERSIST_BASE/scripts/save_profile.sh

echo
echo "========================================"
echo
echo "[+] Persistent Colab VM Ready"
echo
echo "User: $USERNAME"
echo "Password: $PASSWORD"
echo
echo "VNC Password: $VNC_PASSWORD"
echo
echo "Workspace:"
echo "$PERSIST_BASE/workspace"
echo
echo "Saving browser profile:"
echo
echo "bash $PERSIST_BASE/scripts/save_profile.sh"
echo
echo "========================================"
echo

./cloudflared tunnel --url http://0.0.0.0:6080

Make Executable

chmod +x persistent_colab_vm.sh

and then run

./persistent_colab_vm.sh

Open noVNC

After setup completes:

https://random.trycloudflare.com/vnc.html

Use:

Setting Value
Host localhost
Port 5901
Password 123456

Save Browser Session

Before runtime ends:

bash /content/drive/MyDrive/colab-vm/scripts/save_profile.sh

and enjoy your cloud desktop :) thanks for reading btw.