loc2log

Installing GUI on CentOS 7 and maybe CentOS 8 running on VMWare Player or Virtual Box

1. Download full ISO of your OS
2. Mount the ISO to your VM
3. Increase video memory to 128 MB, you may also increase CPU quota to 4 and RAM size to 16MB as well
4. Start-up your VM as-is
5. Mount the CD to your Linux file system where you expects a local repo:
   mount -r -t iso9660 /dev/sr0 /media/cdrom
6. Install GUI X Window system
   sudo yum groupinstall "X Window System"
7. Install the GUI "shell":
   a. Gnome (appeared somewhat unstable)
   sudo yum install gnome-classic-session gnome-terminal nautilus-open-terminal control-center liberation-mono-fonts
   
   b. Install Xfce (appeared to be more stable than gnome to me):
   sudo yum groupinstall "Xfce" -y
   If Xfce group is not available, then install epel-release repo
   sudo yum install epel-release -y
   and re-try the step
8. Make the GUI available at startup
   unlink /etc/systemd/system/default.target
   ln -sf /lib/systemd/system/graphical.target /etc/systemd/system/default.target
9. Restart the system
10. In gdm screen select your GUI "shell" of choice

References:

1. https://owlhowto.com/how-to-install-xfce-on-centos-7/