Ruing Ubuntu Windows Screen remotely via ssh

I am able to ssh into my home computer remotely (A windows machine ruing cygwin X-Server). I am also able to run many GUIs (Spyder for Python, Nautilus, gedit, etc). What I am unable to figure out is how to create the Ubuntu desktop GUI so that I can load programs using icons instead of having to use the terminal.

After reading through MANY threads, I still have not come across a solution that worked. I've ran updates, upgrades, and sudo apt-get ubuntu-desktop. According to many suggestions, I should be able to just type startx in my xterm and the desktop GUI should appear. It does not. Some say that I should switch to gdm and then type gnome-session. That did not work. (although gnome-panel did) Some said that it had to do with my Nvidia card, so I purged that and am now using a generic driver. It still does not work. I tried using lightdm without success.

What am I missing? I'm using version 14.04

Thanks,
Adrian