Virtual Computer Lab

For VCL support, please email vcl-support@umd.edu.

New Offering (9/2/2020) Connections to lab desktops are now available via the VCL

Getting Started

We recommend updating your installation of Workspace App before every semester for the latest peformance enhancements, security updates and bug fixes. If you are sill running Citrix Receiver (replaced by Workspace App), please upgrade now!

Download and install the Citrix client for your platform:

• Windows - Choose the Download button for "Citrix Workspace App".
  When prompted, enter https://virtlab.eng.umd.edu as the web server and at the login dialog enter your UM directory ID and UM directory password.
     
  Once you set up Workspace App, you can access VCL applications from the Workspace App, or directly from the website, https://virtlab.eng.umd.edu
• Mac
• Linux -Linux installation requires an extra step to set up the drives. See Mapping Client Drives also can use Preferences or Accessing your PC Drive and Local Printer from the Citrix Session" about 3/4 down on the Citrix ICA Client How To page.
• Mobile- The server is https://virtlab.eng.umd.edu, and when logging in, the domain is AD.UMD.EDU.
  iPad
  Android

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Login

After installing the client, for applications go to Login page and enter your Directory ID and your directory password.

9/2/2020 Desktop option We have made some lab desktops available for remote connection, you may access them here You still need to have the Citrix Workspace App installed. When finished, please click the Ctrl+Alt+Del button at the top and sign out.

Run Application

After logging in, click on an application to run the program. When prompted, choose "Permit all access" to allow the VCL to access your machine for opening and saving files. Check the "Do not ask me again for this site" box to not be asked every time you use the VCL from your computer.

Saving Files

Saving to your personal computer:

• Save in either \\Client\C$ or V:(location will vary depending on the application you’re using). You cannot save to the C: drive, because it is hosted on the application server. On Windows, \\Client\C$ or V: is the root directory of your client computer. On a Mac, \\Client\C$ or V: is your Mac Home folder.
  
• Windows users can save files to either the Documents or the Desktop folders on the VCL, as they correspond to the folders on your local machine. Before saving, you should verify that files in Documents or Desktop are indeed pointing to your local system; if not, they will be lost when your session ends.

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Saving to VCL Server User Folder (U):

A new option to save to a user folder on a VCL server share. Your folder will be mapped as the (U:) drive.

• 100MB 250MB (10/19/2014) 2 GB (as of 7/27/2015) storage per user, saved files available to you in future sessions
• Available via Secure FTP, such as WinSCP on Windows or Fetch on a Mac, hostname: vclfs.eng.umd.edu Use SFTP setting or specify port 22
• May have better performance with applications that use a lot of disk I/O
• Alternative if you are having an issue saving locally, or some applications which have issues saving locally such as Cadence

  Watch our video on saving to your server folder (U:) and using WinSCP to download files from that location.

TERPDrives/Kumo Cloud Storage

This is an active service, and no longer a limited pilot. If you participated in the pilot, you do need to authorize any cloud services again.

This service will map a Windows drive in your VCL or computer lab session to any cloud storage spaces you authorize (*Box, GoogleDrive, DropBox, SkyDrive). You control what cloud storage services to connect to, if any. To do so, go to kumo.umd.edu and authorize which cloud services you would like to use when using the VCL and computer labs. Then, when launching applications in the VCL, those drives will be mapped as in the image below.

Thanks to DivIT for offering this service.

*To activate your free UMD Box account, up to 50GB of storage, information is here, UMD Box Service

Saving to USB & External Hard Drives:

On many applications, you will be able to save to other drives on your client machine, such as a USB device or additional hard drive.

Saving to your iPad:

To save files onto your iPad, you will need to turn on Shared Documents.

• From the iPad Citrix Workspace App click the Gear icon in the upper right, choose Advanced, and then turn on Shared Documents.
  
• Relaunch your session
• Save locally via the \\Client\C$(V:) just as you would do from a typical VCL session from a PC or Mac.

Note: Files saved from the VCL are not accessible from other iPad apps.

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Logging Out

Windows

In most cases, exiting an application will close your session; however, closing some applications (such as ProE, Cadence, and Gambit) don’t always fully your session properly. If you are having trouble running an application you recently closed, your session may not have fully terminated.

To fully end your session:

1. Right-click on the Citrix icon in the icon tray in lower right-hand corner of the screen.
2. Select Online Sessions.
3. Choose Connection Center.
   
4. Highlight the server, then Log Off.
   

Mac

1. Right click on the Citrix Viewer icon in the Dock and choose Quit.
   
2. Choose Log Off.
   

Browsers

Chrome

Some Chrome users report that when they try to launch an application nothing happens. You may apply the following workaround:

1. Go to chrome://plugins, disable the Citrix ICA Client
2. Launch an app, you should get an .ica file at the bottom in the download bar
3. Click on the arrow next to the file name, and choose “Always Open Files of this Type”
4. Close the download bar, launch the app again, it should start the app and you shouldn’t need to do this again

Internet Explorer 9

You may need to add https://virtlab.eng.umd.edu to your trusted sites list. To do so from the VCL applications page:

1. Click the gear icon on the far right of IE9.
2. Click Security tab.
3. Click Trusted Sites icon.
4. Click Sites button.
5. Enter https://virtlab.eng.umd.edu in the “Add this website to the zone:” text box
6. Choose Add.
7. Hit Close and OK.

Timeouts

Your VCL session will disconnect if you do not use your keyboard or mouse for over 3 hours.

If network connectivity is lost, sessions will automatically end after 10 minutes.

The web interface will timeout after 30 minutes; however, this timeout will NOT quit your application. You only need to be logged in to the web interface to LAUNCH an application. Once you have launched an application, the VCL session is independent from the web browser session (you could close the browser you used to launch the application and your app will still be running).

Disregard the following messages:

Application-specific information

Cadence/PSpice: You should use your personal VCL user space (U: drive) on Windows PCs! Trying to open/save file on the \\Client\C$ may result in an unrecoverable error. Saving locally on a Mac is fine.

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