Accessing vlabs using the VMware Horizon View Client for OSX This document will demonstrate how to download, install, and connect to a virtual lab desktop from a personal Mac OSX computer using the VMware Horizon View Client. The Horizon View Client software is installed to your Mac OSX computer and allows you to connect to lab machines you have been provisioned access to from anywhere. Before using this document, verify which bit version of Mac OSX you have and that you have software installation permission on the computer. This document was written using a Mac Mini running Mac OSX version 10.7.2, the images may vary between computers and software versions. Mac OSX 10.6.8 or later 2GB RAM Internet Connection System Requirements To verify the version of your Mac OSX computer, click on the Apple button in the top menu bar and click About this Mac. In this window you will see Version 10.X.X. Figure 1 shows the steps needed to verify the version of your Mac OSX software. Figure 1 Installing the VMware Horizon View Client 1) Point your browser to https://vlabs.uml.edu. You will see the vlabs webpage screen, as shown below in Figure 2. Figure 2
2) The first option available (on the left) is to install the VMware Horizon View Client Application, which will install the VMware Horizon View Client to your machine. The second option (on the right) is to use the VMware Horizon View Client over HTML. This example will explain how to effectively use the VMware Horizon View Client, so click on the hard drive icon. 3) Your browser will be redirected to a new webpage shown in figure 3. Figure 3 4) In the listing of downloads, select the correct version of VMware Horizon View Clients for your OSX system and click the Go to Downloads button shown below in figure 4. Figure 4 5) The following page verifies that VMware Horizon View Client for Windows is being downloaded. Make sure that version 2.1.0 or higher is selected from the drop down menu and click the download button shown in figure 5 Figure 5 6) The installation package will begin to download.
7) Upon completion of the download, open the downloaded file. It will open the Finder window shown below in figure 6. Figure 6 8) Click and drag the VMware Horizon View Client (blue) icon and place it into the Applications folder (red) to install the application. 9) Double click the Applications folder (red) and scroll down to the bottom of the list. You will now see the VMware Horizon View Client in your Applications folder. Double click the icon to open the VMware Horizon View Client. You will be prompted to enter your password in order to complete the installation, do so now. 10) The first time the VMware Horizon View Client is opened, you will be prompted to accept the license agreement. Click the accept button shown in figure 7. Figure 7 Connecting to a vlab s Virtual Machine 11) When the application first opens, you will see the window shown in figure 8. Click the continue button and enter credentials if prompted. Figure 8
12) Click the Add Server cloud button in the center of the window. Enter vlabs.uml.edu as shown in figure 9. Figure 10 Figure 9 Figure 9 13) You will then be prompted for your username and password in the following window shown in figure 10. Enter your e-mail address into the username box, and password. You can safely ignore the Domain field. Figure 10 14) Click the Login button to log into the client. A window, in figure 11, showing the labs available to you will pop up. Select the lab you would like to connect to and double click the monitor icon to connect. Figure 11 15) You will be automatically connected to, and logged into the machine you have chosen.
Disconnecting from a vlabs Virtual Machine There are a few different ways to close a virtual machine. You can either disconnect or log out. Disconnecting will close the virtual machine and start a 1-hour timer. Disconnecting allows you to reconnect to the same session at a later point in time, as long as you do not exceed the one hour timer. After one hour, the user is logged out. Logging out immediately disconnects the user and destroys the virtual machine. This removes any files that have been created since you have logged in. Be sure to save all of your documents in a safe location like a USB device. Connecting a USB device to a vlabs virtual machine is explained on the following page. 1) To disconnect, there are three ways to accomplish this. You can either; click on the X, enclosed in cyan, under the Desktop menu, select Disconnect, enclosed in red, or click the disconnect button enclosed in green. All options are shown in figure 12. Figure 12 2) After step 1, you have one hour to reconnect to the VMware Horizon View client and connect to the same virtual desktop. After one hour, you will be logged off. 3) To log off immediately, you can click the log off option shown in figure 12. You can also use the windows start menu and click Log off. WARNING: Logging off will immediately destroy the desktop being used and reset it for the next user. Make sure any documents you were working on are saved in a safe location like a USB device. The following page explains how to make a USB device available to the virtual machine.
Features The VMware Horizon View Windows client has a key feature that will be very useful. Many students like to save copies documents to a USB flash drive to be worked on from any computer you can plug them into. You can access your USB devices from a vlabs virtual machine also. The following instructions demonstrate how to automatically connect USB devices to a vlabs virtual machine every time a new device is inserted when running the VMware Horizon View Client. Once logged into a vlabs virtual machine, you will have to open then Desktop menu bar shown in figure 13. Clicking this button will drop down a menu, select USB. Select the option Automatically connect when inserted. This option will automatically connect a USB device to the virtual lab when a USB device is inserted into your personal computer. Figure 13 You may also use the VMware Horizon View client in full or windowed mode. To change between the two modes, click the button enclosed in red shown in figure 14 Figure 14 Using the client in windowed mode allows you to resize the viewing window to a size of your choice by dragging the lower right corner of the window.