A Vocareum Virtual Machine (VM) Lab is a learning environment you can access in your web browser without installing any additional software.

When you launch a VM Lab, it will be pre-configured to meet the needs of your course or use case. For example, the lab may include a cloud-hosted desktop, application, or set of networked virtual machines.

When you access a Virtual Machine Lab, a navigation bar appears near the top of the browser window. An assignment can include one or more VMs, so the navigation bar displays a name for each virtual machine.

In the following example, the assignment includes one VM named "windows" and the lab has not been started yet:

There is a Start Lab button in the lab navigation bar. If it has not yet been started, there will also be a Launch Lab button in the center of the window.

Click either the Start Lab or Launch Lab button when you are ready to begin.

Note that starting a Virtual Machine Lab may take a few minutes. Each VM in the lab is a dedicated cloud-hosted virtual server created on-demand for you when you access the lab. During the Start Lab process, the VMs are created from a template and started, then the operating system boots up, and your secure access is established. This step can take longer if the lab's setup is particularly complex.

Once the virtual machines are ready, the interface for the first VM will be displayed in your browser.

For example, this screenshot show the virtual desktop for a VM Lab running a Windows operating system:

Depending on your lab, the interface may be a desktop, a terminal, or a stand-alone application. The VMs' operating systems can also vary by assignment.

If your lab includes multiple VMs, each VM will be rendered in a separate browser tab. Depending on your assignment's settings, a tab for each VM may open automatically when you start the lab. You can also open any VM by clicking its name in the lab navigation bar.

In some cases, you may be prompted to log in to the VM when it first launches, or after a disconnection (typically caused by an interruption in your local internet connection). Your instructor or learning materials will provide you with the username and password if needed.

Due to the nature of remote desktops, copying and pasting text into a cloud-hosted VM like those in your lab requires a special process.

To copy text from your local machine and paste it into your VM:

To copy text from your VM and paste it on your local machine:

Why is this process necessary?

When you copy text on your computer, it goes to your local clipboard, which is part of the operating system on your laptop, desktop, tablet, or phone. When you connect to the VM Lab, you're accessing a completely separate computer with its own operating system and clipboard. Even though you access this remote desktop through your browser, the VM's clipboard and your local clipboard are isolated from each other. To transfer content between them, you need to manually sync the clipboards using the clipboard tools provided in the VM Lab interface.

A VM Lab can end under 4 conditions:

Depending on your assignment's end lab behavior settings, changes you made to the VMs during your session may be preserved or deleted when the lab ends.

If a set of numbers appears before the Start Lab button in the lab navigation bar, they represent the time remaining in your lab session. The lab session timer is displayed in the format "00:00" where the first two numbers represent the remaining hours and the second two numbers represent the remaining minutes in your session.

Depending on your assignment's settings, an Extend button may be available to extend the session if you need more time to work.

Alerts will appear to notify you when you are approaching the end of your session time. When the session timer expires, your lab will end automatically.

The session timer serves as a safety precaution to prevent virtual machines from accidentally remaining running for an extended period.

Your lab may have a total and/or monthly time budget limit. If so, the remaining time will be displayed in your lab navigation bar to help you monitor your usage. When the time budget limit is reached, all Virtual Machines in the lab will be automatically terminated.

If you reach the monthly time budget limit, you will not be able to restart your lab until the first day of the next calendar month. When the next month begins, you will have access to the same monthly budget again, unless you have reached the total budget limit.

If you reach the total time budget limit, you will no longer be able to start the lab.

You can end your session at any time using the End Lab button.

Ending the lab conserves resources by shutting down the virtual machines, which would otherwise remain running and continue depleting your lab budget.

Note that ending a lab can take some time. After you click End Lab, you may have to wait 5 to 15 minutes for the lab cleanup finish before you can start your lab again.

If the option appears in your navigation bar, you can choose to reset your VM Lab to its original state at any time by clicking the Reset button.

Keep in mind that a reset is permanent. It will terminate the current virtual machines in your lab, deleting all their data. When you next start the lab, the virtual machines will be created from scratch using the original lab template.

Note that a lab reset can take some time to complete. You may have to wait 5 to 15 minutes for the lab cleanup finish before you can start your lab again.

End Lab behavior is controlled by each lab's assignment settings. When a VM Lab ends for any reason, there are two possible behaviors:

You can confirm which setting is in place for a specific assignment by clicking the End Lab button. When you click End Lab on a running VM Lab, a pop-up will appear to confirm the action. That pop-up will also describe what will happen to your lab data if you accept and end your lab. At that point, you can click cancel if you do not want to end the lab yet.