virtual pc's

[billb]

I know nowt about virtual pcs / software but the question is:

we run a locked down network where students cant see control panel / taskmanager etc. we need to give them access to these for them to learn but dont wanna give them it on the real pc's. How does virtual thinghies work - can i log onto a virtual pc through their pc and they can mess around with this?

any pointers appreciated.

[roadsweeper]

You could run the virtual PCs on a server and give them RDP (i.e. remote desktop) access. Would that meet your requirements?

[billb]

roadsweeper said:

You could run the virtual PCs on a server and give them RDP (i.e. remote desktop) access. Would that meet your requirements?

would 20 be able to access it a once? if they changed things like destkop background would that go back to normal once they logged off?


thanks

[nickfrp]

i think wihtout a licence only 10 would be able to connect to the location. Anyway.. VP is free now on the microsoft Website.


Doh just remebered you will need to have 20 ish spare xp licence keys.

right set up 2 severs to have Virtual machines of XP running and then divide the groups to 10

hmm

google images of it..?

make a flash demonstration?

[billb]

the teacher says demos are no good they need the real thing

[nickfrp]

buy 20 volume licences for XP. download Virtual PC for free from the microsoft site. and install on the 20 PCs.

easy.

although it does love PC resources so test it out before you buy 20 licences as the PC might not be speced enought to useit

[_Deejay_]

Or use Vmware Virtual Server which is also free, but scales much better.

D

[roadsweeper]

_Deejay_ said:

Or use Vmware Virtual Server which is also free, but scales much better.

Yes, that's exactly what I was thinking of. MS VirtualPC is not good in my exeperience - VMWare is far more reliable and functional. I'd look at VMWare Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (based on ESX Server) which is designed for this kind of thing. Software licences are obviously and issue, but then MS offer big discounts for educational use so it's not as big a deal as it might seem at first.

Oh, and to answer the question regarding how many virtual machines can be run, a decent VMWare VDI system will run between 20 and 40 virtual machines depending upon the usage profile but this can scale up as required.

[sneakyneil]

VMware Download & play, you'l get the idea. Alternatively, how about giving them a local admin account, and re-ghosting the machines at the end of a session?