From Wednesday 5 February, when you connect to the VDI, you will no longer see the 'Electronic Resources' virtual desktop. It will be replaced with a new, upgraded desktop called 'vClassroom'.
What is the VDI?
The Virtual Desktop Infrastructure, or VDI, allows you to access electronic resources and software when working off campus on your personal device. When logged into the VDI, you see the virtual desktop(s) available to you. You may see one or more, depending on the resources available to you
Why the change?
The VDI’s ‘Electronic Resources’ virtual desktop is based on a now unsupported operating system and needs to be upgraded to Windows 10, in line with our other virtual desktops. In addition, it has not benefited from performance boosts since its introduction in 2015 and so is showing its age when running more demanding applications.
Why call the desktop vClassroom?
One of the main advantages of the upgrade is that it allows us to deploy more applications to the service, including some of the same software you see in the Computer Classrooms around campus. As the upgraded virtual desktop will share a similar software portfolio to the physical classroom desktop, it made sense to call it ‘vClassroom’.
How will this affect me?
You won’t notice much difference in the way you use the system. The operating system is being updated to Windows 10, but you should already be familiar with this on your Staff PC or if you have used a computer classroom.
The virtual desktop will look slightly different but should still be familiar.
I have access to STEM. Should I use the new vClassroom desktop?
No. If you already have access to the STEM desktop you should continue to use it as it has the processing power necessary to run the most demanding applications required for your course. The STEM desktop is also optimised for running longer simulations out of hours.
So how do the different virtual desktops compare?
| Electronic Resources | vClassroom | STEM | |
| vCPUs | 2 | 4 | 6 |
| RAM | 2GB | 4GB | 24GB |
| GFX | none | 512MB - NVIDIA M10 | 512MB - NVIDIA M60/P40 |
| OS | Windows 7 | Windows 10 LTSC | Windows 10 LTSB |
Further information
To find out more about the VDI and other remote access options, see our Toolkit resource.
Author: Desktop Team, Digital and Information Services