How to create a Virtual Desktop

Before you’ll be able to access your Virtual Desktop you need to create it, by choosing the plan that best suits your needs, the operating system and needed options like public IPv4 address or automatic backups.
Once created, the operating system requires about 3-5 minutes to install and then you’ll be ready to log-in.

1. Choose your plan

Each plan differs on the number of vCore (virtual CPU) and the amount of RAM and Disk space. If you are unsure about the plan, you may start with the cheapest one and upgrade it at any time, without having to reinstall everything, but please remember that downgrade is not technically possible.
There are 5 plans available as shown in the table below:

Add-ons

If needed, you can add the following options to your Virtual Desktop:

• Public IPv4 Address
  Normally your VD will have a private IPv4 address that accesses the Internet through NAT (Network Address Translation), so it won’t be reachable from the outside (except for the RDP/NX service).
  This is the safest choice for the vast majority of our customers, however, should you need to own a public IPv4 address for some reasons (eg. to host a service) this is the option that you should add to your plan.
• Automatic Backup
  If you need additional protection for your data, you may activate the automatic backup for your Virtual Desktop, so that you can restore it if something goes wrong, such as files deleted by accident, system corruption, virus infection, etc.
  This backup is performed automatically (you can’t schedule it) once a week and once a month, so you’ll have a total of 2 backup slots.
• Private Network
  This add-on allows your desktops to communicate with each other through a dedicated network LAN by using an additional network interface (100Mbits). This is like your desktops were plugged into a network switch.

If you use a Public IPv4 Address your VD will be exposed to cyber attacks so please make sure to use strong passwords, firewalls, antivirus, etc.

2. Choose your Operating Systems

In theory, the vast majority of the Operating Systems could run inside a virtual machine, however, we decided to concentrate our effort only on a few of them (the most used ones).
This is necessary because any OS template needs to be first prepared and optimized for our virtual environment before you’ll be able to use it.

• Windows 7 Enterprise SP1 (includes updates up to Feb 2020)
• Ubuntu LTS
• Windows 10 LTSC
• Linux Mint

If you are unsure, don’t worry, as you can reinstall your Virtual Desktop at anytime and choose another OS.

Please note that you need to bring your own license, if required by the OS.

3. Choose Language, Time-zone and Password

All OS templates come with a certain number of pre-installed languages, so you can save time by just selecting your preferred one. Should’t you find yours, you can always download and install it at a later stage.

Make sure to choose the right time-zone at this stage as this not only will set in the operating system but even in the internal (hardware) clock. Some OSes, like Windows, rely on localized time instead of UTC and you cannot change the time-zone of the internal clock later without reinstalling the Virtual Desktop again.

The password you choose will be set during the installation process and it will be required by RDP/NX later on, when you log-in for the first time. This password is stored in clear-text and it is intended to be shown to you on your first login by clicking the “Get Access” button. Once you log-in in your Virtual Desktop you MUST change your password from inside.

Keep your password safe as there is no way to recover it once you change it.

4. Start it and wait for the OS installation

Once you have made your choice, you can create your virtual desktop, then you’ll be redirected to your ubiDesktop dashboard.

Newly created VDs aren’t started automatically, so you have to press the start button.
At this point the chosen Operating System will be installed on your Virtual Desktop, this normally requires about 5 minutes, depending on the OS.

Once the installation is done, you’ll be able to log in with RDP or NX, however you should allow another 10 minutes for the system to be completely ready as it needs to search for updates. This task is CPU-intensive, so you may experience some slowdown for a while.