The Student virtual machine provides access to a consistent Windows computing environment for students complete with software, updates and MIT specific configurations.
Three Things To Know About Your VMware Image
One: Store data in My Documents folder or on Desktop.
Data should not be stored within the Virtual Machine, as there is no good mechanism for backing up data stored in the VM itself. To make it easy to store data on your host machine, the Virtual Machine has been configured, so that when you access My Documents or the Desktop, you are accessing the Documents and Desktop of your host machine. This is called mirroring, and allows data to be stored on the host machine, where it can be included in regular backups.
Caution: Files deleted from the Virtual Machine Desktop or My Documents folder will be deleted from the Macintosh Desktop or Documents folder as well.
Mirroring must be manually enabled when the VM is run on a Windows Host:
Q: How do I enable Mirroring in my Student VM?
Two: We recommend against overly customizing this environment.
Standard troubleshooting practice will be to download a new copy of the Virtual Machine. When you delete the previous copy of the Virtual Machine, all customizations and data will be lost, including additional software that has been installed. Before deleting any previous Virtual Machine, see: Steps to take before deleting a Virtual Machine.
Three: VMware Fusion incompatible with McAfee Security and VirusScan for Macintosh.
VMware Fusion 2.x and 3.x are not compatible with McAfee Security 1.0 for Macintosh, or VirusScan 8.6.x for Macintosh. To prevent damage to your virtual machines, add all folders containing a virtual machine to your virus scanner's exclude list. To protect your virtual machine from viruses, antivirus software should be installed in the virtualized operating system.
See:
VMware Fusion: Incompatible with McAfee Security for Macintosh and VirusScan for Macintosh
Q: How can I stop this page from appearing each time I launch the Virtual Machine?