The VM has been developed and tested with VirtualBox. We cannot guarantee it will work with other VM Managers.

You will first need to install VirtualBox, which is available for Windows, OS X, and Linux platforms. You can download an installer from the VirtualBox download page.

You will also need to download the OVA file for the VM, which is linked from our UChicago CS VM page. Note: this file is large and may take a long time to download depending on your Internet connection. Whenever possible, you should try to download it from a wired (not wireless) connection.

Once you have downloaded the OVA file, it should be possible for you to double-click on the file from your file explorer (on either Windows, OS X, or Linux) and VirtualBox will open automatically to create a new VM for you. If double-clicking doesn't work, open VirtualBox and select the OVA file from the File → Import Appliance menu.

When creating the VM, you will be presented with a number of options. It is generally safe to just use all the default values.

Importing the VM may also take a long time depending on the hardware running on your computer. Once the import is complete, the VM will appear in VirtualBox. Just click on the VM and then on the "Start" icon to start the VM. A separate window will open, and will eventually show an Ubuntu login screen. The student account will already be selected by default, and all you need to do is enter the password: uccs. Please note that you cannot log in with your university CNetID; you must use the VM's built-in student account.

Once you log in, you will be presented with an Ubuntu 16.04 environment. Please note that you will not have access to your CS home directory from inside the VM.

If you encounter issues when installing or running the VM, please make sure to check out our FAQ.

To shut down your VM, you just need to close the window with the VM. This will present you with a choice of how to shut down your VM. Never select "Power off the machine"!!!. This option is the equivalent of yanking the power cord on a running desktop machine. This option can result in hard drive corruption and many other problems.

When closing your VM, make sure that you always select either "Save the machine state" (this is the best option, as it will allow you to resume the VM in the exact same state you left it) or "Send the shutdown signal" (which will perform an orderly shutdown of the machine).

If you need to shut down the machine where your VM is running, make sure you close your VM before shutting down your machine. Shutting down your machine while the VM is running can have the same effect as selecting the "Power off the machine" option when closing the VM.