DaDesktop for Participants – How to

Objective

This guide is for participants (students) looking to join a course run on DaDesktop.

 

Overview of DaDesktop

DaDesktop is a cloud platform built specifically for IT training. It serves both instructors and learners by providing virtual desktops powered by the innovative DaDesktop® technology. During sessions, every participant gets their own complete online desktop, enabling them to work through exercises under the trainer’s supervision.

Its three main parts are:

1. Management Console – a web UI for system administration, like starting and stopping cloud desktops.
2. Training Room – a shared environment for remote desktop sharing, audio, chat, and recording lessons.
3. Remote Desktop – a virtual machine (Windows or Linux) assigned individually to each user.
    

Requirements

If you’re planning to join from your office or home, here’s what you’ll need:

• Computer (PC or laptop) with a reliable internet connection (at least 10 Mbit/s download and 1 Mbit/s upload). Systems running Windows, Mac, or Linux are all supported.
• Chrome or Firefox web browser.
• A decent microphone or headset (using a phone is a last resort and not recommended).
• A quiet space free from distractions — a coffee shop here in India just won’t do.
   

Recommended:

• Webcam
• A second monitor — keep one screen for following the trainer and the other for working on your DaDesktop Virtual Machine during labs.
• Turn off any VPN before joining the course.
• If possible, disable any security software that might interfere with the network connection.
• Wired Ethernet is best; if you’re on Wi-Fi, run a speed test beforehand (e.g., at speedtest.net).

You might want to log in and explore your DaDesktop virtual classroom before the course begins. If you do, keep in mind that you can only access the desktop for 15 minutes on days prior to the course start.

 

Course Access

Note that outside of course days, you can access your course for only 15 minutes at a time.

On course days, access is available all day long — previously it was limited to about an hour before the session.

 

Keep Desktop after Course finishes

One great benefit of using DaDesktop is that after the course wraps up, participants can choose to keep using their machine. 

Check the link above for complete instructions on how to do that.

Joining a Course

Open the link provided by the coordinator (for instance, dd4t.dadesktop.com/da/join/xxxxx).

 

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If you are a first time user, enter your details under “Account”, and click “Sign Up”. You can join using the form, or via your Google or LinkedIn account.

If you already have an account, simply log in.

This will take you to the Management Console for your course.

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Using the Management Console

Click the “TRAINING ROOM” tab.

Click the “Join Training Room” button.

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The Virtual Training Room will open in a new browser tab. A pop-up will ask permission for clipboard access. Click “Allow”.

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Navigating the Training Room as a Participant

The Training Room displays a tab at the top with links to return to your course.

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Controls available at bottom of the screen

• From here, you can ‘pop out’ the screen to another monitor if needed, and you can also maximise the browser window to full screen.
• There’s also a small blue toggle at the bottom right of the screen for accessing DaDesktop support chat.

 

Using the new Clipboard function

To send text—like web links, functions, and the like—from your computer to the Virtual Machine, the clipboard is used.
 

When you connect to your Online Course or Stand-alone Desktop, a pop up similar to that shown here will appear. Click ‘Allow’. N B Images cannot be copied to the clipboard when using DaDesktop currently.

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If you click the small clipboard icon on the address bar, you can change the clipboard settings for this site.

Usage

• On Windows and Linux VM Desktop, use clipboard copy and paste as usual from your PC, ie Ctrl-C and Ctrl-V
• On a Mac host, copy as usual and press Shift + Ctrl + V, or mouse middle click, to paste.

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Please get in touch with us if you require further support when using this feature..
 

Original Clipboard (to be used only for incompatible browsers for new Clipboard) ie  IE, or as fallback.

• To copy text between your machine to the virtual DaDesktop machine, type or paste into the clipboard area at the bottom left of the screen.
• On the virtual machine, click the middle mouse button (or mouse wheel) to paste the contents of the clipboard to the desktop. This works for anywhere in DaDesktop where text can be entered. This assumes you are using the standard Linux DaDesktop virtual machine.
  Mac users - Use Command c or ⌘ c (copy) Command v or ⌘ v (paste). Once pasted in dd4t clipboard, inside dd4t it becomes Control X, C and Control V to cut, copy and paste.
• If using the Windows virtual machine, right click to paste from the clipboard.

To resize the size of the clipboard area click the green and white arrow icon at the bottom left of the screen.
 

 

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Using the mouse in a multi-user scenario

This feature has been introduced where the username of the person controlling the mouse follows the mouse cursor when more than one user are connecting to same desktop. This is especially useful for multi-user scenarios, and also training activities where different users may be taking control of the mouse at different times.

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If more than one user is connected to the desktop their usernames are shown in the centre bottom part of the screen.

 

 

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This feature can be enabled or disabled as you wish by clicking the ‘Info’ button in green at the bottom of the screen.