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Virtual Desktop Infrastructure Setup for MacOS Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) allows you to connect to a virtual computer and use software that you don’t have installed on your own computer or mobile device. This document explains how to set up the VMware Horizon Client software for MacOS, and use it to connect to our VDI server. Note that you must have Administrator access to your computer to install software.

For assistance with this procedure, Faculty and Staff should contact the IT Service center at 508-999-8790 or email itscenter@umassd.edu, and Students should contact the student Help Desk at 508-999-8884, email itstudentcenter@umassd.edu, or visit the Library first floor Help Desk.

1. Open a web browser, and visit https://www.vmware.com/go/viewclients. The VMware Horizon Clients page is displayed.

2. To the right of VMware Horizon Client for Mac text,

click the Go to Downloads link.

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The Download VMware Horizon Client for Mac page is displayed.

3. Click the Download button. If prompted, save the file to your downloads folder.

4. When the download process is complete, quit or hide your web browser.

5. Open a Finder window, and click Downloads in the left column to display the Downloads folder contents.

6. Double click to open the VMware-Horizon-Client disk image (.dmg).

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7. An End User License Agreement dialog box is displayed.

Read through the license agreement, then click the Agree button.

The VMware Horizon Client disk image appears on the desktop, and opens automatically.

8. The VMware Horizon Client installer window is shown below.

Drag the VMware Horizon Client.app icon onto the Applications folder icon.

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9. When the copy process is complete, close VMware Horizon Client window, then drag the VMware Horizon Client disk image to the trash.

10. Open a Finder window, and click Applications in the left column to display the Applications folder contents.

11. Double click to open the VMware Horizon Client application.

A warning dialog box is displayed.

12. Click the Open button.

To enable USB access and printing services, click the Continue button.

13. The authentication dialog box is displayed.

Enter your computer administrator Username and Password into the fields provided, then click OK.

14. The server dialog box is displayed.

Enter view.umassd.edu into the server field, then click Connect.

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15. The Login dialog box is displayed.

Enter your UMassD Logon Username and Password into the fields provided, then click the Login button.

16. To enable access to your computer’s Home folder and removable USB storage, click to open the VMware Horizon Client menu, and select Preferences.

The Preferences dialog box is displayed.

17. Click to select the Sharing tab.

18. Click to select the two Allow access checkboxes if you would like to save files to you computer’s Home folders and removable storage.

19. Click the red button in the upper left corner to close the Preferences dialog box.

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20. The VMware Horizon Client window is shown below.

Virtual computers appear as icons in the window. Different virtual machines may be available to you. In the example above, a CCB Lab machine and a General Lab machine are displayed.

Double click a virtual machine to open it.

21. The Sharing dialog box is displayed.

22. Click the Allow button.

23. A virtual Windows computer is created, and starts. “Welcome,” and “Preparing your desktop” messages are displayed during the startup process. Please be patient, as this takes some time.

Once the virtual machine has started, use it like a normal PC. Don’t forget to log off when you are done. If you Disconnect, you can log in to the same virtual computer again from any client within 60 minutes. All open applications and files will still be available.

Important: The MacOS is hidden while the virtual computer is displayed. Press the <COMMAND> + <TAB> keys to switch to the MacOS. Activate the VMware Horizon Client application on the Dock, and choose your virtual machine from the Window menu to return to the Windows environment.

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Saving Your Documents to OneDrive You may save documents from the virtual Windows computer to your Office 365 OneDrive. This is preferred, because it makes your documents accessible from almost any internet-connected device.

When using the Microsoft Office applications, click the OneDrive – UMass Dartmouth button in the Save dialog box, as shown below.

Then save as you would normally.

In other applications, you must first save your files to the Desktop or Documents folder of the virtual computer. Then you may move them to OneDrive using a web browser, as described below.

1. Open a web browser on the virtual computer and log into Office 365.

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2. On the Office 365 Home page, click the OneDrive button. Your OneDrive contents are displayed.

3. Click the Upload button to copy files from the virtual computer to your

OneDrive.

Saving Documents to Your USB Storage. 1. To save to your local disk or USB flash drive, choose the Save As command

from your application. An example is shown here with Microsoft Word.

2. Click the Browse button.

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The Save As dialog box is displayed.

3. Scroll to the bottom of the left column, and click to expand the Computer

section if needed. Your local disks and USB flash drives are displayed.

4. Click to select the desired destination, then click the Save button to save your document.