A Full Introduction to VDS (Virtual Desktop Service)

What is VDS? Where can you access VDS? How to connect to VDS? If you are looking for the answers to the above questions, you can read this post. Besides, you can know other information about VDS.

What Is VDS?

What is VDS? VDS is the abbreviation of Virtual Desktop Services. It is used to cater to the trend of using personal mobile devices for teaching and learning. You can use your mobile devices, such as iPads, tablets, and laptops, to connect to this service through campus wireless LAN, and enjoy a virtual desktop experience similar to working with a PC in a teaching studio.

Tip: If you want to learn more information about the internet, you can go to the MiniTool official website.

All virtual desktop connections are equipped with graphics processing unit (GPU) to support graphics-intensive software. For fair use, users can only connect to one VDS session at any time. Each VDS session can be up to four hours and will be automatically closed and initialized after four hours.

CPU VS GPU: What’s the Difference Between Them? A Guide for You!

What are GPU and CPU? What’s the difference between GPU and CPU? Now, you can know much information on CPU vs GPU from this post.

Read More

A reminder will be displayed 15 minutes before the end of the session. The user should be vigilant about this message and must save his/her work before the end of the session; otherwise, any unsaved work will be lost at the end of the session and initialized immediately for other user’s use. CSC is not responsible for any data loss.

You can save the data file in:

  • Removable USB media – such as memory sticks or portable USB hard drives (only for devices with USB ports)
  • Cloud storage – such as CityU’s Microsoft 365 OneDrive, CityU’s Google Drive on GApps, personal cloud disks, etc.
  • Email – send your data file to your email account.
Tip: It’s recommended to encrypt all sensitive data or files before saving or sending.

The D disk of the virtual desktop is a logical disk dedicated to the system and cannot be used by the user. If you want to use a DVD drive, if your mobile device (such as a laptop) supports it, you can insert a USB DVD drive, and the USB DVD drive will be recognized and can be seen on the virtual desktop.

After the session is closed, you cannot retrieve the data stored on the Virtual Desktop disk drive. The virtual desktop will be refreshed to its initial state, and all stored data will be cleared. It is strongly recommended that users periodically save their work files to removable storage (such as a USB flash drive) or cloud storage during the VDS session.

How to connect to the VDS?

Step 1: Download and install the VMware Horizon Client on your pads, tablets or notebook computers (if you have installed the VMware Horizon Client, please go to Step 2b)

  • For Windows notebook, download the VMware Horizon Client for Windows from vmware.com and install it on your Windows notebook.
  • For Macbook, download the VMware Horizon Client for Mac from vmware.com and install it on your Macbook.
  • For iOS devices, install VMware Horizon Client from Apple App Store.
  • For Android devices, install VMware Horizon Client from Google Play Store.
  • For Windows RT, install VMware Horizon Client from Microsoft Windows Store.

Step 2: Make sure that your device is connected to CityU Campus Network (either via Wired LAN or Wireless LAN)

Step 3: Run the VMware Horizon Client on your device

Step 4: Type vds.its.cityu.edu.hk in the textbox as the name of the Connection Server and then press Connect.
Step 5: Login with your CityU EID and password (the pair for logging in the CSC Student LAN).

Step 6: Click on the icon of the Virtual Desktop to start the VDS session.

Final Words

Here is all information about VDS. I hope that you can find the information you need in this post.

About The Author

Daisy

Position: Columnist

Having been an editor at MiniTool since graduating college as an English major, Daisy specializes in writing about data backups, disk cloning, and file syncing as well as general computer knowledge and issues. In her free time, Daisy enjoys running and going with friends to the amusement park.