Setting up the CU CS Virtual Machine

Usage of the CU CS VM is now discouraged in favor of cloud-based solutions, such as JupyterHub. It is only recommended to use this if instructed to do so by your course instructor.

The Fall 2020 CU CS Virtual Machine is a VMWare prebuilt image with several course binaries preinstalled for Linux 4.10 kernel compilation exercises related to various courses. It also includes compiled time series analysis binaries.

Please note that certain upgrades are disabled in this image. The image operates Ubuntu 16.04 LTS with the 4.10 kernel. Upgrading the kernel will create variances in course assignments and may make it impossible to complete, so it is discouraged.

Step 1: Verify System Requirements

To run smoothly, the VM requires a minimum of:

8GB of RAM
Intel or AMD processor with virtualization support (VT-x or AMD-V)
4 physical processor cores
32GB of free HD space (64GB+ if doing kernel compilation exercises)
An OIT recommended Operating System
Either VMWare Fusion 10+ (macOS) or Workstation 14+ (Windows)
VirtualBox 6.1+ if you are a native Linux user (See FAQ for different download)

Step 2: Install VMWare Fusion (macOS) or Workstation (Windows)

Visit https://www.colorado.edu/cs/students/computing-resources-students (VMWare Section) for instructions on obtaining a free license.

Download and install the software (VMWare Fusion if on macOS, or VMWare Workstation on Windows)

When the software is launched, enter the serial number obtained from the e5 store.

Step 3: Download the VM

CU CS Virtual Machine Fall 2020 (4.18 GiB)

If you are experiencing difficulty either downloading or installing the VM, please send a message to Computer Science IT Services at helpcs@colorado.edu to open a ServiceNow case.

Step 4: Importing the Virtual Machine

macOS

1) Extract the downloaded archive to expand the CU CS Virtual Machine Fall 2020.vmwarevm directory
2) Move CU CS Virtual Machine Fall 2020.vmwarevm to /Users/<yourUserAccount>/Virtual Machines
3) Open the bundle
4) You will receive a dialog asking if the machine was moved or copied, click I Copied It
5) The Virtual Machine will then boot to the Welcome Screen

Windows

1) Extract the downloaded archive to expand the CU CS Virtual Machine Fall 2020.vmwarevm directory
2) Move the extracted CU CS Virtual Machine Fall 2020.vmwarevm directory to C:\Users\<yourUserAccount>\Documents\Virtual Machines\
3) Open VMWare Workstation 15 Pro
4) On the “Home” tab, click “Open a Virtual Machine”
5) Navigate into the CU CS Virtual Machine Fall 2020.vmwarevm directory and double click CU CS VM Fall 2020.vmx
6) An entry CU CS Virtual Machine Fall 2020 will now be present
7) You will receive a dialog asking if the machine was moved or copied, click I Copied It
8) Power on the Virtual Machine to boot to the Welcome Screen

Usage

The VM runs a minimal installation of Ubuntu 16.04.7 LTS (Xenial) with preinstalled binaries for certian CSCI courses. 16.04.7 is required for some CSCI courses related to compiling older kernel source. In addition, it contains time series analysis tools and a VSCode environment. Use this VM if you cannot utilize the cloud coding environment due to poor or unavailable internet connectivity.

To launch the VM, select it in the left-side VMWare VM list and either double-click or select the green Start button at the top of the VirtualBox window. The VM will launch in its own window. After completing the boot process (you may see a black screen with scrolling text for a few moments), the VM will present a Welcome screen for you to create your account. Enter a username and password of your choosing for this.

VMWare Guest Tools are pre-installed, so you are able to:

Resize the VM window: the guest system will adjust resolution to accommodate your desired window size
Copy and Paste / Drag and Drop items from your machine to the virtual machine

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

What is the root account password?

As on most Debian-based systems, the root account does not have a password set and is disabled. Use sudo if you need to run privileged commands on the account you created when you first boot the machine.

Can VirtualBox be used instead of Fusion/Workstation?

Yes, but please use the following instead as it contains specific EFI firmware settings (nvram), as well as Guest Tools for VirtualBox

CU CS Virtual Machine Fall 2020 VirtualBox (4.28 GiB)

Can Parallels or another virtualization platform be used?

Yes, but this is outside our support scope. It is also likely outside the support scope at the course level. The vhdx is EFI based, so you will need to add an efi boot option ((grubx64.efi / shimx64.efi) from the ESP) in your hypervisor firmware settings. It is highly recommended to instead use what your course recommends.

Why is VM performance slow?

Virtualization Support is likely disabled on your computer. Please ensure Virtualization Support is enabled in your computer’s firmware settings.

Why is networking not working on the VM?

The VM is configured by default to share your host computer network. Please ensure your host has network access. If you have accidently modified your Virtual Network Adapter, please set it back to “Internet Sharing”.

Is there a way to make file access easier than drag and drop?

Shared folders can be enabled on VMWare.

On macOS:
1) Open Virtual Machine -> Settings
2) Open Sharing
3) Add a host folder you would like to Share to the VM
4) Reboot the Virtual Machine
5) You can then browse to this directory in the Ubuntu file manager by opening “Files”, clicking “Other Locations”, and navigating to /mnt/hgfs/<yourFolder>

On Windows:
1) Right Click “CU CS VM Fall 2020”
2) Open Settings and Navigate to the Options Tab
3) Click “Shared Folders”
3) Add a host folder you would like to Share to the VM
4) Reboot the Virtual Machine
5) You can then browse to this directory in the Ubuntu file manager by opening “Files”, clicking “Other Locations” -> “Computer”, and navigating to /mnt/hgfs/<yourFolder>

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