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AWS will send you an email when your instance is ready. It will let you know your user name and your registration code. Click on the link inside that email to be taken to a page where you can update your password for your user. Take note of the user name, password, and registration code.

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 Make sure you check the email address associated with your class, which could be your @college.harvard.edu email address. 

                                                             Fig. 1 Sample Workspace Email

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c. - After I click on the link inside the email (labelled 1.), I will set up my password.

2. Install the Workspaces client (est. time 5 mins.)

After you update your user account, you will be asked to download the Workspaces client. Choose the correct download for your system. Once downloaded, install the program.

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                                                       Fig. 2: Workspaces client download page           

3. Connect to your Workspace (est. time 3 mins)

Once you first run the Workspaces client, you will be asked for your registration code, which was included in the email sent to you. Enter your registration code. You will then be taken to a user logon box. This is where you enter your user name and password you created in step 1. If everything is correct, you will connect to your instance and be presented with your Workspaces desktop.

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Please note that workspaces auto-stop after 1 hour being disconnected. This means when you re-connect to your workspace, you will see that it is resuming, and you will have to wait a minute or less for the workspace to resume. You will automatically be connected to your workspace when it is ready.

Fig. 3: Workspace resuming message after successful logon

Once connected to your workspace, use it as you would any other computer. Solidworks and Comsol shortcuts are in the desktop and also in the start menu.  No setup is required.  

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You do NOT have to be on VPN to access any license servers for Solidworks/Comsol. We built the VDI infrastructure to already have access to the license servers. Use your workspace as you would any lab machine.

Help on VDI:

Please send an email to help@seas.harvard.edu for any issues you experience with Workspaces. Use "SEAS VDI difficulties" in your subject line. Please do not send COMSOL and SOLIDWORKS related questions to this address.