Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Department of Urban Studies and Planning

Remote Desktop Access to Class Software

Overview

For those with laptops that have too little speed, storage, or RAM to run ArcMap, we have arranged a limited number of virtual machines (VM) at the Media Lab that will work pretty much the same as the familiar Lab machines in W31-301 and the 9-554.  If you have a reliable Internet connection with at least a megabit of bandwidth, this method should be satisfactory, although not as good as running all the software on your personal machine.  In order to access these virtual machines, you will need:

• Virtual Private Network (VPN) app on your local machine (Mac or PC)
• Remote Desktop Connection (RDP) app on your local machine (Mac or PC)
• Your MIT Kerberos ID  (email without @mit.edu) will be authorized to log into a particular virtual machine (e.g., cronarcgis3.media.mit.edu)
• Once connected, you can sign in to 'OneDrive - MIT' network storage to access your 1 TB of storage provided by Microsoft

Virtual Private Network

The Media Lab virtual machine will accept your login only if you are on the MIT network or connected to it through a VPN.  Software and instructions are available from IS&T here: http://ist.mit.edu/vpn  Once you have downloaded and installed the VPN, use it to connect to vpn.mit.edu/duo using your MIT Kerberos ID plus whatever two-factor authentication method works for you.

Remote Desktop Connection

1. IF you are running locally on a Windows PC, the 'Remote Desktop Connection' app is already installed and available in the 'Windows Accessories' folder.
• Open Remote Desktop Connection
• Enter the computer name your were given for your personal VM - e.g., cronarcgis3.media.mit.edu
• You will get a warning about trusting this remote computer.  Click 'connect'
• Next, you get a warning that the identity of the remote computer cannot be verified.  Click 'yes'
• Wait a bit (especially the first time) and a login window (similar to what you had in the Lab) will appear
• Log in using your MIT Kerberos ID (MIT email without @mit.edu) just as you do in the Lab.
• You are now logged in just as you were in the W31-301 computing lab.  Go to Step3.
2. IF you are running locally on a Mac, you will need to download 'Microsoft Remote Desktop 10' from the AppStore (free) and install it on your local computer.
• Launch your Remote Desktop application (called Microsoft Remote Desktop on a Mac).
• Click the '+' sign to 'Add  PC'
• Enter the remote 'PC name' you were given for your personal VM - e.g., cronarcgis3.media.mit.edu
• If you wish, enter an abbreviated name in the 'Friendly name' box (e.g., MyRemoteVM)
• Click save and an icon for the remote computer will be created in the Microsoft Remote Desktop window.
• Double-click the remote computer icon.
• When you get a warning that the identity of the remote computer cannot be verified, click 'connect'.
• Next, you get a warning that the identity of the remote computer cannot be verified.  Click 'yes'.
• Wait a bit (especially the first time) and a login window (similar to what you had in the Lab) will appear
• Log in using your MIT Kerberos (email) credentials just as you do in the Lab.
• You are now logged in just as you were in the W31-301 computing lab.  Go to Step 3.
3. You may now launch any of the applications we have used in our computing lab (ArcGIS, MS-Access, MS-Excel, ...)
• HOWEVER, you will need to access class data and save your work. 
• Class data are available in the AFS locker: \\afs\athena.mit.edu\course\11\11.188
• But, you should first check that your virtual machine has attached the AFS lockers properly.
4. Make sure you can access the AFS class locker
• Click to open the 'File Explorer' icon in the tray along the bottom of the screen.
• Wait at least 30 seconds (to make sure AFS has had time to connect), then
• Enter the AFS address of the data locker in the address box of the File Explorer (where it initially says 'Quick Access')
• \\afs\athena.mit.edu\course\11\11.188\data
• If you do *not* get to the class data locker, you need to check that you have AFS tokens (as we did in lab)
• In the 'type here to search' box within the tray at the bottom of the screen, enter 'cmd.exe' to open a command line window.
• Enter 'kinit' to renew your Kerberos tickets.  When prompted enter your MIT Kerberos (email) password.
• Enter 'aklog' to use the kerberos tickets to get tokens for the AFS server.  Wait until it finishes and you get another command prompt.
• Enter 'tokens' to check that you now have the AFS tokens for your Kerberos ID. 
• Enter the long AFS locker address into a File Explorer address window.
• Once you get the File Explorer to open class data locker, you are all set.
• To avoid retyping, you can mount this locker (just as we did in class) as drive Q:
• Right click 'This PC' and choose 'map network drive'
• Set the Drive = Q: and the Folder = \\afs\athena.mit.edu\course\11\11.188\data
• Click Finish.

OneDrive-MIT Access

1. Sign in to OpenDrive so you can take data with you
• Once you are logged in with your desktop fully set up, you should see a blue 'onedrive' cloud-shaped icon in the lower right taskbar of your remote desktop.
• Click on it to sign in using your MIT Kerberos credentials.  It is important to sign with your MIT email ID because you will then get access to 1 TB of network storage space.
• You will need to authenticate yourself via MIT Touchstone once again and you will probably have to go through two-factor authentication.  However, once your OneDrive is setup up, it will be automatically attached during subsequent logins.
• Once logged in, you will see an 'OneDrive - MIT' icon in the file explorer listing (in addition to the OneDrive listing that was always there.
• This 'OneDrive - MIT' can be accessed from any Windows, Mac, or iOS machine. (OneDrive is free from the Mac AppStore)
• View the Microsoft help files (or search for help in Google) to setup your OneDrive (much like Dropbox) to determine which files are online-only or synced into local drives of the various machines where you log in.
• Right-click the 'OneDrive - MIT' icon and check the 'always keep on this device’ to save files locally as well as sync them in the cloud.
2. You now have a lab-like desktop with the software needed for class, plus 'read' access to the class locker on AFS, and 'read/write' access to a OneDrive of cloud storage that lets you save your files. 
• If you setup 'OneDrive - MIT' on your local computer, you can easily access any data written on your VM OneDrive.
• Alternatively, you can configure your remote desktop connection to allow the VM to upload or download data to a local drive.
• On a Mac, edit the properties of the profile of your remote desktop.  Click the 'Folders' tab and add the local foclders you want to share with the VM
• On a PC, before you connect to the VM, click the 'Show Options' words in the lower left.  Then, click the 'Local Resources' tab and, in the 'local devices and resources' window, click the 'More' button. You can then check which local drives will be available to the remote desktop.
3. Finally, you are setup and ready to do some spatial analysis!
• Click on the 'OneDrive - MIT' icon in your File Explorer window of the VM.  You will see that it contains 'Desktop,' 'Documents,' and 'Pictures' folders (and possibly others if you have already used your MIT OneDrive).  Add a new folder called '11.188' to separate your classwork from anything else.
• Copy the cambridge_shapefiles.zip file in the class data locker into you OneDrive 11.188 folder.
• Extract the all the files from cambridge_shapefiles.zip and double-click on the familiar 11.188_lab2_web.mxd ArcMap document.
• You are now setup just as you were for Lab #2 in W31-301.

Logging Out

1. One more thing.  To exit from your remote virtual machine, you MUST 'sign out'. Please do NOT select 'Disconnect' or 'Sleep' or 'Shutdown' (which could screw up settings and prevent you from loggin in again until you contact us).
2. To sign out, click the Start button, hover over the icon on top of the bottom left column, click on your MIT Kerberos username, and choose 'sign out'.

Back to the 11.188 Home Page. Back to the CRN Home Page.

Last modified 25 March, 2020 [jf]