DaDesktop for Participants – A How‑to Guide

Objective

This guide walks participants (students) through joining a course on DaDesktop.

 

Overview of DaDesktop

DaDesktop is a cloud platform built specifically for IT education. It caters to both instructors and learners, offering virtual desktops powered by the innovative DaDesktop® technology. During a session, every participant gets their own fully online desktop where they can work on exercises under the trainer’s guidance.

It consists of three core components:

1. Management Console – a web-based interface for managing the system, such as starting and stopping cloud desktops.
2. Training Room – a collaborative space for remote desktop sharing, audio, chat, and lesson recording.
3. Remote Desktop – a virtual machine (Windows or Linux) assigned to each user.
    

Requirements

To join from your office or home, you’ll need:

• A computer (PC or laptop) with a stable internet connection – at least 10 Mbit/s download and 1 Mbit/s upload. Both Windows, Mac, and Linux systems are supported.
• Chrome or Firefox web browser
• A good‑quality microphone or headset (a telephone should be your last resort, as it’s not recommended)
• A quiet space without distractions or background noise (coffee shops won’t work well)
   

We also recommend:

• A webcam
• A second monitor – use one screen to follow the trainer and the other for your DaDesktop Virtual Machine during labs.
• Turning off any VPN before joining the course
• Disabling security software that might interfere with your network connection, if possible
• Using a wired Ethernet connection when you can, or if you rely on Wi‑Fi, running a speed test beforehand (e.g., at speedtest.net)

You’re welcome to test‑join your course and explore your DaDesktop virtual classroom ahead of time. Just keep in mind that on days before the course starts, you can only access the desktop for 15 minutes.

 

Course Access

Be aware that outside course days, your access to the Course is limited to a 15‑minute window.

On actual course days, you can access it all day long. In the past, this was only possible for about an hour before the session began.

 

Keep Desktop after Course finishes

A standout benefit of DaDesktop is that participants can keep using their machine after the course ends. 

Check the link above for all the details on how to set this up.

Joining a Course

Follow the link that your coordinator sent you (for example, dd4t.dadesktop.com/da/join/xxxxx).

 

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If you’re a first time user, fill in your details under “Account” and click “Sign Up”. You can register using the form or sign up with your Google or LinkedIn account.

If you already have an account, just log in.

After that, you’ll be taken to the Management Console for your course.

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Using the Management Console

Go to the “TRAINING ROOM” tab.

Click the “Join Training Room” button.

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The Virtual Training Room will open in a new browser window. A pop‑up will ask for permission to copy items to the clipboard; click “Allow”.

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Navigating the Training Room as a Participant

The Training Room includes a top tab with links that take you back to the course.

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Controls available at bottom of the screen

• You can ‘pop out’ the screen to another monitor if needed, and maximize the browser window to full screen.
• At the bottom right, a small blue toggle gives you access to the DaDesktop support chat.

 

Using the new Clipboard function

The ‘Clipboard’ lets you transfer text – like web links, code snippets, and so on – from your own computer into the Virtual Machine.
 

When you connect to your Online Course or Stand‑alone Desktop, you’ll see a pop‑up similar to the one here. Choose ‘Allow’. Please note that images cannot be copied to the clipboard with DaDesktop right now.

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If you click the little clipboard icon in the address bar, you can adjust the clipboard permissions for this site.

Usage

• On Windows and Linux VM Desktops, copy and paste as you normally would on your PC using Ctrl‑C and Ctrl‑V.
• If you’re on a Mac, copy as usual and then press Shift + Ctrl + V, or click the middle mouse button, to paste.

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If you need extra help with this feature, please contact us.
 

Original Clipboard (use only on browsers that don’t support the new Clipboard, such as IE, or as a fallback)

• To move text between your own machine and the virtual DaDesktop machine, type or paste it into the clipboard area at the bottom left.
• On the virtual machine, click the middle mouse button (or scroll wheel) to paste the clipboard contents onto the desktop. This works anywhere you can enter text within DaDesktop, assuming you’re using the standard Linux virtual machine.
  Mac users – use Command c or ⌘ c to copy and Command v or ⌘ v to paste. Once text is pasted into the dd4t clipboard, the standard shortcuts become Control X, Control C, and Control V for cutting, copying, and pasting.
• If you’re using the Windows virtual machine, right‑click to paste from the clipboard.

To resize the clipboard area, click the green‑and‑white arrow icon at the bottom left.
 

 

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Using the mouse in a multi-user scenario

When multiple users connect to the same desktop, the username of whoever is controlling the mouse appears next to the cursor. This is especially handy in multi‑user situations or training exercises where control changes hands.

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If more than one person is connected, their usernames show up in the lower centre part of the screen.

 

 

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You can turn this feature on or off by clicking the green ‘Info’ button at the bottom of the screen.