The Software Installation Station is based on the Microsoft® Virtual PC® technology and is intended for advanced computer users. The station simulates a Windows XP environment, in which the user has administrative power and full control of the operating system. This station can be used for, among other things, installing software of your choice.
To be comfortable with this workstation, the user will need to understand the following two terms: virtual environment and host environment. These two terms pertain to the workstation's setup. The setup can be briefly described as follows: an operating system (host environment) is running the Microsoft® Virtual PC® program, whose sole purpose is to simulate another operating system (virtual environment). Most of the time, the patron using this machine will be logged on to the virtual environment, which displays the "University of Texas Libraries" logo and whose desktop looks like this:
Virtual Environment
Occasionally, the patron will be switched to the host environment. This
will happen in the following two cases:
1) when patrons' allowed logon session time runs down to 5:00 minutes, they will
be automatically switched to the host environment and prompted to reset the
timer. After resetting the timer, they will be automatically taken back to
the virtual environment;
2) when burning a CD, patrons may be asked to switch to the host environment.
To see instructions on how to burn a CD, choose "Saving to a CD " from the menu on the left side of this page.
The host environment looks like the picture shown below:
Host Environment
NOTE: to switch between the host and virtual environments, please hit the “Right Alt + Enter” key combination, where “Right Alt” refers to the Alt key to the right of the Space bar.
Most of the time, patrons will be using the virtual environment, whose setup very closely resembles the setup of the regular library workstations.
