School of Computer Science Wiki

NoMachine is a full Linux desktop environment, available remotely for SoCS stuents. When logged in you will have access to the same servers as linux.socs.uoguelph.ca but with a graphical desktop interface.

NoMachine client software is required to connect to the SoCS Graphical Linux environment. To install and connect for the first time, follow the instructions below.

1. Download the NoMachine Enterprise client, available here NoMachine Enterprise Client Download. Choose the correct client for your operating system (See Image 1 below) and install.
2. Open the client. In the top right, click New (See Image 2 below).
3. Ensure “NX” is set as the protocol (it is the default selection), and click Continue.
4. Enter nomachine.socs.uoguelph.ca for the Host. Leave the defaults selected.
5. Choose Password as the authentication type and hit continue.
6. Choose Don't use a proxy and click continue.
7. Name should be something to identify the connection by. Accepting the default of Connection to nomachine.socs.uoguelph.ca is ok, but you may choose something more memorable.

Image 1: Choose the correct download based on your operating system

Image 2: Creating a new connection

The following instructions are used to connect to the server, and will take place each time.

1. After opening the NoMachine Client, the connection you created in the earlier section should be listed. Double click, or select and Choose Connect (See Image 3 below).
2. If you are asked to “Verify host authenticity”, press “Yes”. Otherwise, continue to the next step.
3. Enter your Central Login username and password and choose ok.
   • Optionally, you can tick the checkbox to save the password for future connections, which will skip this step on future connections.
4. Select “Create a new Virtual Desktop” and choose continue (See Image 4 below).
5. You should now be logged in at the desktop.

Image 3: Logging into the new connection

Image 4: Creating a new virtual desktop

There are two ways to log out of the SoCS Graphical Linux Environment.

• The first option is to click on the applications menu, and choose “log off”. This closes all programs and logs you out from the computer.
• The second option is to click the red X at the top of the screen. This brings up a menu to either “Disconnect” or “Terminate”. Terminating is closing all programs and logging off as in the first options. Disconnecting allows your session to be available for up to 6 hours allowing you to leave your programs running. Please be respectful of others logged in and only choose Disconnect if you plan to return soon.

• To enter the display menu, click the NoMachine menu (red button) on the taskbar inside the NoMachine window, and choose “Show the menu panel”. Alternatively, you can use the keyboard shortcut CTRL + ALT + 0 (zero) to access the menu.
  • Clicking on the “Resize Remote Screen” button will automatically resize the size of the NoMachine desktop to fit the window. This will remove scroll bars from NoMachine
  • Clicking “Full Screen” will automatically change NoMachine to be full screen on your local computer.