What are Virtual Machines
Support: Getting Started and Getting Help
About SCS (COMP) Course Virtual Machines
List of SCS (COMP) Course Virtual Machines
What are Virtual Machines
Virtual Machines are virtual computers running as an application on a host computer, such as your laptop. The Virtual Machine runs on top of your host computer’s operating system, using a virtualization tool called a hypervisor. This allows you to run any number of guest operating systems without impacting the operating system on your own host computer. For example, most of our courses use Virtual Machines built on the Linux environment. By taking advantage of hypervisor technology, students can continue to run their preferred operating system (Windows 10, Linux, older Intel based macOS devices, etc.), and run the course Virtual Machine on their computer like they would any other application. NOTE: Most hypervisors do NOT support the Apple M1 chipset. See this article for details.
Support: Getting Started and Getting Help
- Virtual Machine Step-by-Step Guide
Step-by-step tutorials that demonstrate how to set up Virtual Machines or your computer - Virtual Machine Technical Support
General Virtual Machine guides and troubleshooting articles
About SCS (COMP) Course Virtual Machines
The SCS Course Virtual Machines (SCS VMs) are all in VirtualBox .ova format (unless otherwise noted). Most will work fine with other hypervisors (KVM, VMWare, Hyper-V, etc.). The naming convention is the usually the course code COMPXXXX of the course it was built for, followed by an optional term, such as -F24 for Fall 2024, representing when it was created. Many VMs continue to be used for both future terms and different courses. Consult with your Instructor to determine the exact SCS VM you are expected to use for your course!
IMPORTANT: Some vital things to remember when working with SCS VMs:
- SCS VMs require the VirtualBox Extension Pack (Installing VirtualBox Guide)
- The current SCS VMs have been tested with VirtualBox 7.0.20 on Windows 10/11 and Linux
- There are many known issues with pre 6.1.10 versions of VirtualBox in particular, please try to install version 7.x.x or newer
- Older (Archived) SCS VMs are NOT tested on recent operating systems and newer versions of VirtualBox
- Most hypervisors, including VirtualBox, do NOT support the Apple M1/M2 chipsets. So SCS VMs can not be used on those devices. See this article for details
Current SCS (COMP) Course Virtual Machines
NOTE: Our CURRENT Virtual Machines typically use the credentials username: student / password: student (unless otherwise noted).
| Virtual Machine (SHA1 checksum) |
Size (GB) |
OS | Privileged user / password |
Staff / Faculty |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| COMP2401-F24.ova UPDATED Sep 24, 2024 (19a1d136f6e0ca7cf52daa753e9aaea2ea4b0fab) |
2.5 | ubuntu 24.04 |
student / student | A. Pullin |
| COMP3000-F24.ova UPDATED Sep 26, 2024 (fabfc5042be97f3388c41f0fe4a767203d0662fb) |
1.7 | ubuntu 22.04 |
student / student |
A. Pullin Z. Rabinovich |
| COMP3004-F24.ova UPDATED Sep 20, 2024 (6f42d90d694b623961660b4ab9d14e62339465cb) |
2.7 | ubuntu 22.04 |
student / student |
A. Pullin V. Radonjic |
NOTE: Look here for the archive of Virtual Machines from previous years.