SOU offers remote access to several Microsoft Windows desktop environments using Microsoft's Remote Desktop Services.  These remote desktop environments are available on any device that supports an RDP (Remote Desktop Protocol) client, including Windows, Macintosh, Linux, iOS, and Android, and they can be accessed from anywhere in the world over the Internet.

If you access our remote desktop environments from off-campus, please be prepared for some noticeable network delay (i.e. latency) while you interact with Windows and applications in the remote environment. For example, you may need to wait a second or two after clicking on something for the screen to react. This is an unfortunate and unavoidable consequence of the fact that the signals have to travel back and forth over the Internet, which introduces significant delay.

Our remote desktop environments host multiple connections at any given time, so they sometimes slow down during periods of intense usage as resources become scarce. Please do everyone a favor and LOG OUT OF YOUR SESSION when you are finished so that those computing resources free up for everyone else. Closing the remote desktop connection program does not log you out of your session. You must remember to log out of the remote Windows environment in order to truly close your session.

RemoteDesktop.sou.edu

This remotedesktop.sou.edu environment is meant to provide an experience similar to working on a standard campus computer. We have installed our site-licensed and commonly-used open source software in this environment. Please click here for a full list of software installed on remotedesktop.sou.edu. You are not able to install any software on remotedesktop.sou.edu. Any settings you change in your profile are persistent, so you should have a consistent experience every time you use remotedesktop.sou.edu.  However, you must save any files to your Box account or your local computer.  If you save anything to the C: drive of your Remote Desktop, you may lose your file.

Beginning in 2021, we now require multi-factor authentication through Duo when accessing remotedesktop.sou.edu.

VirtualLab.sou.edu

The virtuallab.sou.edu environment is meant to provide an experience similar to using any of our on-campus computer labs.  We have installed our site-licensed and commonly-used open source software in this environment in addition to software titles specific to various academic disciplines. Please click here for a full list of software installed on virtuallab.sou.edu. You are not able to install any software on virtuallab.sou.edu. This server is mainly designed for students to have access to specialized software from anywhere on or off campus. Any settings you change in your profile are not persistent: they will be discarded when you log out. You must save any files to your Box account or your local computer.  If you save anything to the C: drive of your Remote Desktop, you may lose your file. 

CSLab.sou.edu

The cslab.sou.edu environment is meant to provide  an experience similar to using any of our on-campus computer labs that have been configured for Computer Science coursework. We have installed our site-licensed and commonly-used open source software in this environment in addition to software titles specific to Computer Science students. Please click here for a full list of software installed on cslab.sou.edu. You are not able to install any software on cslab.sou.edu. This server is designed for Computer Science students to have access to specialized software from anywhere on or off campus. Any settings you change in your profile are persistent, so you should have a consistent experience every time you use cslab.sou.edu.  However, you must save any files to your Box account or your local computer.  If you save anything to the C: drive of your Remote Desktop, you may lose your file.