VirtualBox In The Classroom

[Wolfie_C]

Hello Everyone,

This is my first time post here....

I have been setting up a classroom, where all the PC's have been secured (no access to the BIOS, No Access to USB etc due to the environment I work in). However as my students need to install Microsoft Windows 7 and XP for the course they are currently doing, I have tried to implement a VM environment for them to install the OS, I have manually written the guide which the users can read via the IIS server in the host OS. The Host OS is Windows 7 and connected a Windows 2003 server domain (the only server OS we had to use).

I do have several problems that seem to keep popping up...

1.) The ISO images I use seem to stop working every now and then forcing me to create a new image of the CD. This can be frustrating when I am teaching someone else and need to pop off to create a new image. I think this is linked to the MD5 but not sure.
2.) The default location of the HD images is to the server area, or user area. To save disk space and be less of a burden to the network I would like to change the default location to either C:\VM's or I may add a second HDD. When I click Settings to change the default path it does not seem to save when the PC restarts. Also I would like to try implement this for all my users without manually reconfiguring each client/user, maybe amending the batchfile/login script.
3.) VM's that are in the user area/drive seem to simply vanish, meaning I need to create a new VM, and reload the image everytime the PC restarts, which can become tiresome when you have allot of students.

I would appreciate any help that could be provided, I would also like to try and find a good book or somewhere online that would be able to offer some kind of reading material for what I am trying to do if anyone can point me in the right direction.

[mpack]

I'm afraid that "seem to stop working" is not very diagnostic. Precise details of error messages please.

VMs can't simply vanish once created, at least not by any mechanism that is part of VirtualBox. The VM data is stored by default in the user's documents folder, so of course will not be visible to a different user login.