Using Winstat
(For Members in the School of Education)

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Last Revised:1/18/2008

Winstat is the SSCC's Windows Terminal Server farm. Windows Terminal Servers run a special version of Windows that allows many people to use the server at the same time, but each individual user gets a Windows session that looks and acts just like Windows on any other computer. A terminal server session has access to both the School of Education network drives and your local hard drive and printer, and can run any software installed on the server. Programs run on the server itself, which is more powerful than most PCs.

Connecting to Winstat is very easy: simply visit the SOE Terminal Server web page. Once you log in, click on the Winstat icon and you'll be connected automatically. If you don't have the Citrix ICA client installed on your computer, the web page will give you the opportunity to download it for increased performance. However, you won't need to configure anything, because the web page gives the client all the information it needs.

Uses for Winstat

Winstat has the usual general purpose Windows software installed plus client programs for logging into the SSCC's Linux servers. When logged in, you have full access to the School of Education network drives, almost as if you were in the building. Note however, that on Winstat your personal home directory is labeled as the U: drive, though you are probably used to it being either H: or P:. You can also transfer files between the network and the computer you're using. This makes Winstat a great way to work remotely, from home or while traveling.

Winstat has a wide variety of statistical software installed: Stata, SAS, SPSS, R, NVivo and many others. For a complete list, see our software page. This makes Winstat a great place to do research, though those looking to do major number crunching should keep in mind such programs generally run faster on our Linux servers. Also keep in mind that Winstat sessions are automatically closed after 24 hours without input, though it works quite well to start a long job and then disconnect as long as the job will finish within 24 hours.

Connecting to Winstat

To connect to Winstat, open a browser and go to the SOE Terminal Server web page. You'll be asked to give your SOE-AD user name and password. You'll then see an icon for Winstat under Applications. Click on it to connect.

If you are using Firefox, you may be asked what you want to do with the small file containing the connection information. Chose Open with (it should choose the Citrix ICA Client Engine automatically) and feel free to check Do this automatically for files like this from now on.

But if this is the first time you are connecting from a particular computer, there are some steps you should take first.

Installing the Citrix ICA Client

It's possible to connect to Winstat without installing any software at all, but the Citrix ICA Client gives better performance. Installing it is very easy and will only take a few moments, so we highly recommend it.

If you don't have the ICA client installed on your computer, the Message Center will tell you so:

Click on the link as instructed and the client's installer will download automatically. Save the file to a convenient location and double-click on it to run the installation program, but there's no configuration to do other than accepting the license agreement.

Note that this message may continue to be displayed until you restart your web browser (and if you are using Internet Explorer you need to allow the ActiveX control to run) but you can use the ICA client right away.

The Java Client

If you cannot install the ICA client you can still use the Java client. It's functional but by default only allows you to access files in C:\Documents and Settings\{your account name on your PC}. The Java client also cannot run in full-screen mode.

Controlling the Winstat Window

Once you've connected to Winstat, the ICA client will take over your screen and you can almost forget you're not using your own computer. If you do want to access your own desktop, press Shift-F2 to put your terminal server session in a window. You can then minimize it like any other program. To go back to your session, make sure the session is selected and press Shift-F2 again.

If you want your session to take up part of the screen you can resize the session window by dragging the edges as usual. If the edges end up being off the edge of the screen, you can right-click on the icon in the upper left corner of the window, then click Resize Window, Shrink until they're visible again.

Transferring Files Using Winstat

When you log in to Winstat using the ICA client, it will automatically create network drives that connect to the local drives of your computer. The letters they are assigned will depend on your setup, but the names will always be in the same form. For example, C$ on Client will be the C: drive of your computer, D$ on Client will be your D: drive (perhaps a CD-Rom drive) etc.

This gives you a very easy way to transfer files between your computer and the SSCC network. Simply open the C$ on Client drive, locate the file you want to transfer, and drag it to a network drive like U: (your home directory). The process also works in reverse. Keep in mind that the file must be sent over your Internet connection, so if you have a large file or a slow connection it may take a while.

One warning: Winstat sees the hard drive of your computer as a network drive, and when you delete a file from a network drive it is permanently deleted rather than being sent to the Recycle Bin. Please be careful about deleting files.

Guidelines for Using Winstat

There are a few guidelines you should follow when using Winstat:

1. Do not attempt to install your own software on the server. Winstat is not the same as a regular Windows PC, and sometimes software which works fine on a PC causes problems on Winstat. This includes the "codebook" programs that come with some data sets--you'll need to find another place to install and run them.
2. Save all your files on network drives like U:. Do not save files on your Windows desktop, in My Documents, or anywhere on the C: drive. Files saved in the latter locations may or may not be available the next time you log into Winstat. You can put shortcuts on your desktop for easy access to files if you wish.
3. Avoid using Winstat to run applications which are also installed on your personal computer, such as email programs. Running these programs locally makes them easier for SOE staff to support and reduces the load on the server. Remember you can switch between Winstat and programs on your computer by pressing Shift-F2, and you can even copy and paste between them.
4. When you're done using Winstat, log off. Do not just close the ICA client. If you do, your session remains active, hoping you'll reconnect. Thus it will continue to use resources on the server until your session is closed automatically 24 hours later.