Issues That Could Arise During Usage

A handful of applications might need minor adjustments to run fully with DaDesktop.

Fresh Start Cloning Problems and Their Fixes

Almost all applications behave normally once set up in the Fresh Start machine on DaDesktop (DD). However, a couple of apps don't work correctly after cloning due to the process itself, requiring a few additional steps to restore normal operation.

• Oracle Database Server - Needs a hostname update: change it from the duplicated one to 127.0.0.1
• Hyper-V server - When cloned from the FreshStart machine, Hyper-V experiences duplicate MAC addresses if the External switch is turned on.
• Google Chrome - Chrome might fail to launch on clones because its profile is linked to the Fresh Start machine; this can happen if the Fresh Start machine wasn’t shut down completely before cloning.
• WSL - Windows System for Linux - Our testing shows that DaDesktop machines with WSL installed aren't portable. That means if you move a DD machine containing WSL to a different DD server, it won't boot correctly. The exact cause is unknown, but it seems Windows ties itself to specific hardware assumptions, causing trouble when moved. Since WSL is seldom used for training (users typically run Linux directly), this problem hasn't been fully investigated yet.
• Issues where a trial software licence uses the MAC address to track the licence - Here, the licence is tied to a MAC address; after cloning, it looks as if the licence has already been activated and consumed.
• For apps that need licences, you might have to add them after the FreshStart machine is cloned.
   

Additional Problems You Might Encounter with DaDesktop

• Very slow Virtualbox seen when using Hyper-V and VirtualBox (a problem that can arise even without DaDesktop)

  Problem: VirtualBox on Windows can be so slow that running a course becomes nearly impossible, but the solution is refreshingly simple:
  Solution 1: Uninstall Hyper-V Virtualisation in Windows:

  https://www.wintips.org/fix-virtualbox-running-very-slow-in-windows-10-11/

  Solution 2: Apply the Hyper-V Server workaround mentioned earlier; otherwise, duplicate MAC addresses cause slow performance, boot issues, and other strange behaviour.

• Unable to type certain characters ie Apostrophes / Quotation Marks, Inverted Commas, inside the DaDesktop machine.