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Washington and Lee University

Washington and Lee University
Information Technology Services

The Stable Virtual Desktop Service

Desktops saddled and ready at The Stable

This page offers an overview of The Stable, the virtual desktop service for W&L students, faculty and staff. Click here if you are ready to start using it now.

What is The Stable?

The stable was a central feature of life in early America, providing shelter for the horse, an essential resource for farming and transportation. The brick structure adjacent to the president's house on the W&L campus is a reminder of those days. It once was the stable for Traveller, the trusted steed of Robert E. Lee when he was president of the institution.

Now W&L offers a virtual stable providing an essential resource for higher education in the 21st century: the computer desktop. TheStable.wlu.edu is a provides a convenient way for students, faculty and staff to access a Windows desktop environment, including Windows software and W&L network storage, from any location with Internet access. The Stable supports access to computer resources from anywhere, from a wide variety of devices, including Macintosh and Windows computers, iPads and a variety of smartphones.

How can The Stable benefit me?

Here are some of the ways that students, faculty and staff are using The Stable:

  • To securely access specialized software, such as Stata, SPSS, Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign and a variety of discipline-specific software from off campus locations, or from on-campus office computers where this software is not locally installed
  • To access Windows software from Macintosh or Unix computers, or even from devices such as the iPad and a variety of smartphones
  • To print to W&L network printers from your personal laptop or other devices, using a wired or wireless connection. See a video on how to print with The Stable.
  • To access W&L network storage, including the H drive (personal storage), I drive (shared departmental storage) and L drive (course-specific shared storage) from off campus, without the use of the Virtual Private Network (VPN). See a video on accessing network storage with The Stable.

What kinds of virtual desktops are available?

The Stable currently offers these virtual desktops to all W&L faculty, staff and students:

  • American Paint: Adobe software, such as Photoshop, Illustrator, Fireworks and InDesign, running on Windows 7
  • American Saddlebred: Software most commonly used at W&L, including Microsoft Office, Outlook, as well as discipline-specific software such as Stata, SPSS, ArtStor and various politics-related software, all running on Windows 7
  • Morgan : Science and math-related software, such as Maple, Matlab and ArcGIS, running on Windows XP

See additional details on desktops (PDF document).
IMPORTANT: These are all "frozen" desktops that you cannot permanently change. Any changes, such as downloaded software or files saved to the desktop, are erased at the end of each session. When working with these desktops, you should save all files to a network location such as H.

How do I begin using The Stable?

Use of The Stable requires a high-speed Internet connection, and a Web browser such as Internet Explorer, Firefox or Safari. You access The Stable at http://thestable.wlu.edu, logging in with your W&L user name and password. Free Citrix software, which is updated periodically, is required to run The Stable; in most cases, you will be prompted to download and install it when you log in. See a video on how to begin using The Stable.

More information

More information about The Stable is available in the ITS Knowledge Base. Please contact the Information Desk (540-458-4357 or help@wlu.edu) with any problems, suggestions, or needs related to The Stable.