Patent ID: 8281018

Claim:
A computer-implemented method, comprising: receiving, by a controller device managing a plurality of virtual machines (VMs), an indication that a client device is starting up; determining, by the controller device, that both of an automatic launch configuration setting and an automatic connect configuration setting are set for each of the client device and a VM of the plurality of VMs, wherein the VM is associated with the client device and is one of: a predetermined VM, a member of a group of VMs that are associated with the client device, or a VM selected from a pool of VMs; in response to the determining that both of the automatic launch and the automatic connect configuration settings are set: launching, by the controller device without requiring a user of the VM to logon to the client device, the VM at a server device hosting the VM; and establishing a connection between the client device and the VM without requiring a user of the VM to select the VM at the client device, the connection to provide a user of the client device access at the client device to the VM hosted on the server device; wherein the launching the VM and the establishing the connection occur without having the user manually log onto a Web portal in order to select the VM to be launched and establish the connection to the VM.