Inside Computer

Tour the in-session interface of your Vagon Computer, including the Dock Menu, audio and microphone controls, copy and paste, and the Windows keyboard layout.

Once you are connected, your Vagon Computer behaves like any Windows workstation. The main difference is the in-session Dock Menu, which collects the controls you use most often while streaming: sound, display, file transfers, copy and paste, and shutdown.

The Dock Menu opens from the settings icon on the right edge of your session. It is the same whether you connect through a browser or the Desktop Application, and it holds most of the settings you would otherwise look for in the dashboard.

The Dock Menu is organized into three tabs.

General

Sound level.
Screen size.
Copy and paste between your local device and the Vagon Computer.
Mouse scroll direction.
Auto Turn-Off behavior for the session.

Display

Screen resolution.
Stream Preferences, used to balance image quality and responsiveness against your internet connection speed.

Files

Access to Vagon Files storage.
File transfers between your Vagon Computer and your local device.

If the stream looks soft or stutters, open the Display tab and lower the stream quality. Lower image quality is often the right trade for a more responsive session on slower networks.

Performance Options & Specs

Audio and Microphone

Vagon Computers stream system audio to your local device by default, and they also support microphone input so you can join calls, talk to teammates, or record audio inside the session. Microphone support is enabled by default on any Vagon Computer created after November 2021.

To turn on the microphone:

Open the Dock Menu on the right edge of the session.
Activate the microphone option.
When the browser prompts for microphone access, allow it. This is a one-time permission – future sessions reuse the choice.

If your Vagon Computer was created before November 2021 and you do not see the microphone option, contact support to have the feature enabled on your computer.

If audio or microphone behavior is unreliable in the browser, test the Vagon Desktop Application, which generally handles audio devices more consistently. If a browser denied microphone access earlier, reset the permission in your browser's site settings and reconnect.

Copy and Paste Between Devices

The clipboard is not shared automatically between your local computer and your Vagon Computer. The Dock Menu provides dedicated actions to move text in either direction.

From Your Local Computer to Vagon

Copy text on your local computer as usual.
Inside the Vagon session, open the Dock Menu.
Click Copy Text to Vagon.

The text is now in the Vagon clipboard and you can paste it anywhere inside the session.

From Vagon to Your Local Computer

Copy text inside the Vagon Computer as usual.
Open the Dock Menu.
Click Copy Text from Vagon.

The text is now in your local clipboard and you can paste it anywhere on your own machine.

The Dock Menu actions move text only. To move files, screenshots, or larger assets, use Vagon Files or the in-session file transfer tools.

Keyboard Layout and Shortcuts

Your Vagon Computer runs Windows, so keyboard behavior, shortcuts, and clipboard handling follow Windows conventions. Computers ship with an English layout by default, and you can install and switch to any other language at any time.

To change the layout:

Connect to your Vagon Computer.
Open the Start menu and search for Edit language and keyboard options, or go to Settings → Time & Language → Language.
Click Add a language, choose the language you want, and let Windows finish the installation.
Switch between layouts from the language indicator in the Windows taskbar.

If a specific key feels wrong (for example, an at sign or quote mark in the wrong place), it is almost always a layout mismatch between your local keyboard and the Windows layout selected inside Vagon. Match the two and the problem disappears.

Shortcut Differences Across Operating Systems

On macOS, Cmd maps to Ctrl inside Vagon (for example, copy is Ctrl + C, not Cmd + C).
OS-level shortcuts that belong to your local machine (Mission Control, Spotlight, window snapping) are handled by your local OS and do not reach the Vagon session.
Some browser shortcuts may be intercepted by your browser before they reach the streamed session. The Vagon Desktop Application passes shortcuts straight through to the Vagon Computer.

If keyboard shortcuts are critical to your workflow – for example, in editing or 3D applications – use the Vagon Desktop Application instead of the browser to make sure shortcuts reach the cloud computer reliably.

Shutting Down a Session

You can shut down a running Vagon Computer in three ways:

From the Dock Menu: open the Dock Menu and click Turn Off Computer.
From the Dashboard: open the Vagon dashboard in your browser and choose Shut Down on the running computer.
From the Start Menu: use the standard Windows Start menu inside the session and shut down the operating system normally.

Any of these options ends the session cleanly. Persistent storage is preserved according to your plan; only the running session is stopped.

Idle Sessions and Auto Turn-Off

By default, a session that has been idle for 15 minutes is automatically turned off so you do not continue to use credits while you are away. You can change this:

In the Dashboard, change the Auto Turn-Off interval under Run in Background, or choose Always On if you do not want the session to stop automatically.
In a running session, open the Dock Menu and adjust the Auto Turn-Off setting under General.

Sessions that are not idle keep running and keep using credits. If you choose Always On, the computer continues consuming credits or plan time until you stop it yourself.

Next Steps

Performance Options & Specs Vagon Files Directory Vagon Desktop Apps USB & External Hard Disk Support Computer Performance

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Last updated 4 months ago