MacOS

Install neurodesktop on MacOS

Minimum System Requirements

  1. At least 3GB free space for neurodesktop base image
  2. An Intel Mac. M1/ARM Macs are not yet supported.
  3. Docker requirements. Details found under https://docs.docker.com/get-docker/

Quickstart

1. Install Docker

Install Docker from here: https://docs.docker.com/get-docker/

  1. Open the Docker Desktop and Navigate to the Install Docker Desktop tab. Instructions found at https://docs.docker.com/desktop/install/mac-install/

  2. Increase the Memory slider from 2.00 GB to 4.00 GB (or greater)

  3. Increase Swap slider from 1GB to 2GB (or greater)

2. Run Neurodesktop

Use one of the following options to run Neurodesktop:

Instructions on installing and using the app: https://www.neurodesk.org/docs/getting-started/neurodesktop/neurodeskapp/

Option 2 (Advanced): Using Terminal

Create a local folder where the downloaded applications will be stored, e.g. ~/neurodesktop-storage

  1. Open a terminal, and type the following command to automatically download the neurodesktop container and run it
docker run \
--shm-size=1gb -it --privileged --user=root --name neurodesktop \
-v ~/neurodesktop-storage:/neurodesktop-storage \
-e NB_UID="$(id -u)" -e NB_GID="$(id -g)" \
-p 8888:8888 -e NEURODESKTOP_VERSION=2023-09-20 vnmd/neurodesktop:2023-09-20

If you get errors in neurodesktop then check if the ~/neurodesktop-storage directory is writable for all users. If it is not, run chmod a+rwx ~/neurodesktop-storage

  1. Once neurodesktop is downloaded, leave the terminal open and check which server neurodesktop running on (Avoid pressing CTRL+C).

image

  1. To access neurodesktop, open your web browser and navigate to one of the URLs shown in your terminal (e.g. http://127.0.0.1:8888/lab?token=your_unique_token).
  1. If prompted, press on “Desktop Auto-Resolution” under “ALL CONNECTIONS”

  2. If it is the first time you use Neurodesktop, wait until the desktop appears (it may take a few seconds). Otherwise, it should appear instantaneously.

  3. Neurodesk is ready to use! See the tutorials page for advice on how to use Neurodesk.

Deleting neurodesktop:

When done processing your data it is important to stop and remove the container - otherwise the next start or container update will give an error ("… The container name “/neurodesktop” is already in use…")

  1. Click on the terminal from which you ran neurodesktop

  2. Press control-C

  3. Type:

docker stop neurodesktop
  1. Type:
docker rm neurodesktop

Using an RDP Client

Startup Neurodesktop using the following command:

docker run \
--shm-size=1gb -it --privileged --user=root --name neurodesktop \
-v ~/neurodesktop-storage:/neurodesktop-storage \
-p 3390:3389 -p 8888:8888 \
-e NEURODESKTOP_VERSION=2023-09-20 vnmd/neurodesktop:2023-09-20

Open your RDP client and connect to Computer localhost:3390

Use the following details to login if prompted

username
user
password
password

Using VNC

To enable VNC and disable RDP, startup Neurodesktop using the following command:

docker run \
--shm-size=1gb -it --privileged --user=root --name neurodesktop \
-v ~/neurodesktop-storage:/neurodesktop-storage \
-e VNC_ENABLE=true -p 8888:8888 \
-e NEURODESKTOP_VERSION=2023-09-20 vnmd/neurodesktop:2023-09-20

Using a VNC Client

Startup Neurodesktop using the following command:

docker run \
--shm-size=1gb -it --privileged --user=root --name neurodesktop \
-v ~/neurodesktop-storage:/neurodesktop-storage \
-e VNC_ENABLE=true -p 5901:5901 -p 8888:8888 \
-e NEURODESKTOP_VERSION=2023-09-20 vnmd/neurodesktop:2023-09-20

Open a VNC Client and connect to port 5901

Last modified September 25, 2023: update to new version 2023-09-20 (088e1f8)