---
title: "CloudLabs Shadow"
slug: "cloudlabs-shadow"
updated: 2025-07-03T17:00:47Z
published: 2025-07-03T17:00:47Z
canonical: "help.cloudlabs.ai/cloudlabs-shadow"
---

> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://help.cloudlabs.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# CloudLabs Shadow

## About CloudLabs Shadow​

**CloudLabs Shadow** is an embedded feature integrated into the CloudLabs platform that lets Instructors shadow a pre-deployed Virtual Machine that is being used by an attendee. This means Instructors can now easily monitor and help attendees in real-time during a workshop. The feature to shadow labs also lets an Instructor easily perform various supervision tasks very efficiently without disconnecting the attendees from their respective Remote Desktop Connection (RDP).

## Access CloudLabs Shadow​

Let us explore **CloudLabs Shadow** in details and how to use this feature.

1. Login to [**https://admin.cloudlabs.ai**](https://admin.cloudlabs.ai/) with your work account.

1. Select the correct **CloudLabs tenant (1)** that is relevant to **your organization**.
2. On the left, click **On Demand Labs (2)**.

1. To launch Shadow Session, click on the **Users (3)** icon as shown below.

![](https://cdn.document360.io/eb22e69b-92a3-4c63-861d-5b53dc9d04c5/Images/Documentation/cpshadow.png)

## Launching CloudLabs Shadow Session​

1. From the **Users** tab, click on the **BINOCULAR** icon as shown below, this will **Launch VM Shadow**. This section is also known as the **Instructor Login** and will launch as a new virtual machine browser session.

![](https://cdn.document360.io/eb22e69b-92a3-4c63-861d-5b53dc9d04c5/Images/Documentation/usersshadow.png)
2. Now, **Remote Desktop Connection (1)** will automatically start, which is basically the attendees' session. You can **Maximize (2)** the Shadow session by clicking on maximize icon.

![](https://cdn.document360.io/eb22e69b-92a3-4c63-861d-5b53dc9d04c5/Images/Documentation/cs-005.png)
3. Sometimes Shadow Session of the attendees may Stop to launch on the **Instructor login**. This may be due to the following reasons.

- Instructors will not be able to launch shadow session if the attendee has not connected to the VM first.

![](https://cdn.document360.io/eb22e69b-92a3-4c63-861d-5b53dc9d04c5/Images/Documentation/sl2.png)
- If an attendee is disconnected to the VM session, instructors will not be able to launch shadow session. Inform the attendee to re-launch the VM or connect to it again.

![](https://cdn.document360.io/eb22e69b-92a3-4c63-861d-5b53dc9d04c5/Images/Documentation/sl3.png)

> [!WARNING]
> **Note: Once the attendee reconnects to the VM, the shadow session will open up on the Instructor Login.**

1. If you close the attendees shadow session accidentally, you may re-launch it from the **Shadow Lab User VM** shortcut created on the desktop 🖥.

![](https://cdn.document360.io/eb22e69b-92a3-4c63-861d-5b53dc9d04c5/Images/Documentation/cs-008.png)

## Can't Find CloudLabs Shadow Option?​

Sometimes due to technical restrictions, Instructors may not find the **CloudLabs Shadow** feature as demonstrated above. This is a rare situation and it could be because the option is not supported with the lab environment or not enabled on the labs, among various other reasons related to compatibility. [Contact Support](https://help.cloudlabs.ai/docs/contact-support-1) [Team](https://docs.cloudlabs.ai/RequestSupport) to get this fixed.