Unified secure virtual machine player and remote desktop client

A machine readable storage medium for providing access to a virtual machine (VM), the machine readable storage medium embodying computer code causing a computer system to access a virtual machine (VM) from a computer system by performing a method comprising:

• under control of a desktop portal, providing a user with a unified graphical interface to a VM regardless of whether the VM is accessed remotely or locally, the desktop portal comprising a VM player interface for accessing the VM when the VM is accessed locally and a remote desktop client for accessing the VM when the VM is accessed remotely, by:
• receiving user log-in information, the log-in information identifying a user and a corresponding VM, the corresponding VM having a local copy stored on the computer system and a remote copy stored on a separate server computer system;
• identifying a selected copy of the corresponding VM based on at least one of a policy and a user selection, the selected copy being one of the local copy and the remote copy of the corresponding VM;
• presenting a desktop generated by the selected copy of the corresponding VM to the user in the same unified graphical user interface, without regard as to whether the selected copy of the corresponding VM is the local copy accessed from the computer system or the remote copy accessed from the separate server computer system.

A computer system comprising:

• a memory;
• a computer processor;
• and
• a desktop portal, stored in the memory, comprising:
• a unified graphical interface to a VM to a VM regardless of whether the VM is accessed remotely or locally;
• a VM player interface for accessing the VM when the VM is accessed locally;
• and
• a remote desktop client for accessing the VM when the VM is accessed remotely,
• wherein the desktop portal is configured, when executed by the computer processor, to:
• receive user log-in information identifying a user and a corresponding VM, the corresponding VM having a local copy stored on the computer system and a remote copy stored on a separate server computer system;
• identify a selected copy of the corresponding VM based on at least one of a policy and a user selection, the selected copy being one of the local copy and the remote copy of the corresponding VM;
• and
• present a desktop generated by the selected copy of the corresponding VM to the user in the same unified graphical user interface, without regard as to whether the selected copy of the corresponding VM is the local copy accessed from the computer system or the remote copy accessed from the separate server computer system.