Overview
CloudShare’s Shared Environment feature enables multiple participants to access and interact within the same virtual environment (resources) over a common network, allowing instructors and participants to facilitate collaborative scenarios and group-based learning activities.
Note: Resources in Shared Environments can only use the CloudShare Cloud (not the public cloud) and only on Accelerate. For a full description of Shared Environments, you may refer to [Beta] Creating and Managing Shared Environments - 2026. If a Shared Environment is defined in the experience blueprint, the Participant Viewer shows two tabs at the top-left: My Environment and Shared Environment.
The Shared Environment tab provides access to the environment shared with the other participants and instructors in the session, including its VMs.
Note: The Shared Environment tab appears only if an instructor has defined a Shared Environment for the session. After the instructor creates the Shared Environment, it may take a few minutes for it to appear in the Participant Viewer. If the Shared Environment is suspended, it is not visible or accessible.
The My Environment tab provides access to the participant's personal environment and the full range of Participant Viewer tools as usual, as shown below:
Who is Controlling the Session?
The Shared Environment is typically controlled by a single participant or instructor at a time, referred to as the Controller. The name of the current Controller appears at the top right, so that the participant can always see who is currently controlling the Shared Environment, as shown below:
If you are the Controller, a green Controlled by you label appears in the top-right corner, as shown below:
IMPORTANT: In most cases, only one user is identified as the Controller. However, if a user is the Host, granting Controller permission to another user does not remove the Host’s ability to interact with the VM. In this case, both the Host and the assigned Controller may be able to control the same session simultaneously.
Controller Location Indicator
To make it easier for participants to follow the Controller, an indicator appears on the VM tab that the Controller is currently viewing in the Shared Environment, as shown below:
If the Controller moves to a different VM within the Shared Environment tab, the indicator moves with them.
The indicator appears only while the Controller is in the Shared Environment tab. If the Controller switches to their personal My Environment tab, the indicator disappears. If the Controller returns to the Shared Environment tab while still holding Controller permission, the indicator reappears.
If Controller permission is revoked, the indicator disappears. If Controller permission is assigned to a different participant, the indicator appears on the VM currently being viewed by that current Controller.
What Can a Participant Do in a Shared Environment?
If the Participant is a Viewer
If the participant is not a Controller, they can only watch what the Controller does in the Participant Viewer. The participant can switch between VM tabs to look at each VM and use the Participant Viewer’s collaboration tools.
If the Participant is the Controller
If the participant is the Controller, they can select the relevant VM in the Shared Environment from its VM tab or from the VM List and work in that VM while everyone else watches. The Participant Viewer collaboration tools are also available, as shown below:
Accessing VMs in a Shared Environment
Accessing VMs from the VM Tabs
After an instructor creates a Shared Environment, participants can access the VMs in that environment in the Participant Viewer.
After selecting the Shared Environment tab at the top of the Participant Viewer, a tab appears across the top of the Participant Viewer for each VM, just like in the participant’s personal My Environment tab, as shown below:
Clicking on a VM tab displays the VM’s view.
If the Participant is a Controller, they can perform actions in the VM. Otherwise, they can only view the Controller's activities.
Accessing VMs from the VM List
A VM List may appear as a tab at the top of the Participant Viewer or as an option in the side menu, as defined by the instructor in the Experience Editor.
After an instructor has created a Shared Environment, participants can access the shared VMs in the VMs List of the Participant Viewer.
The VM List displays all VMs available within the Experience, including those in a Shared Environment, as shown below:
In this example screen above, the first two VMs are in the participant’s personal environment, and the last three are in the Shared Environment.