CAVE is the **C**ommon **A**WIPS **V**isualization **E**nvironment that is used for rendering and analyzing data for AWIPS. Unidata supports CAVE to work on three platforms: [Centos (Redhat) Linux](#linux), [Windows](#windows), and [macOS](#macos). The installer may require administrator privileges to install and may require other system changes (environment variables, etc) as well.
!!! error "Running CAVE via X11 forwarding or ssh tunneling is **not** supported. Using a [VNC connection is the only remote option](../appendix/common-problems.md#remotely-connecting-to-cave), and may result in worse performance than running locally."
1. Download the following installer: [**awips_install.sh** <i class="fa fa-download"></i>](https://downloads.unidata.ucar.edu/awips2/current/linux/awips_install.sh)
For Windows, Unidata offers two installation options: a [**Direct Windows Installation**](#method-1-direct-windows-install), or a [**Linux Virtual Machine**](#method-2-linux-virtual-machine).
This method has been simplified to include python and java packaged with CAVE so no other software installation is necessary. CAVE no longer needs changes to any environment variables in order to run.
- [VMWare Workstation Player](https://www.vmware.com/products/workstation-player/workstation-player-evaluation.html) must be installed (free software):
- For high definition monitors (4k), you will want to enable the high DPI setting for VMWare Workstation Player
1. Create a desktop shortcut for VMWare Workstation Player
1. Right-click the shortcut and select Properties
1. Open the Compatability Tab
1. Select the "Change high DPI settings" button
1. Check the "High DPI scaling ovveride" checkbox and choose "Application" in the enabled dropdown
3. Open VMWare Player and go to **Player** > **File...** > **Open** and locate the folder that was created from the downloaded zipped file. Select the file called **"CentOS 7 - Unidata CAVE 18-2-1-6.vmx"**.
!!! error "MacOS Monterey version 12.3 and above no longer supports Python2. This will cause several visualization aspects to fail in CAVE. If you update to MacOS 12.3 CAVE will not be fully functional. Please [download and install our beta v20 of CAVE](install-cave-beta-v20.md#macos) for newer MacOS versions."
!!! note "The awips-python.pkg is not necessarily required, and CAVE will still run without it, but any derived data such as barbs, arrows, and various grid products will not render without having **jep** installed (it is assumed to be in /Library/Python/2.7/site-packages/jep/)"
- Either use the default location, which is in the system-wide "Applications" directory, by clicking and dragging the CAVE icon into the Applications folder, in the window that pops up when installing:
- Or open a new Finder window to your \[user home\]/Applications/ directory (if it doesn't exist, simply create a new folder with the name "Applications"), and drag the CAVE icon into that folder:
!!! note "The first time CAVE is opened, it will ask you if you are sure you want to run it, because it was downloaded from the internet and not the Apple Store. This is normal, and hit Open. Your message my differ slightly but should look like the image below:"
Unidata and XSEDE Jetstream have partnered to offer a EDEX data server in the cloud, open to the Unidata university community. Select the server in the Connectivity Preferences dialog, or enter **edex-cloud.unidata.ucar.edu** (without *http://* before, or *:9581/services* after).
After connecting to an EDEX server, you will have a local directory named **caveData** which contains files synced from EDEX as well as a client-side cache for data and map resources.
You can reset CAVE by removing the **caveData** directory and reconnecting to an EDEX server. Your local files have been removed, but if you are re-connecting to an EDEX server you have used before, the remote files will sync again to your local **~/caveData** (bundles, colormaps, etc.).
These are instructions to manually uninstall CAVE. However, the [`awips_install.sh`](#download-and-installation-instructions) script will do these steps for you if you are installing a newer version of CAVE.
**1. Make sure you have exited out of any CAVE sessions**
!!! note "If you are having trouble removing a group, see the [troubleshooting](../appendix/common-problems.md#troubleshooting-uninstalling-edex) section."
