1. A method, comprising: receiving, by a processing device of a client computing device, prior to initializing a virtual machine (VM) on a host machine that is coupled to the client computing device, a repository of graphical images of applications to be displayed on a monitor of the client computing device, wherein the repository of graphical images to be displayed on the monitor of the client computing device is generated by scanning software files of the applications and is stored at the client computing device prior to the client computing device connecting to the VM; connecting, by the processing device of the client computing device, with the VM on the host machine; receiving, by the processing device of the client computing device, hints regarding a configuration of the VM; selecting, by the processing device, one or more of the graphical images from the repository of images that satisfy the hints; generating, by the processing device of the client computing device, identifiers for the one or more of the graphical images that satisfy the hints; and sending, by the processing device of the client computing device, the identifiers for the one or more of the graphical images that satisfy the hints to the VM.