Other ideas are Docker (like NeuroDocker), Singularity, or a VirtualBox virtual machine. For Windows machines, we sometimes create VirtualBox ova images which are basically whole operating systems that work inside another operating system. You haven't said if you're working within Windows or not, but that same idea could work for other operating systems than Windows too. It seems fairly obstructive to have systems wiped weekly, so I would hope your IT department has a solution already. If it is Windows, will they allow WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux) without the weekly wipes? There are also cloud solutions like setting up Amazon (AWS) or Azure virtual workstations that can be restarted and cloned almost instantly.
