Student Desktop@ Home Full Off Campus Access to your Programs and Files
Full Access to the University from Home You can access the University from any computer with an internet connection. This system provides a full remote desktop, which works in exactly the same way as if you were sat at a PC on Campus. You will have access to your CUFS files and all of the common applications including: - Office 2007 Enterprise - Mulberry Email - SPSS 16 & 17 - MatLab - Arc GIS - Faculty Applications You can save directly back to the CUFS drive, ready for the next time you are on site or save to a memory stick on your PC. You will also be able to print either to your local printer or to University printers. You can also connect to this system from your own laptop on campus, using the University's Wireless network. 1) Get Setup The first step to use our Remote Connection service is to check that you have the free Remote Desktop Connection software on your system. Windows XP and Vista: Built-In: Located in Start > Programs > Accessories > Communications > Remote Desktop Connection. To get the best experience you should try and install the latest version (7.0) from http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=72158b4e-b527-45e4-af24-d02938a95683&displaylang=en or by following the download link on the IS Website Windows 7 : Built-In: Version 7 is located in the All Programs > Accessories folder. Apple Mac OS X You will need to download the free RDP for Mac 2.0 Connection software from Microsoft. The program installs into the Utilities area. See: http://www.microsoft.com/mac/otherproducts/otherproducts.aspx?pid=remotedesktopclient If you are using the web based alternative access portal to access the system, any Java enabled web browser and operating system will be able to access the system, regardless of the Remote Desktop Version you have installed 2) Connecting The simplest way to connect is to visit the My Bristol Portal portal.bris.ac.uk, or go to the Information Services web pages and save or open our connection file. The web page to download from is: http://www.bristol.ac.uk/studentdesktop If you prefer, you can also manually load Remote Desktop Connection, as outlined in step one. Type the address below into the long white box labelled Computer, including the full stops. Click the Connect button to begin. studentremotedesktop.bris.ac.uk
2) - Open the connection file from the Portal or the University Web Pages How this will appear depends on which Operating System you use on your personal computer and which browser you use. In all versions of Internet Explorer, when you click on the connection file a window will appear click Open to immediately connect. In Firefox you will see a different window: Simply choose Open with and click on the OK button; there is no need to browse for an application to open the file with. If you have saved the file, then you can open it from the saved location. Apple Safari users will not be able to open the file directly from the web page. Safari will automatically download the file you will see it in the downloads list. Go to the file in Finder and open it from there - you can click on the magnifying glass in the downloads list to do this.
3) Enter Your UOB username and password How this will appear depends on which Operating System you use on your personal computer. In Windows 7, Vista you may see a small box appear asking for your username and password before a connection window appears. In Windows XP you will normally see a computer login screen, as you do on our Campus computers. Whichever appears on Windows you will need to enter your UOB username and password in the format UOB\username i.e. UOB\11380 On some Apple Systems, you will see a third Domain box please make sure that this contains UOB and enter your normal username and password in the first two boxes Your password is the UOB password that you use for systems and email on campus; and is case sensitive. Click OK when you have provided the information and you will be connected to the system. 4) Using Storage Devices Once you have connected, you will see a standard University desktop you can use your software, files and applications as normal. If you want to load and save from a USB drive then just plug this in to your PC. You can find the device in Computer on the University desktop and copy / paste files between devices, just as you would on a machine on Campus. 5) Using Printers If you have a printer connected to the computer you are using to remotely connect, then this will automatically be made available as the default printer in your Remote Session. Most printer types are supported and printing will appear just as if you were working on your own PC. There are no charges for printing to personal printers in this way. You can also find and print to University based printers; for example you are connecting from a laptop over the University Wireless network and want to get work from a branch library.
Other Options There are a range of other options that can be set in the Remote Desktop Connection application these will normally only need to be changed if you are trying to get faster performance or perform troubleshooting. Click on the Options text in the Remote Desktop Connection window to show all of the settings tabs. The most useful options can be found in Display and Experience. If you have a slow connection, click on Desktop and lower the slider to either 1024x768 or 800x600 pixels. You should then click on Experience and choose Low Speed Broadband from the options shown. If you have a fast connection, you will probably want to connect with full screen and High Speed Broadband settings enabled. You will not see a desktop background / picture unless this option is ticked in the Experience options. Troubleshooting Tips 1) Make sure you type the University connection address into the Remote Desktop Connection window correctly. Any trailing spaces or punctuation will prevent a connection. Download the preconfigured connection file from the IS website or use the Portal Web connection if you can. 2) If prompted, please make sure you allow your Firewall to permit Remote Desktop Connection (mstsc.exe) to access the internet, so it can connect to the University systems this will us port 3389 if your firewall software has to be manually configured 3) Make sure you have downloaded are the most current version of the Remote Desktop Connection software. At the moment, this is RDC 7.0 for Windows XP and Vista and RDC 2.0 for MAC OS-X. Windows 7 has the most current software built in. 4) If you are prompted for your logon details, remember you may need to use the format UOB\yourusername, not just the username itself. 5) Choose a smaller desktop size to speed up the performance of the remote connection the larger the screen size you have when connected, the more information needs to be sent and the slower the service may seem 6) Try connecting over a wired connection rather than a wireless link if possible 7) Printers may not be available if you use older versions of the Remote Desktop Connection software. Try and update this; if your home printer still does not appear, it may not be compatible with the University system. Contact the IT help desk if you need further help or information First Floor, Computer Centre Next to the Arts & Social Sciences Library Tel: +44 (0) 117 92 87870 or internal 87870 (free internal call) Email: help-desk@bristol.ac.uk Open for visitors: 8.30am - 5.30pm, weekdays