What will/won't work when using my university desktop from home?

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Please select the type of system you have, or will be taking away from campus.

Windows
Mac
Linux

Windows

When you take your Windows computer away from Campus, there are a number of things that won't work as you would usually expect them to in the office.

If your issue is covered below, please follow the guidance on how you should work from your desktop whilst at home.

If you issue is not covered, then we would request you contact ServiceLine for the best possible advice.

Please make sure you are connecting to your home internet, either by a network cable on the back of your computer to your router, or by using a WiFi dongle/adapter. More information on how to connect your desktop can be found in our 'Disconnecting and Connecting your desktop' article.

Your Desktop and My Documents

It's likely when you sign into your computer you won't see all the icons you normally would. Don't panic, this is quite normal!

This is because you are away from the network.

For better guidance on how to work with documents whilst you are away from campus, please follow out Working With Documents article.

You will also find that if you pin applications to the taskbar such as Word, Outlook, Business World etc, they will not show when you next log into the machine at home. Unfortunately there is nothing we can do about this.

VPN / Global Protect

Most of our services don't require you to connect to Global Protect, but you can check out which one's do and don't at the following pages.

Services that require VPN

Services that do not require VPN

You should have installed this before taking your desktop home by installing the 'Working From Home Desktop' application, but if you didn't you can install this by following the 'How do i set up VPN on my device' knowledge article.

Additional Software

On campus, you would install your software from the 'Additional' software icon on your desktop. This should continue to work from home as long as you are connected to Global Protect / VPN.

It does occasionally cause problems away from campus, so if you see any please get in touch with ServiceLine.

Microsoft Outlook and your Email

Outlook and your email should work fine away from campus, without any need to connect to VPN, as long as you have an internet connection.

You may however see extra login prompts when loading email asking you to sign in to your account. If you see these feel free to sign in with your username@soton.ac.uk and you regular university password.

SharePoint and all other Office365 Apps

As Office365 are cloud services, these should continue to work away from campus without VPN, as long as you have an internet connection.

As with Outlook, you may see additional login prompts when loading email asking you to sign in to your account. If you see these feel free to sign in with your username@soton.ac.uk and you regular university password.

MAC

VPN / Global Protect

Please make sure you have installed VPN before taking your MAC home.

Most of our services don't require you to connect to Global Protect, but you can check out which one's do and don't at the following pages.

Services that require VPN

Services that do not require VPN

You should already have this installed, but if you don't you can install this by following the 'How do i set up VPN on my device' knowledge article.

Admin Rights

When you take your MAC Desktop away from our network, you may experience an issue installing applications. Admin Rights are only provided whilst they are connected to out network.

Your Desktop and My Documents

As you are using a MAC, your files are generally stored on the device itself by default, and therefore you shouldn't see an interruption to locally saved files.

You will however need to take some additional steps if you need to access your university filestore from your MAC, including making sure you are connected to Global Protect/VPN

For better guidance on how to work with documents whilst you are away from campus, please follow out Working With Documents article.

Linux

If you are using a Linux System, we recommend getting in touch with us prior to removing your desktop so we can provide the best tailored advice for your specific situation and distribution.

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