Full Access to your managed Staff Desktop from Home

 

To quickly get started, click the button above and choose to "open" the connection file.

  This connection will work best with a reasonably fast broadband connection.

 

If you have a slower broadband connection or you are finding the service seems slow it is probably the latency of your connection to us via the Internet rather than an issue on Campus.  You can try the Slow Connection Service, which will do things like disable your background images etc. 

Click HERE for to connect with slow connection optimised settings  

 

• About the Staff Desktop Service
• Get setup
• Get connected
• Other systems
• Entering your UOB username and password
• Using storage devices
• Using printers
• Troubleshooting

These full instructions are also available for reading offline or printing: Staff Desktop Service Connection Guide (PDF, 525 KB)

Please note:  When accessing information via the remote desktop please refer to the Information Security policies in regard to the transfer of University information.  If you are accessing the remote desktop from a publically accessible computer please ensure you disconnect from the service once you have finished.

About the Staff Desktop Service

This service allows you to access the University from any computer with an Internet connection. This system provides you with a full desktop, which works in exactly the same way as if you were sat at a PC on Campus. 

All your Home Drive and shared files and the common administrative desktop applications you use in University can be accessed and worked on. So, for example, you can use :

• Mulberry
• Microsoft Office 2007
• Access 2003
• CODA/SITS/Opera   
• Faculty Applications

You can save directly back to your University storage, ready for the next time you are on site.  As part of this service your University wide home folder space (MyFiles - o:\) is available, which holds your Internet favourites and settings, My Documents folders etc.  Therefore, unlike our student service, you can:

• personalise your desktop
• make shortcuts
• select your own wallpaper or themes

 You can also print to your local printer or to University printers.

You can also use this system from your own laptop on campus, using the University Wireless network.

Get setup

The first step to use the Remote Connection service is to check that you have the free Remote Desktop Connection software on your system.

Windows XP and Vista have built-in software located in “Start > Programs > Accessories > Communications > Remote Desktop Connection”.

To get the best experience you should try and install the latest version (7.0)

Windows 7 has built-in software, Version 7 is located in the "All Programs > Accessories folder".

Apple Mac OS X – You will need to download the free (RDC) for Mac 2.1 Connection software from Microsoft. The program installs into the Utilities area.

 

Please note: We don't officially support other computer platforms with this service, but it is possible to connect using Linux and iPad/iPhone systems if you want to give it a try yourself.

Linux (all distros) - You will need an RDP Client that can support elements of RDP V6.  Standard packages like RDesktop won't work with our load balancing setup (there's lots of servers!) and can behave oddly, disconnecting you or not allowing logon :  we'd suggest looking at the Free RDP Project - download the program from https://github.com/FreeRDP/FreeRDP/downloads

iOS (IPads, Iphones) -  Download an RDP client from the AppStore;  Wyse Pocket Cloud and iRdesktop are two packages that will work well.

Google ChromeBooks (chrome OS) - Unfortunately, Google don't build in any kind of support for RDP connections to Chromebooks.

There are a couple of possible options:   Try searching for "Spark View"  in the Chrome store.  That is a HTML5 based RDP client and may or may not then allow connection.    There is a possible commercial solution - but a trial is available: http://www.ericom.com/RDPChromebook.asp

 

 

 

 

Get connected

The simplest way to connect is to open the connection file from the My Bristol Portal. 

 

 If you want to save a connection to your personal PC as a desktop icon then choose either the "fast" or "slow" connection, (depending on the speed of your Internet connection) and save the file when prompted.  Next time you want to connect to the service, just double click on the saved desktop icon.

 

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If you are using Internet Explorer then you can either "Open" the connection file to connect, or save the file to your computer for an easy way to connect in the future.

This window may appear differently in other browsers; in Firefox, you should choose to open the file and just click on "OK" - there is no need to browse to choose a program to open the file with.

On Apple systems, where Remote Desktop is loaded, Safari will automatically download the connection file and you can open it from your downloads list or through Finder.

If you prefer, you can also manually load the Remote Desktop Connection software on your PC and enter our address to connect. Type the address below into the long white box labelled “Computer”, including the full stops. Click the “Connect” button to begin.

 If you connect to the service this way then you may not see your local drives or printers, depending on the options that are set on your computer. If you need access to your local drives, memory sticks or printers then click on "Options", "Local Resources" and ensure that "Printers, Clipboard, Drives and PnP devices" are all ticked before you connect.

staffdesktopservice.cse.bris.ac.uk

Other systems

Whilst we don't officially support connections from clients other than Windows and Mac OSX it is possible to connect from Linux, iPad and iPhone systems.

  iOS (iPhone and iPad):

You will need to purchase an application to make Remote Desktop connections from either device.  We have tested and recommend the "Wyse Pocket Cloud" application, which is able to connect to the service and works acceptably.  This is a charged product available from the Apple App-Store (currently around £7).  Install this application in the usual way and then enter "staffdesktopservice.cse.bris.ac.uk" as the connection address.  This is then saved and available as a one click link for future use.  You will not see local iPhone or iPad storage on the Student Desktop systems when connecting in this way.

Linux:

On most Linux computers, you will need the RDesktop package.  An example of how to do this:

install the package "grdesktop"  (this may be already present in some Linux Distibutions)

run grdesktop (under ubuntu; applications -> internet -> Terminal Server Client)

put "staffdesktopservice.cse.bris.ac.uk" into the "computer" box, enter a local name for the connection then click "Go"

 

PLEASE NOTE:  The version of the connection client available in Linux is quite old, so some features, such as video playback and printer redirection will not work correctly.  This will only be fixed when newer Remote Desktop clients become available for Linux.

 

Entering your UOB username and password

How this will appear depends on which Operating System you use on your personal computer.

In Windows 7, Vista and OS X you will see a small box appear asking for your username and password.

In Windows XP you will normally see a login screen, as you do on Campus office computers.

• Windows: Enter your UOB username and password in the format UOB\username, e.g. UOB\ab1234

• OS X: Enter your UOB username and password in the format username@UOB, e.g. ab1234@UOB

• On some Apple systems you will see a "Domain" box.  This needs to contain UOB - not any other text.

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.

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

Please note: You should not copy any sensitive data to your local computer or memory sticks and should only work on such data directly on the Staff Desktop Service.  Please refer to the Information security policies.

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. 

You can also find and print to University based printers; for may see the main printer for your department made available on the system automatically; but it will not be the default – you will need to select it.  If you printer to a University printer, you must ensure that the data is not confidential, as it will output on that device and could potentially be collected or viewed by other members of staff.

Troubleshooting

Please make sure you allow your Firewall to permit Remote Desktop Connection (if prompted) – this is port 3389 if your firewall software has to be manually configured.  More troubleshooting information is contained in the Remote Desktop Connection Guide and in the Portal Help system.

If you are seeing errors like ":error message "unable to open connection file - (file name)" then you can run our Fix RDP program to reset your computers default RDP file.  You can download this here.   Otherwise, please try connecting manually, as per the instructions above.

 

Full instructions are also available for saving or printing: Staff Desktop Service Connection Guide (PDF, 525 KB)