Connecting to your LJMU Desktop PC from another computer

Important
If you are working on an LJMU Anywhere laptop or Windows tablet they have their own ‘tunnel’ into the network already - If you are on one of these computers, you only need to follow the instructions in Section B. All of the laptops loaned to staff to support home working are LJMU Anywhere laptops. The remainder of these instructions will not work on LJMU Anywhere PCs.

Step A
Windows F5 Setup

Browse to: https://vpn.ljmu.ac.uk/ and click on Windows 

A download will begin on the bottom left of your screen: 

If you see the below message click on Keep 

Once downloaded click on the arrow and then Open 

The following window will be displayed, click Next 

Then click Install 

The following screen will then be displayed. Please note: this may take some time 

Once complete you will see the screen below. Click Finish 

You will then need to go to your start menu, find and click on BIG-IP Edge Client 

Clicking this shortcut will begin the final part of the setup process 

Once complete you will be asked to log in. you will need to enter your LJMU Username@ljmu.ac.uk (for example itsatest@ljmu.ac.uk) and Password 

After logging in, you will be prompted for your multi-factor authentication (MFA) verification details. Learn more about Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)

You should then see the BigIP Client showing Connected as outlined below:

To relaunch the application following a reboot simply click on the shortcut again as in and then enter your username/password.

Students
The remaining steps in this guide are for Staff only. Find out more about how to access an LJMU PC. 

Step B
For staff to connect to an office PC only

Click the Windows symbol in the bottom left corner of your screen and type Remote 

Select Remote Desktop Connection 

When the Remote Desktop Connection window appears, enter your desktop PC asset number prefixed with JM, and suffixed with .jmu.ac.uk into the computer field: 

For example: Asset number 74341 is Computer JM74341.jmu.ac.uk 

Click Connect 

You will then be asked for credentials ‐ click More Choices 

Then click Use a different account 

Enter USERS\username and your usual password, then click OK. For example: USERS\CISATEST 

Accept the certificate by clicking Yes

Your LJMU desktop should now be visible and you can work as normal. 

When you have finished for the day, end your session by clicking the Log-Off tile on your desktop in the same way as you would normally log off at the end of the day.

Very important
Do not shut down your desktop PC (the one you are remotely connected to).

Step A
Mac F5 Setup

Click on the link below or copying the address into your browser navigate to https://vpn.ljmu.ac.uk and click on macOS. 

This will start to download the VPN client, click the icon in the launchpad and then on the BIGIPMacEdgeClient folder icon: 

 

Now double-click on the mac_edgesvpn.pkg file: 

 

The installer should start, click Continue: 

Choose which Hard Drive to install the VPN on and click continue: 

Now click Install: 

You will be asked to enter your Administrator Username and Password to authorise the installation, Once you’ve done this click Install Software: 

Click on Close when the installation has finished: 

You will be asked if you want to keep the installer, choose Move to Trash as it’s no longer needed: 

Search for BIG-IP Edge Client in Spotlight and double click the icon to launch the VPN client: 

The VPN client is preconfigured with the LJMU settings so you can just click on Connect: 

You will be asked to enter your LJMU username and password, then click Logon.

Please note
Your username needs to have @ljmu.ac.uk after it.
For example itsatest@ljmu.ac.uk.

You should now see a message that you are Connected and details of your network traffic: 

You should also see an F5 icon in your Menu bar which is red when you are connected (and grey when you are not connected

If you click on the icon you can access the settings which allows you to Connect/Disconnect as well as quit the Application: 

You will need to install a Remote Desktop App to connect to a computer at LJMU, open up the App Store by searching for App Store in Spotlight: 

Then search for ‘Remote Desktop’ and click the GET button (make sure you choose the Microsoft Version seen in the screenshot below): 

Click the Install button: 

You will be prompted to enter your AppleID and password: 

Once the App has downloaded and installed click the Open button: 

You will be asked if you want to send feedback to Microsoft, choose either option to proceed: 

You will now be asked if you want to give the App access to your Microphone and Camera, click please Continue: 

If you want to allow access to your Microphone click OK: 

If you want to allow access to your Camera click OK: 

Students
The remaining steps in this guide are for Staff only. Find out more about how to access an LJMU PC.

Step B
For staff to connect to an office PC only

The App will now launch and you can click on Add PC to enter the specific computer number you wish to access if you have been given one. 

Click the Add PC button and enter the computer number you have been given (or made a note of if you are staff) in the box that appears, you don’t have to change any other settings just click Add: 

Double Click on the PC icon that has now appeared to connect to the PC: 

You will be asked to log in with your LJMU username and password and click Continue:

You need to click Continue to accept the certificate (you can Show the Certificate to check it contains LJMU details): 

When you have finished your session, logoff as normal by choosing the Log-Off tile from the Start Menu, this will close your remote desktop connection:

 

Step A
Chrome F5 Setup

Type or copy the following web link into your web browser: 

https://vpn.ljmu.ac.uk 

Once you’ve done this you should see the following webpage: 

Now click on the Android link. 

This will automatically open the play store and show you the F5 VPN tool: 

Click on the installation button to let the F5 VPN Access app download. Once it’s downloaded click open, and you should now be presented with the front screen for the app:

The first thing you need to do is configure the app for LJMU. Click on the blue “Configure Server” button and enter the “Name” and “Server URL”. These details are shown in the below screen shot. 

Now click the next button at the bottom once the details are entered. On the next screen the details you need to enter are your username followed by @ljmu.ac.uk. If you click on the “username” field it will prompt you to enter yours. You need to enter your full username, for example itsatest@ljmu.ac.uk. Select OK.

Once this is entered click on the tick button at the top right to confirm your configuration. 

You should now see the configuration on the main screen. Click “Connect” and you will be prompted to enter your university password. Enter it here and click Login:

You will now see the status change to “Connected” and a timer begins counting. 

You are now successfully connected to the VPN. 

 

Step B
For staff to connect to an office PC only

It is likely that your Chromebook device will not have a remote desktop tool installed by default. In order to install one we need to go to the play store and search for Microsoft Remote Desktop 

Click install next to the Remote Desktop tool, and it will download and install. Once completed click open. You will first need to accept the following licence agreement:

From the front page of the application, click the plus sign at the top right of the page, and from the drop-down list select Desktop. 

Students
The remaining steps in this guide are for Staff only. Find out more about how to access an LJMU PC.

LJMU Staff Only

You will now need to configure this for connection to your office PC. Enter your asset number in the “PC Name” field, it will be unique to your PC. We have used an example asset number of “JM12345”. 

In order to save your username and password, click on the drop-down list below “Username” and choose the option for “Add User Account”: 

You can now add your username and password in. Your username should be entered in the following format: 

USERS\Username 

In the example below you can see we have done that with the username ITSATEST. 

Enter your LJMU password and click save. 

You should now see your username in the username field. Click Save at the top right to save these settings. 

You will now see the tile for the computer you have added with your asset number in the grey bar. Click on this tile and it will automatically begin connecting to your work PC. 

Once connected you’ll see the desktop of your work PC in the same way you would if you were sat at it, as shown in the below screenshot. Once you have finished working, sign out as usual and you will return to the desktop of your Chromebook device:

 You are now setup for connecting to the F5 VPN and then remoting into a desktop PC.