Working from Home: IT Starter Kit
The University has taken the decision to cancel all face-to-face classes including lectures, laboratory-based classes, seminars and tutorials at the Liverpool and London campuses for the remainder of the 2019/20 academic year.
As number of colleagues will be working from home from now on, CSD is on hand to assist to make this transition as seamless as possible. Please visit our Working from Home page frequently as it will be updated as the COVID-19 situation develops.
The advice below is a good place to start to make sure you’re enabled to work from home efficiently.
If you’re still on campus…
Please take the following steps:
- Make sure you’ve got a device/laptop/PC to work on
This could be your work laptop, or you may need to request one through your line manager. Speak to IT Services about the device that will best suit your needs. Please note: If you’re taking a loan laptop home (one that you don’t normally use), please ensure you log onto it while on campus, before you take it home. This will make access to your drives much easier.
If there is no other option than to take your MWS desktop PC home, please ensure you have encrypted your device before leaving campus. Follow these instructions to encrypt your desktop PC before going home. Please note: the process may take a couple of hours. - Register for VPN
VPN (or Virtual Private Network) allows you to access systems, files and storage spaces as if you were on campus. Register for the Virtual Private Network Service by visiting the self-service portal at servicedesk.liverpool.ac.uk and navigating to Request > Telephone and Network Services > Register for Virtual Private Network (VPN) Service.
Once you’re registered (you’ll receive an email confirming your registration), you can install the VPN client and connect.
Please note: student access to VPN is only granted on a case-by-case basis. - Note your mapped drives on an MWS PC
Make a note/write down/take a screenshot of the paths of your drives, i.e. your M: drive and your departmental drives. This is how to find a list of your mapped drives. When you’ve got the path (it usually starts with \\) you’ll be able to access your drives on your home PC provided that you’re connected to VPN. - When you’re home, map your drives
Follow these instructions to map your drives on your Windows 10 laptop or home PC or your Mac. - Or use the cloud to access your documents
If there are documents you know you’ll need to work on from home, copy them to your OneDrive for Business storage so you’ll be able to access it at any time, from anywhere, without having to map any drives. (Just remember to wait for the upload to finish before you close the window!)
If you and your team work on central, shared documents, consider using your team’s SharePoint site or Teams site, if you’ve got one. You can request a new Teams or SharePoint site by visiting the CSD self-service portal at liverpool.ac.uk. - Get ready for digital education and hybrid active learning
The Centre for Innovation in Education provides help and guidance to all colleagues with a host of tools and services at our disposal. Your School or Department may also issue specific local guidance/requirements which should be used alongside this information as part of your action planning. - Twin your desk phone to your mobile phone
You can twin a mobile or landline number with your desk phone, which means any calls to your desk phone will also come through to your mobile or home phone, whichever you prefer. - Set up your email for offline use
This is also referred to as enabling cache mode in Outlook. This provides quicker access to your emails in Outlook when you’re off campus. Here are the instructions.
If you’re already working from home…
Please take the following steps:
- Make sure your device/laptop/phone/PC is connected to the internet
Most people will just connect to their broadband at home. Remember if you’re connecting via tethering to your mobile phone, you’re likely to use a large amount of your data. This is not recommended. - If you haven’t already done so, register for VPN
VPN (or Virtual Private Network) allows you to access systems, files and storage spaces as if you were on campus. Register for the Virtual Private Network Service by visiting the self-service portal at servicedesk.liverpool.ac.uk and navigating to Request > Telephone and Network Services > Register for Virtual Private Network (VPN) Service.
Once you’re registered (you’ll receive an email confirming your registration), you can install the VPN client and connect.
Please note: student access to VPN is only granted on a case-by-case basis. - Access your documents
If your documents are in a cloud-based repository, like SharePoint or OneDrive for Business, you’ll be able to access them by logging in to office.com with your MWS credentials in the format username@liverpool.ac.uk.
If the documents your need are in your M: drive or a departmental drive, you’ll need to map your drives. Get the paths of your mapped drives, and then map your drives on your Windows 10 laptop or PC, or Mac. - Get ready for remote teaching and learning
The Centre for Innovation in Education has designed a guide to help all colleagues who might be planning to move to remote teaching. Your School or Department may also issue specific local guidance/requirements which should be used alongside this information as part of your action planning. - Twin your desk phone to your mobile phone
You can set it up so that if any calls to your desk phone will also come through to your mobile or home phone, whichever you prefer. - Set up your email for offline use
This is also referred to as enabling cache mode in Outlook. This provides quicker access to your emails in Outlook when you’re off campus. Here are the instructions.
The IT Service Desk is available 24/7 to assist with any IT issues you might have. You can also browse our knowledge base to find answers to some common IT queries.