Remote Access to Your CAE Files on the web

Remotely Accessing your CAE Files from a web browser

Access to CAE resources requires that you are either on campus or connected through an approved VPN. Please connect using one of the following services:

WiscVPN

Engineering VPN

Important: If you are connected to WiscVPN or Engineering VPN, ensure that no other VPN software (such as McAfee VPN or other third-party VPN clients) is active at the same time. Multiple VPN connections may interfere with authentication and prevent access to CAE services.

Files located on a CAE account can be accessed remotely through https://myfiles.cae.wisc.edu . When accessing this site, you will be prompted to log in using your CAE username and password.

You may also access your files through your My CAE Account page:

Navigate to my.cae.wisc.edu
Log in using your CAE username and password
Select Disk Space
Click the File Manager link

Download

To download a file, right-click the file and select Download.

Upload

To upload a file, select the Upload button located at the top of the page. Click Browse to select your file, then click Upload to complete the process.

Move Files

To move a file, right-click the file and select Cut. Navigate to the destination folder, right-click within the folder pane, and select Paste.

Folder Navigation

To open a folder, double-click it in either the left or right pane. To move up one directory level, double-click the green Up arrow at the top of the page.

Storage Best Practice: All academic, research, and project files should be saved to your I: Drive. Files stored on local desktops, downloads folders, or temporary locations are not backed up and may be lost. The I: Drive is the approved, backed-up storage location for CAE users.

Alternatively, you can map your CAE Filespace as a Network Drive on your computer.

Mapping Your CAE Network Drive

When you are in a CAE Windows lab, your files can be found on your I drive. In CAE Linux labs, this same space will be your default home directory.

These instructions help you access your files from computers outside CAE labs.

**Note you can only reach your network drive from any UW-Madison campus wireless network, or the Engineering or WiscVPN. Details on how to connect to the Engineering VPN here: Installing and Connecting to VPN. If you have not yet activated your Engineering VPN, please follow the instructions here: Activating VPN Access**

How to map your CAE home directory

Windows

Open "File Explorer" (Folder Icon in taskbar, otherwise under start menu)

2. Right Click "This PC" on the sidebar and click "Map network drive"

After right clicking "This PC" click "Map network drive" in the context menu

3. In "Drive:" enter any available letter

4. In "Folder:" enter \\files.cae.wisc.edu\[login_name_first_initial]\[login_name]. (For example, for the account johndoe, the path is \\files.cae.wisc.edu\j\johndoe.)

Please check the "Connect using different credentials" box to make sure you can sign in with your CAE credentials. If you only want to have to do this once, choose the checkbox "Reconnect at sign-in."

5. When prompted for your login name and password, be sure to use your CAE login, with the ENGR domain specified before. It should look like: ENGR\johndoe

Image displaying what the username should look like. See step 5

6. Click "Finish."

Mac OS

From Finder, press Command+K
Enter the path to your directory: smb://files.cae.wisc.edu/[login_name_first_initial]/[login_name] (For example, for the account johndoe, the path is \\files.cae.wisc.edu\j\johndoe.)
Click "Connect"
Enter your CAE login and password, with the ENGR domain specified, e.g. ENGR\johndoe, and click "OK"
The drive is now mounted, however it will disappear when you reboot. To enable persistence do the following:
Go to System Preferences from the Apple menu
Click on "Accounts" then "Login Items"
Click the + button to add another login item
Locate the CAE drive you just added, and select "Add"
Exit out of system preferences

Linux

The addresses of CAE smb shares are smb://groupspace.cae.wisc.edu for CAE Groupspace and smb://files.cae.wisc.edu/<FirstLetterOfCAEUsername>/<CAEUsername> for CAE Filespace. You also need the domain to be ENGR and you will use your CAE credentials

Option 1: File manager

In your desktop file browser (eg. Thunar, Dolphin), use the navigation bar and enter in smb://<servername>/<sharename>.

Depending on which distribution of Linux you are using, you may need to click on "Other Locations" and use the "Connect to Server" field instead of just entering the address into the navigation bar. Example screenshots of both Debian and Ubuntu are included below.

Debian:

Debian Server Address

Ubuntu:

Ubuntu Server Address

You should get a prompt asking for your credentials. Be sure to specify the Domain as ENGR and sign in with your CAE credentials. You can choose how long the password will be saved, but we would recommend selecting Forget Password Immediately, as shown in the Debian image below. Depending on your distribution of Linux, you may need to specify you are connecting as an Authorized User, instead of an Anonymous one.

Debian:

Debian Login Info

Ubuntu:

Ubuntu Login Info

Option 2: Command line

The following command will mount the filesystem in a sub-directory of /run/user/${UID}/gvfs:

$ gio mount smb://<servername>/<sharename>

Make sure the domain is ENGR, and to use your CAE credentials. You can then symlink that somewhere more convenient ie: $ ln -s /run/user/${UID}/gvfs ~/gvfs. Note that gio mount is not persistent and must be run each time the computer is rebooted.

NOTE: You may need to install packages for the commands to be available, including libfuse3 and gvfs-fuse (for Debian/Ubuntu based machines).

Here is an example of creating a mount:

$ gio mount smb://files.cae.wisc.edu/b/buckyb

You can see how much disk space you have available, and view a detailed analysis of the files in your Unix/Windows home directory, on the CAE My Account page under "Disk Space".