Remote Desktop allows you to connect to your office computer from home or another remote location. The result is similar to logging in to Winstat, though Winstat will generally give you better performance and stability. However, if you have software on your office computer that is not available on Winstat, remote desktop will allow you to use that software from home. Macs can also use Remote Desktop to connect to office computers running Windows (Connecting to Your Office PC Using Remote Desktop (macOS)). Connecting to your office computer using Remote Desktop is a great back-up plan in case you can't log into to Winstat, and we suggest all SSCC members learn how to do so.

Setting Up Your Office Computer to Allow Remote Desktop

In order to allow Remote Desktop connections to your office PC, you will need to contact the SSCC Helpdesk for us to enable this functionality on each of your devices. You can simply email the Help Desk with your computer's name and we will enable Remote Desktop for you, no need to set up an office call.

We will need to know the name of your PC to enable functionality of the Remote Desktop. To find your computer name, click Start and start typing "name" to search. Open View Your PC Name from the menu and look under Device Specifications for Device Name. The full name (FQDN) of your computer is what you see there plus ".ads.ssc.wisc.edu" (e.g. damask becomes "damask.ads.ssc.wisc.edu"). Computer names are not case-sensitive. For additional information, please see Campus Active Directory - How to Identify Workstation Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN) 

Connecting to Your Office Computer

1. Launch the Start Menu, then navigate to Accessories\Remote Desktop Connection.
2. You'll then need to type in the name of your office computer.
   
   
   
   
3. Select Show Options from the lower right hand corner.
   
   
   
   
4. Select the Advanced tab, then in the Connect from anywhere section click the Settings button.
   
   
   
   
5. Select Use these RD Gateway server settings and in the Server name box enter rdg.ssc.wisc.edu. Under Login settings, check the box for Use my RD Gateway credentials for the remote computer and click OK. If it prompts for your username and password, use your SSCC username in the format username@ads.ssc.wisc.edu and your SSCC password.
   
   
   
   
6. You are then ready to connect to your remote computer.

Once you connect, you'll see that the remote connection takes over your screen and you can almost forget that you're not sitting in your office. If you want to go back to using the computer you're connecting from, click on the minimize button in the toolbar across the top of the screen. When you're done, log out of your office computer as usual.