What is Engterm?
Engterm is a Windows Terminal Server system that allows you to have remote access to some of the software found on Nexus workstations. You can use Engterm only if:
- you are an engineering student, staff member, or faculty member
- you are connected to the Internet
- you have established a virtual private network (VPN) connection to the University
Using Engterm
Software on Engterm is licensed for coursework only. Graduate students doing research should be using software licensed for research. Research software is supplied by your own department or research group, and licenses are sponsored (and paid for) by your research supervisor.
The campus VPN is described at uwaterloo.ca/information-systems-technology/services/virtual-private-network-vpn, including instructions for installing the AnyConnect VPN client (under the documentation link). The VPN client must be run before you launch your Remote Desktop client to connect to Engterm.
By default, all Windows and Mac machines have a Remote Desktop client installed.
- For a Windows machine, it should be located in Start/Programs/Accessories/Remote Desktop Connection.
- For a Mac, it is recommended that you install "Microsoft Remote Desktop Connection" through the App Store.
After opening the client, type in engterm.uwaterloo.ca and click on connect. You should be presented with a screen that looks very similar to a Nexus workstation log on prompt. Note that you must log in to the Nexus domain, not directly to the terminal server. To do this, click Other User and log in as nexus\your_user_ID.
Please note that Engterm use is restricted to those on the access list - usually only engineering students. If you have transferred to engineering from another faculty, you will need to visit the Engineering Computing Help Desk to be added to the list.
"I am not able to log in to engterm"
See the notes about establishing a VPN connection first, and logging in to the Nexus domain, above. If you are an Engineering student and need further assistance, please contact the Engineering Computing Help Desk in E7-2466.
"I am getting a licence expiry error when I try to connect"
When you first connect to Engterm, your computer is given a license that will allow it to connect to the terminal server. These licenses have expiry dates - after which they will no longer work and will result in this error when you try to connect. In order to continue using Engterm, you must delete the old license from your computer so that it will be forced to get a new one on the next connection attempt.
The procedure for fixing this error varies between Windows machines and Macs:
For Windows
- Close the remote desktop connection client if it is open
- Press the windows + R key to bring up a run prompt
- Type in "regedit" and press enter
- Navigate to "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\MSLicensing"
- Right click the "MSLicensing" folder and click delete.
- Open the remote desktop connection client again, but this time right click it and run it with administrator privileges.
For Mac
- MS Remote Desktop Connection can be re-installed through the App Store
For Linux
- You can use the command line version of the rdesktop program to pass a different hostname to Engterm. This will work around the problem if Engterm has stored and expired your computer's actual hostname.
- E.g. rdesktop -n newhostname engterm.uwaterloo.ca