Working from home (WFH)

Information for Staff, Faculty and Grad Students

Here is some information of what do you need if you are working from home:

  1. You do not always need to use your work computer to accomplish work.
  2. Email can be accessed by going to portal.office.com  and select outlook in any web browser.
  3. You do not need to have Office installed on your home system – everyone has Office 365 access. https://uwaterloo.ca/office-365/#accessaccountstaff
  4. Applications like Unit 4, Concur, SharePoint or others may only require internet access and or VPN software installed on your home computer.
  5. Access to File Storage Shares like your N Drive or the Department MMENAS01 file storage system require VPN software installed on your home computer.
    1. You can then access the share from your home computer without using remote desktop
    2. Look at the share names on your work computer now, send yourself an email with the path locations (i.e. \\mmenas01.private.uwaterloo.ca\ or N drive is \\ecfile1.uwaterloo.ca\)
  6. If you have installed on your laptop any of our engineering software like Matlab, Labview, Solidworks you need to connect to VPN (cisco anyconnect) first and then use the software.
  7. If you are having connection issues with the VPN such as disconnections or that you are not getting anywhere (network drives not working, software not connecting to the server) disconnect from the VPN and connect again, this time choose the UW-General-campus before typing your credentials. 
  8. Remember to keep your UW password safe at all times and not use it for third party cloud services.
  9. VPN is needed as well to Remote desktop to your computer. 

Please see below regarding the requirements should you need to work from home

If you have not already setup your home computer to work from home, there are a few steps needed before you are able to work from home.

Settings on your Home computer

Virtual Private Network (VPN) software

Do will need to download and install cisco anyconnect our VPN software, here are the instructions of how to set it up: Virtual Private Network (VPN) or you can see the tutorial here: How to set up UWaterloo VPN

Map your network drives

You don't need to connect to your computer to have access to your network drives, you can have them the same way as you have them in your work computer. Follow this instructions to set it up: Map network drive over Wi-Fi/home or watch the tutorial: How to map network drive wifi/home

Remote Desktop Access

Make sure you have remote access to your computer. If you don't please send us an email to MMEHelpdesk

Here are the instructions for Remote Desktop Access: Remote Desktop Connection

If you need to video conference you can use Microsoft Teams (Microsoft Teams Tools and resources) or Webex or zoom

Remote access to computer labs are no longer available due to return to in person classes. 

Cybersecurity Awareness

We have been seen an increased on email with phishing, scamming asking for account information or login in to a site. Please be aware of this kind of emails and if you think and email look suspicious please forward it to the following email address MMEHelpdesk

For more information please visit the following site: https://uwaterloo.ca/cyber-awareness/ or Protect yourself from cyber threats