Connecting to the Beloit College VPN

Owned by Athena Tate (Unlicensed)
Last updated: Dec 17, 2020
7 min read

In order to access certain campus resources from off-site, you may need to connect to the college VPN. A VPN (Virtual Private Network) is a way of creating a secure connection between your computer and another network. While connected to the college VPN, your computer will be able to access to all of the same resources it could connect to while on-campus.

Important: The instructions below are for faculty and staff only. For Students who need to connect to the college via VPN, please read our documentation about the student VPN service.

 

 

Important Information

Use of the college VPN should be limited only to the situations in which it is required. While public VPN services exist to help address privacy concerns while browsing the web, the college VPN is not designed for this purpose and should be used exclusively for accessing campus resources that are not available from off-site.

When to Use the VPN

While off-campus, certain resources will be unavailable unless you have first connected to the VPN. If you are off-campus, connect to the VPN in order to access these services:

  • BCVault (Includes BCShares, or the “M” drive, and Userhome, or the “H” drive)

  • Jenzabar via remote desktop

  • CCure Monitoring and Administration

  • MiCollab desktop client

  • On-campus printers

Gaining Access to the VPN

Approval is needed to gain access to the college VPN. If you have a business need to access any of the above services from off-campus, please contact LITS Support to request access to the VPN.

Disconnecting When Not In Use

It’s important to remember to disconnect the VPN when not using the above resources from off-campus. While connected to the VPN, you may notice that network connectivity (including web browsing, file transfers, etc.) will be slower than normal, even while on a fast internet connection. The VPN client may also try to keep you connected to the VPN even after you have returned to campus or after you have restarted your computer or disconnected from the internet. To prevent connection speed issues or other problems, be sure to disconnect from the VPN after using it.

 

Installing the VPN Client


On a Mac

Tunnelblick is the name of the software used to connect Apple computers to the college VPN. You can check if the app is already installed with these steps:

  1. Open Finder and click the Applications folder on the left.

  2. Look for the Tunnelblick app.

If the app is not installed, use the following steps to install it:

  1. Open the LITS Self Service app.

  2. Browse to the Utilities section on the left, then click Install under Tunnelblick on the right.

  3. Wait for the app to install - the Install button will change to Done and then change to Reinstall when finished.

Alternatively, if you do not have the Self Service app installed, please contact LITS Support to enroll your workstation in Jamf so you can access the LITS Self Service app in the future. In the meantime, you can manually install Tunnelblick with these steps:

  1. Download and open the Tunnelblick 3.8.1 .dmg and double-click the Tunnelblick.app contained within it.

  2. If prompted, click Open at the security prompt to allow the app to run.

  3. If prompted, enter your username and password to authenticate the installer application.

  4. When the welcome message appears, click the button labelled I have configuration files.

  5. Click OK at the “Add a configuration” message.

  6. Browse to https://itweb.beloit.edu/vpn and enter your username and password to download the VPN configuration.

  7. Click the link for Mac, then download the VPN Config.dmg file and extract its contents.

  8. Double-click the extracted Beloit College VPN.ovpn file.

  9. Choose All Users when prompted.

  10. Authenticate with your username and password.

  11. Wait for the confirmation notification to appear.

 

On a Windows PC

OpenVPN is the name of the software used to connect a Windows PC to the college VPN. You can check to see if the app is already installed with these steps:

  1. Click the Start button.

  2. Type “OpenVPN” and look for the OpenVPN GUI app in the search results.

If the app is not installed, use the following steps to install it:

  1. Browse to https://itweb.beloit.edu/vpn and enter your username and password to download the VPN installer.

  2. Click the link for PC, then download the Beloit-College-vpn.exe file.

  3. Double-click the downloaded Beloit-College-vpn.exe file.

    • Important: If you receive a message from Windows Defender that the app was blocked from running, click the More Info link and then click Run Anyway.

  4. Click Yes if prompted to run the app.

  5. When the OpenVPN Setup Wizard appears, click Next, then click I Agree, then click Next, and last click Install.

  6. If a Windows Security message appears about installing driver software, check the box next to “Always trust software from OpenVPN Technologies Inc.” and then click Install.

  7. Once the process has completed, click Next, then uncheck the box next to “Show Readme”, and then click Finish and then Close.

 

Connecting to the VPN


On a Mac

To connect to the Beloit College VPN, the Tunnelblick app must first be opened. When the app is running, you’ll find its' icon in the system tray at the top of the screen near the clock.

To run the Tunnelblick app

  1. Open Finder.

  2. Click the Applications folder on the left.

  3. Find and double-click the Tunnelblick app.

To connect to the VPN

  1. Find and click on the Tunnelblick icon in the system tray at the top of the screen.

  2. Click Connect Beloit College VPN.

  3. Enter your college username and password and click OK.

  4. Wait for the status window to show Connected in green text.

To disconnect from the VPN

  1. Click the Tunnelblick system tray icon at the top of the screen.

  2. Click Disconnect Beloit College VPN.

  3. Wait for the status window to show Disconnected in red text.

 

On a Windows PC

To connect to the Beloit College VPN, the OpenVPN app must first be opened. When the app is running, you’ll find its' icon in the system tray at the bottom of the screen near the clock.

To run the OpenVPN app

  1. Click Start.

  2. Type “OpenVPN” and click the OpenVPN GUI app in the search results.

To connect to the VPN

  1. Find the OpenVPN app icon in the system tray at the bottom of the screen; its icon looks like a computer monitor with a lock in front of it.

    • You may need to click the arrow next to the visible icons in the system tray to show additional apps.

  2. Right-click on the OpenVPN system tray icon and choose Connect.

  3. Enter your username and password and click OK.

  4. Wait for the status notification to show that the VPN was connected.

To disconnect from the VPN

  1. Find the OpenVPN app icon in the system tray at the bottom of the screen; its icon looks like a computer monitor with a green screen and a lock in front of it

    • You may need to click the arrow next to the visible icons in the system tray to show additional apps.

  2. Right-click on the OpenVPN system tray icon and choose Disconnect.

  3. The OpenVPN icon should no longer have a green screen to show that the VPN has been disconnected.

 

Troubleshooting

I receive an error message stating “Authentication failed”

“Authentication failed” errors mean that either an invalid username and/or password was used, or you do not have access to the VPN.

  1. Try reconnecting again - be sure to use your college username (the first part of your email address, before the @ symbol), and your college password (the same one you log into your email or the Portal with).

  2. Make sure your password is not expired and that you’re not locked out of your account; try logging into the Portal or your email to verify that your account is active.

  3. Verify that you have access to the VPN; if you have never connected to the VPN before, your account may not have access. Contact LITS Support requesting access to the VPN.

I receive a warning about the “Computer’s apparent IP address is not different…”

This warning can occur when you try to connect to the VPN while on campus. If you are on campus and physically connected to the network via Ethernet cable or docking station, or if you’re connected to the BCNet wireless network, you do not need to connect to the VPN. Click OK to close the warning, then disconnect from the VPN.

If you are off campus and receive this message, you can safely ignore the warning and click OK to continue connecting to the VPN.

I receive a warning about “problems with DNS”

This warning is ok; you can safely ignore the message and click OK to continue connecting to the VPN.

I installed Tunnelblick but don’t have the option to “Connect to Beloit College VPN”

You may have an older version of the VPN configuration installed if you see a different “Connect to…” option, or the configuration may not be installed correctly. Reinstall Tunnelblick using the instructions above to ensure you have the latest configuration, then try connecting again.

Further support

If you still have trouble connecting to the VPN or accessing college resources from off-site, please contact LITS support by emailing LITS Support or calling (608) 363-4357.