HSU's Virtual Private Network (VPN) enables faculty and staff to access information on the campus network from off-campus. While it’s tempting to use one of the many personal VPNs available on the internet, these accounts are commonly used by phishers taking advantage of compromised HSU accounts and may well make you more, rather than less, vulnerable. It may also cause us to block your HSU account altogether. For this reason, HSU requires that staff and faculty wishing to connect in this way use only the campus-approved OpenVPN software. 

Before setting up your campus VPN connection, you will need to ask a Desktop Support Services staff member to add you to the appropriate Active Directory group; this will enable you to log in remotely. Additionally, if you want to connect remotely to your on-campus computer as well as to the network, Desktop Support will need to confirm that your computer is configured to allow you to log in remotely. Once the above steps have been completed, continue as follows:

How to connect to the campus VPN

If you are connecting directly to any campus services, you need to make sure that your computer is up-to-date on operating system and security patches and is running anti-virus software with updated signatures.

Step 1: Open the HSU VPN web page at https://its-vpn.humboldt.edu

Step 2: Enter your HSU User Name and Password

Step 3: Click the drop-down arrow to change the selection from the default Connect to Login, then click Go.

Step 4: Choose the appropriate link for your operating system, then download and install the file from the default download location.

Step 5: If a User Account Control dialog box opens in Windows, click Yes to allow the installation to proceed.

Step 6: Once the software is installed, click Logout.

Step 7: Open the newly installed OpenVPN client.

Windows users: open the program using the Start Button or from the Desktop.

Using the desktop shortcut:

Mac users: open the program by going to Applications > Open VPN > OpenVPN connect.

Step 8:  Log into the VPN by entering your HSU Username and Password, then click Connect.

Step 9: When you first open the OpenVPN client, you will see a Warning dialog box asking you if you wish to allow the VPN connection. Check Don't ask again and then click Yes.

Step 10: Windows users: Once you're connected, you should see the OpenVPN icon in the system tray in the lower right hand corner of your screen. If you hover your cursor over the icon, you will see the details confirming the connection.

Mac users: Once you're connected, you should see the OpenVPN icon in your menu bar in the upper right hand corner of your screen. If you click the icon, you will see the details confirming the connection.

Step 11: Once you have established the VPN connection, you can use Remote Desktop Connection to connect to your HSU-owned computer.

Step 12: When you are finished with your session, disconnect from the VPN server.

Windows users: click on the OpenVPN icon in the lower right corner in the system tray and select Disconnect its-vpn.humboldt.edu.

Mac users: Click on the OpenVPN icon in the menu bar and select Disconnect its-vpn.humboldt.edu.

 Step 13: To re-connect

Windows users: Double-click on the OpenVPN icon on your desktop, click on the OpenVPN icon from the Start menu, or click on the OpenVPN icon in the system tray (shown below) and select Connect to its-vpn.humboldt.edu.

Mac users: Click on the OpenVPN icon in the menu bar and select Go to its-vpn.humboldt.edu.

Step 14: For security reasons, please be sure to always disconnect when you finish a VPN session.