Cisco VPN Guide (Windows) - Remote Access Guide

Access your school workstation from home directly – VPN Access

This is a brief guide on how to install Cisco VPN on your laptop or desktop at home. The Cisco VPN is a small program, that once installed on your device will act as a private secure tunnel to the school network. 

This means that when you connect to the VPN, you can access your school computer directly as you left it when leaving site. It is important to note that your computer in school needs to remain on for the VPN to connect. 

Step 1

Open your start menu, and type in Cisco to find the “Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client”. It may be ideal to pin this to your taskbar or desktop for future use.

You will then need to enter vpn.lancaster.leicester.sch.uk into the bar that appears, and then press connect.

After this, the box on the left will pop up and ask for your login details. You will need to enter your normal school login credentials but remember to put TLS\ before your username like below. After pressing OK, the VPN will securely connect you to the school network and the box will minimize to your icons bar.

Now that the VPN has been installed on your device and you are connected to the school network, you will need to make a shortcut to your workstation that you use in school. To do this follow the steps below. You will only need to do this once, and then going forwards it will be saved onto your desktop.

Step 3

With the expanded window, you will need to enter your computer name in top box (Contact IT for your computer name). Then enter your computer username in the “username” box with TLS\ before your username, and click allow me to save credentials, followed by save as. When the save box appears, navigate to your desktop, and name the file something like “Classroom PC” or “Office PC”.

Step 4

Now that you have made the shortcut to your computer, navigate to your desktop and click on the shortcut you have made. It may bring up a yellow warning message. You can click “do not show again” and then proceed to press connect. Your normal PC used in school will then load up in a live remote session and you will then be logged in as normal. 

Now that the steps have been completed, logging in for future use will consist of two steps. 

1. Open the Cisco VPN from your start menu and connect to the school network.
2. Once connected, click on your desktop icon “Classroom PC” or “Office PC”.

If there are any problems while trying to set this up, please email support@lancaster.leicester.sch.uk and we will get back to you ASAP with assistance.

VPN FAQs

I cannot connect to my machine

Remember to lock your computer before leaving school. If you shutdown you will not be able to connect to your computer. 

I am receiving the message “Connection attempt has timed out. Please verify Internet connectivity”

Please try connecting again and it should work – this may occasionally pop up.

The VPN connection failed due to unsuccessful domain name resolution.

Remember to put TLS\ before your username