The Royal Holloway VPN (Virtual Private Network) provides you with a digital connection to campus, even if you’re not here. It works by routing your network traffic through the campus, giving you a Royal Holloway network address. When you’re using the VPN your computer will behave exactly like it would if you were on campus, and this allows you quick access to restricted services, like library services and your Y: drive.
At Royal Holloway you can access the VPN using a client called GlobalProtect, which is available for Windows, Mac, iOS and Android devices.
When accessing the VPN, you will now also need to sign in via multi-factor authentication (MFA).
Follow these instructions to download and install the VPN:
- Open your web browser and visit https://student-vpn.royalholloway.ac.uk. Please note that you must use 'royalholloway' and not 'rhul'
- Log in using your university username and password
- Download and open the installer for your operating system
- You will be guided through the process to install GlobalProtect. Leave all of the options as the default and complete the process with the installer wizard
- Once GlobalProtect has been installed open the app
- The app will ask you for a Portal address. Enter student-vpn.royalholloway.ac.uk in the box and press Connect
- You will be prompted to log in. You will need to use your university email address (username@live.rhul.ac.uk format, e.g. abcd123@live.rhul.ac.uk) to access the university’s virtual private network (VPN). Enter these details, and press Sign In
- Follow the instructions here to sign in with MFA.
This will have connected you to the Royal Holloway VPN. If you experience any issues with the VPN you should contact the IT Service Desk.
Note: if you are working on a Mac, you will need to grant security permissions or the app will not function correctly. Follow this guide if you need help setting these up.
If you would like to connect a mobile device to VPN, GlobalProtect for Android is available in Google Play and also for Apple devices in the App Store.
To use GlobalProtect on a Linux device, download and run this file.