Access the RDS on Windows
The following instructions will show you how to map the RDS as a network drive on your own computer running Windows 10 or later.
Warning
When you have mapped a network drive on your computer:
- changing network
- changing Wi-Fi HotSpot
- disconnecting and reconnecting to the network
may make your remote connection unstable, unusable or even make it fail (this may result in data corruption or even data loss, if you have open files). For this reason and others, we strongly advise users to always disconnect the RDS mapped drive, when their workflow has finished and re-map the drive when they need it again.
Finally, please always make sure to unmap/disconnect any network drive (HPC, RDS etc..) BEFORE changing your main IC account passwords! This will prevent accessibility issues and avoid any Microsoft account profile related lockouts, due to cached passwords, expired credentials or stale connections.
Mapping the RDS as a Network Drive
In order to map the RDS as a network drive on your computer, you must be connected to either the college network or otherwise following the advice on accessing services remotely. Once you are appropriately connected, please follow these steps (note there are a slight variation of steps between Windows 10 and Windows 11):
Windows 10
- Go to RDS Directory Paths and make a note of the RDS directory path (Windows) you wish to access
- Click Start and type This PC and click on the icon
- Click Computer at the top of the page
- Click Map Network drive
- Select a drive letter in the box marked Drive. It can be any letter that does not have a path next to it already
- Enter the RDS directory path (Windows) in the box marked Folder,
- For a home directory:
\\rds.imperial.ac.uk\rds\user\your_user_name - For a project:
\\rds.imperial.ac.uk\rds\project\your_project_name
- For a home directory:
- Un-tick the Reconnect at sign-in tick box.
- Select Connect using different credentials
- Click the Finish button
- When prompted, enter your College username in the format IC\yourusername and your College password (you may need to click More choices followed by Use a different account if you are using a College managed computer). If you are unable to authenticate using these credentials but you are certain you have entered the correct password, please try again entering your College username as one of the following: IC\yourusername, yourusername, ic\yourusername, yourusername@ic.ac.uk
Windows 11
- Go to RDS Directory Paths and make a note of the RDS directory path (Windows) you wish to access
- Click Start and type File Explorer and click on the icon
- On the side-pane that shows your favourite drives and folders, scroll down until you see This PC and right-click the icon
- In the menu that appears, click Show more options
- Click Map Network drive
- Select a drive letter in the box marked Drive. It can be any letter that does not have a path next to it already
- Enter the RDS directory path (Windows) in the box marked Folder,
- For a home directory:
\\rds.imperial.ac.uk\rds\user\your_user_name - For a project:
\\rds.imperial.ac.uk\rds\project\your_project_name
- For a home directory:
- Un-tick the Reconnect at sign-in tick box.
- Select Connect using different credentials
- Click the Finish button
- When prompted, enter your College username in the format IC\yourusername and your College password. If you are unable to authenticate using these credentials but you are certain you have entered the correct password, please try again entering your College username as one of the following: IC\yourusername, yourusername, ic\yourusername, yourusername@ic.ac.uk