Connecting to and remotely accessing a home or group disk space (Mac)

Ensure your Mac is connected to the University’s network (e.g. eduroam) or that it has a VPN connection (See the instructions for Tunnelblick). When you have established a remote connection, you can access your home directory (Z drive) and group disks (P drive) remotely. You can process the files and folders in the directory as if they were on your home computer.

These instructions are intended for Mac computers outside the University.

On the University’s centrally administered Mac computers, it is easy to open the home directory or group disk. First establish a VPN connection (e.g. by using Tunnelblick) and then connect to the network drive just like you would at the University, i.e., by clicking on the university menu in the menu bar and choosing Open Home Directory or Open Group Directory. See the illustrated instructions

    Home directory

    Make sure you are connected to the University’s network (e.g. via eduroam or Tunnelblick).

    In Finder, use the Cmd + K keyboard shortcut.

    In the window that opens, type: 

    smb://ad.helsinki.fi/home/t/ID
    • where the value for t is the first letter of your username, and ID is your username.
    • Click on Connect and enter your username and password in the next box. 
    For example, the username of Raimo Keski-Vääntö is rkeskiva. Accordingly, the address of his home directory is smb://ad.helsinki.fi/home/r/rkeskiva 
    • Make sure that Registered user is selected.

     

    Group directory

    Make sure you are connected to the University’s network (e.g. via eduroam or Tunnelblick).

    In Finder, use the Cmd + K keyboard shortcut.

    In the window that opens, type: 

    smb://ad.helsinki.fi/group
    
    • Make sure that Registered user is selected.
    • Click on Connect and enter your username and password. 

    See the Detailed help tab for more information.

    Home directories

    Use the Cmd + K keyboard shortcut with an active Finder window open.

    In the Server Address field, type smb://ad.helsinki.fi/home/t/ID, where the value for t is the first letter of your username, and ID is your username.

    For example, the username of Raimo Keski-Vääntö is rkeskiva. Accordingly, the address of his home directory is smb://ad.helsinki.fi/home/r/rkeskiva

    TIP: Click the +  button to copy the address to the list, so you won’t have to type the address again in the future.

    Click on Connect and enter your username and password. Make sure that Registered user is selected.

    If the settings are correct, the home directory will open for you. Now you can access the folder just like any other folder. Please note that you must separately set up the connection each time and that you must have an active VPN connection while using the folder. 

    Group disk spaces

    • Use the Cmd + K keyboard shortcut with the Finder window active.
    • In the Server Address field, type  smb://ad.helsinki.fi/group
    TIP: Click the +  button to copy the address to the list, so you won’t have to type the address again in the future. 
    • Click on Connect and enter your University username and password. Make sure that Registered user is selected.

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