Sophos VPN Set Up

Owned by Gary Blenkinship (Unlicensed)
Last updated: Aug 29, 2024 by Rhiannon Bennett
3 min read

Sophos VPN allows you to connect to all the college systems from home from your college laptop.

Please note that this isn't required for access to Email, Teams (or any Office apps), Moodle or the Staff Portal  

 

Table of Contents

Initial Set Up

We strongly advise for these initial set up steps to be done whilst you are in College. If you need assistance with any of the steps below please come to the Service Desk and we will assist you.

  1. Download the Microsoft Authenticator App

  1. On your laptop navigate to https://xgfw.runshaw.ac.uk:4443/

  2. Login with your college ID and password

  3. You will be presented with a QR Code

  4. On your phone open the MS Authenticator App

  5. Within the app press the ‘+' button in the top right and select the 'Other Account option’

  6. Scan the QR code with your phone that is displayed on your laptop

  7. When done, click Proceed to login in the top left of the screen

  8. This time put in your staff ID again but when you enter your password you will need to put in the 6-digit code from your Microsoft Authenticator app after the password with no spaces. E.g. if your password is Runshaw1$ and the authenticator app showed a pin of 111 445 you would enter the following into the password box: Runshaw1$111445.

  9. Once you have logged in you can close the web page

To Connect From Home

Once the above set up is complete, you simply:

  • Launch the Sophos Connect VPN client

  • Click Connect

  • Enter your username, your normal password and the code from the MFA app on your phone (in the 3rd box)

 

  • Click Connect

Please note that this will only work when not in college.

Troubleshooting

Login Options Missing

If you don't see the login options or a Connect button when you open Sophos Connect, but can see an Import button, download the file below to your laptop & then double click on it to run it.  Once you have done this re-open Sophos connect & you should be able to login.

Runshaw_IT_Services_Latest (2).scx


Network Drives (T, G, S) Missing or Not Connecting

If they show a red cross next to them, try the following:

  • Click on the drive and it may then connect

  • If not, disconnect from VPN and restart your laptop then reconnect again following the above procedure

  • If none of the above work download the file below, unzip it (extract all) & then double click on the file in it.  You should then see a black box open saying updating, when it has finished the update you should see a message saying Computer policy has updated successfully - as long as it says this you can ignore any other warnings.  If this fixes the issue it should be immediate. 

gpupdateforce.bat

IT Services, Runshaw College