Frequently Asked Questions - Macintosh | School of Computing

Connecting to cse.unl.edu and other Unix servers with SSH from a Macintosh

Launch a terminal window. Type ⌘-K to launch spotlight. Type "Terminal" and you should see the "Terminal" application. click to launch.
Type inssh cse-login-id@hostname where hostname would be cse.unl.edu or another server running an SSH server and cse-login-id is your login id (credentials) for the School of Computing (SoC) systems.

An example of this using the Terminal application: The user's SoC login id is 'jsmith'

Last login: Mon Jul  1 14:41:39 on ttys003
macbook-prompt> ssh jsmith@cse.unl.edu
Password:

Last login: Tue Jul  2 10:25:18 2019 from 101.431.103.46
******************************************************************************
                               Welcome to CSE
******************************************************************************
The operating system on this computer was upgraded on March 18, 2018.

Please contact "manager@cse.unl.edu" to report problems, request software
or ask questions about this system.
******************************************************************************
cse.unl.edu-prompt$

On your first connection to a server, you may see a message from SSH indicating that the host authenticity is unknown.

macbook-prompt> ssh jsmith@cse.unl.edu
The authenticity of host 'cse.unl.edu (10.211.11.120)' can't be established.
RSA key fingerprint is 3f:1b:f4:bd:c5:aa:c1:1f:bf:4e:2e:cf:53:fa:d8:59.
Are you sure you want to continue connecting (yes/no)? yes
Password:
Last login: Tue Jul  3 11:05:12 2019 from 101.231.303.416
******************************************************************************
                               Welcome to CSE
******************************************************************************

The operating system on this computer was upgraded on March 18, 2018.

Please contact "manager@cse.unl.edu" to report problems, request software
or ask questions about this system.

******************************************************************************
cse.unl.edu-prompt$

This only occurs on the first connection to a host and you should respond to the question with a 'yes' (as shown above) so the host becomes authenticated.

If you are presented with a Verification code: prompt after entering your password, examine the cse-login-id you supplied to the ssh cse-login-id@hostname command line. If the cse-login-id supplied ends in a digit, e.g. fred4, the login id is not a valid School of Computing CSE login.

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Connecting to the Windows Terminal Server from Mac OS

How to connect an Apple MacOS system to the School of Computing (SoC) Microsoft Windows Terminal Server:

1. On Your Mac open the "App Store" application and install the "Microsoft Remote Desktop" application. Please be sure to install version 10 of this application.

2. Launch Microsoft Remote Desktop.

3. Click the button labeled "Add Desktop".

microsoft remote desktop window showing add new desktop

4. Complete the Pop-up Connection Dialog as described below:

i. PC name: csnt-ts.unl.edu

ii. User Account: You can either choose "Ask me every time" or "Add User Account ..." (see below)

iii. Freindly Name: SoC Terminal Server

remote desktop window selecting terminal server and account info

5. If you chose "Add User Account ..." above complete the Add User Account as described below:

Username: CS.UNL.EDU\username (where "username" is your SoC login ID)

Password: your cse-password

Friendly name: SoC Terminal Server or csnt-ts The choice is up to you

certificate warning acceptance message on connection to terminal server

6. Click the Add button for the "Add User Account Dialog" and for the "Add Desktop" dialogs.

7. You will now see a window that looks like the following:

add user account for remote desktop window view

8. Double click the Desktop you just added "csnt-ts."

9. When you connect you will get a dialog like the one below. Click Continue.

confirmation message for connection to terminal server

10. You will either bet presented with a login screen or your csnt-ts desktop, depending on whether your selected "Ask me every time" or "Add User Account..." in step 4.

11. When you disconnect the blank preview or your "Saved Desktops" will be changed to a thumbnail of your actual desktop.

saved desktops view in microsoft remote terminal application

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Connecting to the Windows Terminal Server from Mac OS

On your Mac, open the "App Store" application and install the "Microsoft Remote Desktop" application.
Launch Microsoft Remote Desktop.
From the main menu bar, select File -> New
Complete the pop-up connection dialog as described below:
1. Name the connection with a descriptor of your choice.
2. The "PC name" will be: csnt-ts.unl.edu.
3. A gateway is not required.
4. Use your School of Computing (SoC) credentials. Please Note how the login is prefixed with "CS.UNL.EDU\".
5. If "Native" Resolution does not work, select one that is suitable to your device.
6. Uncheck "Start session in full screen" if you would rather have the windows desktop appear in a window.
7. Uncheck "Use all monitors" if you have a multi-monitor Mac and would like the windows desktop to be on one screen.
Close the dialog by clicking on the "x" on the upper left on the dialog.
The new connection will now appear on the main "Microsoft Remote Desktop" pane.
Double click on the created connection to establish a remote connection to the terminal server.

A sample new connection dialog is shown below.
screenshot of instructions above

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Printing from Mac via SMB

Please note: Printing generally only works from on campus or when connected to the campus network via a VPN.

Printing from University-Owned (faculty/staff) Macs

For Student or BYOD Instructions, click here.

Install the print driver package using Launchpad to select the Self Service application:

From within Self Service use the left-side menu to select Printer Drivers. Then select Install of the Canon UFR II Printer Driver package: or the HP Legacy Print Drivers depending upon the printer you are connecting to.
Use the instructions below to add the printer using System Settings -> Printers & Scanners.
The added printer should now be shown in the System Settings -> Printers and Scanners configuration page. You may be prompted for your MyUNL credentials the first time you print to the printer.

List of Printers

SoC_Avery12 *	SoC_Avery12color *	SoC_Avery15 *
SoC_Avery104	SoC_Avery122	SoC_Avery123
SoC_Avery250	SoC_Avery256	SoC_Avery258
SoC_Avery258color	SoC_Avery354	SoC_Avery354color
SoC_Schorr101	SoC_Schorr209	SoC_Schorr209color

(The printers marked with an asterisk (*) are the only printers that students have access to. All other printers, without the asterisk, are assigned to faculty members or graduate research/teaching assistants in specific confined spaces.)

Printing from a BYOD (personal) Macs using Apple Menus

Students wishing to print may not have access to Self Service, so the instructions and command-line printer administration instructions provided above may not work due to the lack of print drivers. Students can still add printers using the Apple menus, but they may need to choose the generic postscript printer driver unless they manually install the print drivers from the manufacturer. With the drivers installed, you can select the driver specific to the printer model.

Adding a printer using Apple menus:
Open System Preferences. Either click on the Apple Menu on the main menu bar at the top of the screen and then select System Preferences, or bring up spotlight by holding down ⌘-space and then typing System Preferences

Then click Printers & Scanners (or Printers & Fax). Note: Your System Preferences may look different.
Click on the "+" button on the lower left to start the process of adding a new printer
In the "Add" dialog, right click the bar at the top, and select the Customize Toolbar option. This opens a toolbar customization menu. Use the toolbar customizing menu to drag the Advanced option onto the menu bar. You may skip this step if you already have the Advanced options symbol on the Add dialog toolbar.
The printer Type is "Windows printer via spoolss". In the URL, type in smb://its-acadprt-unl.unl.edu/PRINTER. Replace PRINTER with one of the printer names shown above. For example, if you wanted to print to the printer in Avery 12, you'd use SoC_Avery12. See all the printers in the list above. In the dialog box, for Printer Name, replace its-acadprt-unl with something that better identifies the printer. Finally for the Print Using option, select either generic postscript or the appropriate driver from the list if you have installed drivers from Self Service or the manufacturers support website.
Click add. Your printer should now be added. Print a test page to make sure everything works.
When you print to this printer for the first time, you will be prompted for your login and password. Use your UNL MyRed login. Check the "Remember this password in my keychain" checkbox as shown.

If you change your UNL MyRed password, you will need to launch the keychain utility and delete the stored old password for this printer. The keychain record, will be found in the "Login" keychain, in the "Passwords" category and will be named the same as the printer name, simply select this record and delete this entry. The next time you print you will be prompted for the new password which must be entered as described above.

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Setting up Mac Mail on OSX 10.8+ (legacy users)

Launch Apple Mail (which will be known as Mail).
Select "Mail" from the menu bar, then select preferences. Or use the keyboard command. "cmd+,"
This brings up the preferences dialog. Select the "Accounts" tab on the top of the window. When presented with the accounts window click the plus button in the lower left corner to add a new account.
Select "Add other mail account" and click on "Continue."
Fill in the required information. Please use your full name, School of Computing (SoC) email address, SoC password and click on "Create".
Make sure "Account Type" of IMAP is selected and the mail server is "cse-mail.unl.edu". Enter your SoC login for the User Name and click on "Next". Note that the login does not have the "@cse.unl.edu" specified.
On the next screen enter "Mail" as the path prefix and make sure "use SSL" is selected then click "Next". Note The "Path Prefix" is a subfolder on your home directory where mail fodlers are kept. If not specified, your mail folders will be kept on your home directory.
For the outgoing mail server, again enter cse-mail.unl.edu and your SoC login and password and click "Create."
A new mail account will be shown on the preferences tab. Close the preferences tab to complete setup on your mail.
If you have issues, contact support@cse.unl.edu for further assistance.

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Connecting to your home directory from a Mac from off campus

The simpler method to access your home directory (Z: drive) from off-campus is to use an SFTP client like Cyberduck. This will allow you to easily transfer files between your cse.unl.edu account to your local computer. While a free version of Cyberduck is available online, users are cautioned to be mindful to download Cyberduck from a reputable source, as the source code is readily available online and can thus be easily modified and made vunerable. A version is also available through the Mac App Store as a paid app. We recommend the paid app store version as it ensures the source as reputable.

To actually mount your files from an off-campus account you will need to configure a VPN client and then follow the instructions on mounting your drive from on campus. Both of these topics are discussed in other sections of this FAQ.

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