Eduroam in Gothenburg

This post is a short introduction to eduroam for students studying at Chalmers University of Technology or the University of Gothenburg (GU) in Gothenburg, Sweden. It walks you through an alternative way to connect to the Internet using the wireless university network: eduroam.

PDF version of the guide also available.

Intro

If you’re a student at either one of these universities, you have two options when it comes to connecting to the Internet when you’re on campus or at one of the libraries around town. The most common way is to connect through Nomad if you’re a Chalmers student or GUWLAN if you’re a GU student. This guide covers an alternative way called eduroam.

According to GU, in February 2010 only 184 students connected to the wireless network through eduroam, as opposed to 6,324 students connecting in the standard way. (See GU’s wireless network stats.)

The problem

Most GU students do not have accounts at Chalmers and most Chalmers students don’t have accounts at GU. So if a Chalmers student goes to sit down in a GU library to do some work, she won’t be able to connect to the Internet through the university network. Similarly, if a GU student decides to have coffee at Chalmers, she won’t have access to the network.

Another problem is that both these networks use the captive portal technique for authentication – which means having to enter login details or click through a login screen each time you sit down to work.

The solution: eduroam

Eduroam was designed to overcome this problem. It lets you enter your details once and allows you to connect easily wherever you see the eduroam wireless network – even at universities in different countries. (I’ve used my Chalmers eduroam account for internet access at the University of Cambridge in the UK and Umeå University in Sweden – it works the same way it does when I’m at Chalmers/GU.)

Instructions for configuring Windows 7 for Eduroam

Setting your computer up to connect to eduroam is not always easy, especially if you’re on Windows. Some people are able to connect easily, others need to make a few changes. The guide below is for Windows 7 users. For Linux, Win XP/Vista or Mac try GU instructions if you’re a GU student or Chalmers instructions (these are mainly in Swedish).

Before you follow these instructions, try connecting to eduroam without changing connection settings. To do this, select eduroam from your list of wireless connections and jump to step 16 to enter your login details. If that doesn’t work, return here and follow the instructions from step 1.

The instructions below have been taken from the University of Cambridge’s UCS website. I’ve simply modified the steps to include details Chalmers/GU students will need to enter.

Note: Before continuing, make sure you’re already able to connect via Nomad or GUWLAN. To test the connection, you will need to be at one of the universities or at a university library – if you look at your list of wireless networks you should see eduroam listed.

1. Go to Start, then Control Panel, then Network and Internet, then Network and Sharing Center
2. From the list of tasks select Setup a new connection or network.
   
3. When asked to choose a new connection option select Manually connect to a wireless network
4. You will then be asked for information about the wireless network.
   • In the Network name box, type eduroam (note the lower-case ‘e’).
   • From the drop-down lists:
     • For Security type choose WPA2-Enterprise (or WPA-Enterprise if your wireless card doesn’t support WPA2)
     • For Encryption type choose AES (or TKIP if your wireless card doesn’t support AES)

   Select Next. You should now be told that eduroam has been successfully added. Select Change connection settings.
   
   This will bring up the network wireless connection properties.

5. On the Connection tab uncheck Connect to a more preferred network if available. The result should look like:
   
6. Select the Security tab.
   
   • From the drop-down list for Choose a network authentication method choose Protected EAP (PEAP)
   • Select Settings…
7. Complete the settings in this dialogue box as shown:
   
   • Make sure Validate server certificate is ticked.
   • Tick Connect to these servers, making the text field below available…
   • …in this box, enter eduroam.chalmers.se (this is fine even if you’re a GU student without a Chalmers account).
   • From the list of Trusted Root Certification Authorities find Thawte Premium Server CA and tick the box next to it
8. The drop-down list under Select Authentication Method should already have Secured password (EAP-MSCHAP v2) selected – select the Configure… button next to it to open the EAP MSCHAPv2 Properties dialogue box:
   
9. Untick the box next to Automatically use my Windows logon name and password (and domain if any) then select OK, then select OK to close the Protected EAP Properties dialogue box
10. Now, from the Security tab select Advanced settings
    
11. Check that you have the 802.1X settings tab and, from the pull-down menu select User authentication then select OK
12. Select OK to close all the various dialogue boxes
13. Select Close to close the “Manually connect to a wireless network” box.
14. After a short period of time, your computer should detect the eduroam wireless network and display a balloon, telling you Additional information is needed to connect eduroam.
    
15. Click in the balloon and a dialogue box will appear, prompting you for your credentials.
16. Enter your login details into the dialogue box:
    
    • If you’re at Chalmers your username will be your CID followed by @chalmers.se: CID@chalmers.se. If you’re at GU it will be your username followed by @gu.se: gus…@gu.se
    • Your Password will be the the password associated with your account. (For Chalmers students, this is not the same as your Nomad password!)
17. Select OK.
18. After a little while it should connect. (If you’re a GU student you might see another prompt about certificates. If you do, click continue and it should connect.)

Your connection settings should now be saved on your computer – you will not have to re-enter them each time you connect.

Thanks again to the UCS team at Cambridge University for doing the hard work of writing up the step by step guide.