Accessing your Pathology Domain Files Remotely Using a Remote Desktop Connection

Obtaining a Remote Desktop Client

To connect to the Pathology terminal server, you'll need to make sure you have the Microsoft Remote Desktop Connection installed. Users running Windows XP or Windows Vista do not need to install anything--the Microsoft Remote Desktop Connection is already installed by default. Users running Windows 95, Windows 98 and 98 Second Edition, Windows Me, Windows NT 4.0, or Windows 2000 can download the Remote Desktop Connection for Windows. Macintosh users can download the Remote Desktop Connection for Macintosh. If you are using a Linux based box, you'll want to look into using free software such as rdesktop.

Connecting to the Pathology CryptoCard Server

  1. Start the Microsoft Remote Desktop Connection. For Windows users, this can be found in Start > Programs > Accessories > Remote Desktop Connection.
  2. When asked which computer to connect to, enter "hestia.pathology.washington.edu" or "vesta.pathology.washington.edu" as shown in the image below:

    Connection Screen

    If you're using rdesktop, open a terminal window and type rdesktop -g 16 hestia.pathology.washington.edu or rdesktop -g 16 vesta.pathology.washington.edu and press "Enter."

  3. If you do not want to create a shortcut to this connection on your desktop, skip to the next step. If you would like to create a shortcut on your desktop, press the "Options >>" button. Make sure you're on the General tab, then press the "Save As..." button. The Save As dialog box appears. Save this connection to your desktop and press the "Save" button.
  4. Press the "Connect" button to connect to the Pathology CryptoCard server.
  5. If you are using Remote Desktop Connection 5.1, the CryptoCard logon screen will appear. If you are using Remote Desktop Connection 6.0--installed on Windows Vista by default, or installed through Windows Update on Windows XP SP2--a user authentication dialog box will appear prompting for a username and password. If this occurs, enter "pathology\[username]" in the username field where [username] is your CryptoCard username and press OK. At this point, the CryptoCard logon screen will appear.
  6. Type your username into the User name field (your username is the concatenation of cc with your first initial followed by your last name; such as ccgbush or ccjdoe).
  7. Press PASSWORD on your CryptoCard.
  8. "PIN?" will appear on the display; enter your custom PIN and then press ENT.
  9. A one-time use password will appear on the display (such as 349-8975); enter this into the QuickLog field (with or without the hyphen as it doesn't matter).
  10. Click the OK button to finish logging on.
  11. The CryptoCard will turn off in 30 seconds, or you can do it manually by pressing PASSWORD.

Adding Access to Locally Attached Devices

  1. Start the Microsoft Remote Desktop Connection. For Windows users, this can be found in Start > Programs > Accessories > Remote Desktop Connection.

  2. Once the Remote Desktop Connection window appears, click on the "Options >>" button to edit your connection options.
  3. Click on the Local Resources tab. Under the "Local devices" section, check any devices you wish to make available in your connection. Checking "Disk drives" will make your C: drive and any other local disk drives and/or mapped network drives available when you connect. Likewise, checking "Printers" will make any printers attached to the computer you are connecting from available for use when you're connected to Hestia/Vesta.

    Local Resources

  4. Press the "Connect" button to connect to Hestia or Vesta. See "Connecting to the Pathology CryptoCard Server" steps 5-11 above for further instructions.

CryptoCard Session Use

Your session on Hestia/Vesta will automatically lock after 15 minutes of inactivity, displaying the screen in Figure 3. Do not press CTRL + ALT + DEL but rather press CTRL + ALT + END. Doing so will take you back to the CryptoCard authentication screen that you first logged in with. Repeat steps 6-10 in the "Connecting to the Pathology CryptoCard Server" section above to re-authenticate. You will be returned to your work without loss of data.

After 60 minutes of inactivity or upon any disconnection, you will be logged off and any unsaved work will be lost.

The CryptoCard is in sync with the Pathology authentication servers and they know what response to expect from the CryptoCard. There are a modest number of passwords that the server will accept, so if you use the CryptoCard to generate a password that you do not end up using, your card will still work. If you generate too many passwords without logging in, the card will fall out of sync and you will not be allowed to log in. If this happens, please contact Pathology Computer Support (see the "Support" section below). The CryptoCard re-syncs with the server upon each successful authentication/login.

Your CryptoCard-linked user account is different than any other account you may have with Pathology, andy our computer profile will not be the same as the one you have with your other account. You may need to setup/configure things such as printers and will need to adjust desktop preferences, shortcuts, etc. In addition, there is a known bug in the CryptoCard software that prevents roaming profiles from working. This means that your computer profile will be different on Hestia vs. Vesta and you will need to customize your settings on both if you use both servers for any reason.

If you have an existing PATHOLOGY domain account, you will be able to get to your data via the M: drive. The M: drive is a network drive mapping to your existing user account directory. You can also browse to your user directory through the U: drive by browsing to U:\[username] where [username] is your PATHOLOGY domain username.

Hot Keys

For more advanced users, here are some hot keys you may find useful:

  • CTRL + ALT + BREAK switches the client between a window (if applicable) and a full screen
  • CTRL + ALT + END opens the Windows Security dialog box.
  • ALT + INSERT cycles through the programs in the order they were started.
  • ALT + PAGE UP switches between programs from left to right.
  • ALT + PAGE DOWN switches between programs from right to left.
  • ALT + HOME displays the Start Menu.
  • ALT + DEL displays the Windows Menu.
  • CTRL + ALT + plus (+) symbol on the numeric keypad places a snapshot of the entire client window are on the Terminal Server clipboard, and this provides the same functionality as pressing PRINTSCREEN on a local computer.
  • CTRL + ALT + minus (-) symbol on the numeric keypad places a snapshot of the active window, within the client, on the Terminal Server clipboard, and this provides the same functionality as pressing ALT + PRINTSCREEN on a local computer.