Connecting Your Computer to the Dartmouth Network

Access to the Dartmouth network for internal networking and internet access is restricted primarily to Dartmouth users with a valid Dartmouth account.

Guests and visitors may connect to the Dartmouth Public wireless network for internet access, but will be unable to access restricted internal resources such as ThayerFS or networked printers.

If special circumstances require a guest to connect to the Dartmouth wired network please contact computing@thayer.dartmouth.edu or visit the user support office in MacLean M126.

Wireless Networks

Dartmouth maintains three wireless networks:

  • eduroam for student, faculty, and staff
  • Dartmouth Public for guests and visitors
  • Dartmouth Public Library (only available while within Dartmouth libraries) for guest access to restricted Library resources

If you are using one of the public networks ( Dartmouth Public or Dartmouth Public Library), you will be brought to the captive portal when you open a browser and try to go to any URL. Click "Continue" at the bottom of the page to accept the terms of use and begin normal browsing.

Authenticating to eduroam

Full instructions for connecting to eduroam are available from the IT&C services portal: Eduroam Wireless Network

Wired Network

Thayer School MacLean, Murdough, Cummings are wired for 1Gbps Ethernet. 

Connect your computer via a standard Ethernet cable to an available Ethernet jack. The Polycom desktop phones have an extra RJ45 port that you can use for your computer if the only available wall jack is taken by the phone.

In the summer of 2020 there was a major core network upgrade. If a wall jack had nothing plugged into it, then it was not activated. Contact computing@thayer.dartmouth.edu if you need a port activated. 

Static IP addresses

If you need a static IP address assigned to your computer or other networked device, please contact us at computing@thayer.dartmouth.edu with your request.

Connecting to Thayer from Off-Campus

Some Thayer and Dartmouth online resources have restricted access from off-campus. These include:

If you need access to these resources from off-campus or a non-Dartmouth network or ISP, you must use Virtual Private Network (VPN) client software.

Thayer's Linux Services are also accessible from off-campus via SSH or SFTP. Since our linux compute servers have access to ThayerFS data, you can use SFTP for remote ThayerFS access.

Virtual Private Network (VPN)

VPN software establishes a secure, encrypted connection between your computer and the Dartmouth network and provides your computer with a valid Dartmouth IP address. This allows you to access online resources as if you were physically on campus.

For further information, please see the our VPN page.