Getting started with eduroam - first time user checklist

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Does your organisation belong to eduroam? And does it offer a live Home s​ervice?

Do you need to belong to any special eduroam user group on your network (particularly applicable on Microsoft AD networks)? Normally universities do not restrict access to the service, but some smaller organisations may do.

Do you know the username you will use for authentication?

  • Usually this is your normal organisation network logon name plus @your organisation's realm name (eg. @university.ac.uk). This may be but is not necessarily the same as your e-mail address. The password to use is your usual logon password
  • Check on the eduroam Information page on your home organisation's web site.

If you intend to use your laptop, do you have admin rights to the WLAN settings so you can match those of the WLAN at the visited organisation? (Apart from supplicant and WLAN encryption configuration, the laptop must be set for IP address and DNS server addresses to be obtained automatically using DHCP ).

Your laptop, tablet or smart phone will generally require all or some of the following:

  • WLAN network settings adjustment
  • certificate to validate authentication server
  • in some cases, certificate for client
  • suitable 802.1X supplicant software (often supplied with the laptop or the built-in Windows software)

Is a certificate required by the EAP type used by your organisation? If so has this been downloaded to your laptop? This is a one-off operation. (This may have been carried out by your organisation's IT Support team.)

Has your laptop been configured for the correct use of 802.1X and EAP type? Your organisation's choice of EAP type may require the use of specific supplicant software, but in many cases the supplicant software built-in to the operating system will support the required EAP type.

  • Check on the eduroam Information page on your home organisation's web site to find details of any specific supplicant software if necessary and the EAP type required.
  • How to find this? There are links on the Where you can use eduroam maps pages and in the eduroam site finder.
  • If specific supplicant software is needed, get this supplied by/installed by your organisation's IT Support team.
  • How to configure supplicant and operating system software. Configuration of your laptop is best carried out by your IT Support team. Supplicant and OS software varies, but for Windows XP guidance see: Windows XP built-in 802.1x supplicant configuration guide. Online training is for the XP, Intel and SecureW2 supplicant is available here.

To test if your laptop is correctly configured for 802.1X and the EAP type - try logging in via eduroam (use the eduroam SSID) at your home organisation site using your eduroam credentials).
Have you read the Conditions of Use of eduroam?