Secure Computer Setup Guide - Windows

Follow this guide to set up new Windows computers. If you need assistance at any time, please reach out to your departmental IT liaison, or if you're a DDS customer, use the DDS service request portal.

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Step

Turn on your computer. You will be prompted to select a region and keyboard layout. You can leave these settings at their defaults (United States and US, respectively).

Step

If your laptop is not connected to the internet, a screen will load where you can connect to the internet with an Ethernet cable or a wireless network. It is very important that you connect to the internet before proceeding, otherwise the laptop will not self-configure and you will be missing basic applications such as Microsoft Office.

  • If you are connecting to a wireless router at home, you may need to enter your wireless password.
  • If you are setting up the computer while on the CU Boulder campus, connect using a wired connection or connect to UCB Wireless. 

Step

Once your computer successfully connects to the internet, enter your UCB-Office 365 email in the identikey@colorado.edu format (do not use FirstName.LastName@colorado.edu).
Please note: Do not select set up Windows with a local account if that option is available. Doing so will prevent your computer from being configured properly.

Step

Enter your password when prompted. The computer will begin performing initial setup, and automatically restart.

Step

Your computer will need approximately 30 - 60 minutes to complete initial setup and will display the screen pictured below during that time. Keep your computer plugged into a power outlet, leave it connected to the internet, and do not power off the laptop or otherwise interrupt this step.

Step

When initial setup is complete, press Ctrl + Alt + Delete to proceed.

Step

Click the Computer icon in the lower right corner of the screen (shown below). This will launch the Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client (also known as the CU VPN). Using VPN will connect you to campus computing resources such as file servers and authentication servers that validate your IdentiKey username and password to log into your computer for the first time.

Step

Enter vpn.colorado.edu. If the Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client does not appear on your screen as shown below, wait five minutes, restart your computer, and then try again.

Step

Enter your IdentiKey username and password to connect to the VPN.

Step

Log into Windows with your IdentiKey username and password

Step

If you receive this error, ensure you are connected to the internet, and then perform steps 7 through 9 above. You may need to wait five minutes and restart your computer as an additional troubleshooting step.

Step

When you successfully log in, you will be presented with your Windows desktop. Some additional setup may still be performed in the background, including:

  • Installing Microsoft Office 365 (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Teams, etc.)
  • Configuring OneDrive - UCB-O365, where your files will become available automatically if you backed up your data to OneDrive on your previous computer.
  • Encrypting your computer so that unauthorized users cannot read your data.

Step

To check OneDrive for your data, Open Windows Explorer by clicking on the folder icon in the taskbar, and then click on OneDrive - UCB-O365. If you do not see OneDrive - UCB-O365, you may need to leave your computer for about 15 to 60 minutes to allow it to finish installing applications and then try again.

Step

If you had not backed up your data prior to receiving your new laptop, your data will not appear in OneDrive. Follow the steps below to fix:

Once you have uploaded your data into OneDrive, your files will appear on your new laptop in the OneDrive folder.

  • Dedicated Desktop Support customers: Please contact DDS immediately using the DDS Request Portal so your DDS technician can help transfer your data.
  • Non-DDS customers: Back up your locally-stored data from your other computer. You will not need to do this for files that are saved in Google Drive, OneDrive, or a departmental file server or the UCB Files fileservers (\\ucbfiles.colorado.edu, \\files.colorado.edu, or \\cvcn.colorado.edu). For all other files stored on your computer, please use the appropriate instructions to upload your files to Microsoft OneDrive: back up files from a PC to OneDrive or back up files from a Mac to OneDrive
    Please note: When you sign into OneDrive, enter your email address in the identikey@colorado.edu format, not FirstName.LastName@colorado.edu.