Technology Knowledge Base

Step-by-Step Alfheim DHS Login Guide

To log into the Alfheim OKDHS VDI, you must first obtain an RDP file. You may have been sent one when your account was setup, or you may need to log into the web portal to obtain one. The address to remember is this: HTTPS://ALFHEIM.sattrn.ou.edu

Enter your SATTRN username as shown (sattrn\username)

Your password was either provided to you by email, or if you have an existing SATTRN account, may already be set to something you know.

Once successfully logged in, you will see a window at least one option, select the link that says “OKDHS”.

okdhs desktop in remoteapp and desktops — OKDHS Option

Once you have the RDP file downloaded to your machine, it should look something like this:

You may want to rename it to something more memorable like this:

renamed rdp file to "alfheim - OKDHS.rdp"

Logging in:

Double-click the RDP file | you will be prompted for a username and password, you will need to change this several times in the process in order to successfully log in, so these instructions are CRITICAL for first-time users. Replace the usernames with yours, and note that the “sattrn\” and “okdhs\” are critical parts of the process.

selecting "More choices" when entering credentials — Go to More choices

Use a different account on entering credentials — Use a different account

If you don’t see the following messages fly by, there may be an issue with your SATTRN credentials.

remote connection process update messages

Two new prompts will appear, due to first connecting to the SATTRN “Alfheim” system, then the OKDHS machine.

more choices highlighted on "your credentials did not work"

use a different account highlighted on "logon attempt failed"

Once you successfully log in, a remote desktop window will pop up, take over all your screens, and begin logging you in to the Alfheim – OKDHS VDI system.

Many of the desktop shortcuts you are accustomed to will be found inside your groups’ folder as shown above.

The CPM Resources folder is updated each time you log in. If you need additional shortcuts or changes made to these files, please have a supervisor start a new ticket with us at tcsupport@ou.edu and we can get it added.

Animated Demonstration of Login Process

Animated gif of login process — Animated Demonstration of Login Process

Additional Information about this VDI

VDI is short for Virtual Desktop Infrastructure. The concept is such that instead of having a physical desktop PC in an office that you remote into from home, and log into directly in the office, the “Desktop PC” is “Virtual” and exists among many other Virtual PC’s on a handful of large servers in a server room somewhere.

This is inherently different and will affect your day-to-day workflow. For example, rather than remote into your PC from home and log into your machine directly at the office, you may start to remote into your PC (VDI) from home AND remote into your PC (VDI) from the office.

Some tasks may not work inside of your VDI machine, such as Video Conferencing on zoom or teams. You will need to change your workflow to minimize the VDI connection and use this type of application on the PC you are remoting from.
Custom applications just for you, may not be possible. Here is my best explanation for why this is different.
- VDI is a set of many identical machines that are reset to defaults on a semi-regular basis.
- Your “User Profile” where your desktop shortcuts, documents, preferences …etc are all saved, is stored separately from the VDI PC you remote into. This is like this because:
- The machine you remote into today may not be the machine you remote into tomorrow. You will not notice when this happens because your User Profile data will follow you and all the machines are identical, but its important to know. If we installed an application on the machine you’re on today, you’ll be able to use it, but tomorrow you may get a different machine or it will have been reset, and the application will be gone. It is due to this that requests for applications will take longer than if you have a regular PC, as the application must be added to the “source” of all of the machines, and all of the machines have to be rebuilt with the new source.
- Please submit new application requests through your supervisors to tcsupport@ou.edu.
You can be more mobile, your office PC is only a few clicks away if you know your passwords and https://alfheim.sattrn.ou.edu
When everyone remotes into something else to work, the PC at the desk or cubicle does not need to be assigned to any one person or cordoned off since someone is using it remotely.