The Computer Systems Lab is the IT support organization of the Computer Sciences Department at UW-Madison.
Our mission is to support the effective, efficient, and secure use of information technology by Computer Sciences students, faculty, and staff in teaching, learning, research, and public service.
CS Network issues (starting Tuesday 7/23/2024)
Update Friday 9AM: DoIT Network Services believes that they have mitigated the root cause resource allocation issue, and is continuing to monitor, as is the CSL.
Previous report:
Computer Sciences and other campus networks have been experiencing degraded speeds and related connectivity issues since Tuesday, July 23. The CS Department VPN is also not functioning correctly for printing.
These issues were caused by unknown changes made by DoIT Network Services during planned upgrades earlier this week and were confirmed by Network Services late yesterday. We do not have an estimate for when this will be fixed. We will provide updates when we have more information.
Known Issues:
Slow wired network connections
Slow wired network connections can be intermittent and prevent connections to websites and other services on and off campus. Unfortunately, there is no easy work-around for this situation for computers that can not use WIFI. Users of managed Windows laptops may also experience some degraded network connectivity even when using the campus WIFI.
Wireless Printing
Wireless printing is not working at this time. As a work-around, use print-to-file and transfer the print file to a CSL-managed computer to print or to a flash drive and use the printer “print from USB device” option to print from the flash drive.
Additional Help
If you experience problems with your computer network connection that you are not sure are this issue, or you need help with a work-around, please let us know (send email to lab@cs.wisc.edu).
CSL Documentation
On this site you may find documentation for the various services that the CSL supports. Please see the sidebar to browse a listing of available help topics or search by keyword.
CSL Projects
Find out more about the projects that the CSL is working on and have recently completed:
CSL News
The CS Instructional Windows labs are now running Windows 11.
Remote Computer Access
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Students are not automatically authorized to use the CS Department VPN. Please use the Campus VPN (WiscVPN) unless you have a specific need for the CS VPN, in which case, contact lab@cs.wisc.edu for authorization.
CSL Services and Staffing, Fall 2022
CSL professional staff are working both on campus and remotely (individual schedules vary from day to day). If you wish to schedule an appointment with a CSL staff member, either in-person or online, please send email to lab@cs.wisc.edu.
CSL student staff schedules also vary, depending on their class schedule and school work needs.
Hours for the CSL Service Desk in room 2350 will be posted when the student staff schedule is set (early in the Fall term).
Contacting the CSL
Please continue to send problem reports and requests for service to lab@cs.wisc.edu. This is the best way to contact the CSL, and the best way to request service from the CSL.
Please provide as much information and context as possible in the email, and use a meaningful subject line, so that we can easily identify your request. Please use a “new” request (“new” email message, with a new Subject: line, without the CSL tracking number) for each new or separate request or problem. That allows us to assign the request to the appropriate staff, and track the request.
If you need additional assistance, one of our staff will contact you via email, to arrange an in-person or online meeting or consultation.