In the event that you are unable to successfully VPN to MCECS before attempting to RDP to some Windows box, you can use SSH tunneling to accomplish the same goal. To set up an SSH tunnel to allow you to RDP to an MCECS Windows box, following these steps.

You can only connect to a single Windows box per tunnel that you configure like this. You can also only have one tunnel per port. If you need to connect to multiple Windows hosts, it is easier to RDP from the first Windows box to another.

  1.  Run Terminal.

  2.  Enter the command below. Substitute each of the arguments in brackets with your own chosen values. [source port] can be any arbitrary unused port number.
ssh [username]@[linux/unix host] -L [source port]:[windows host]:3389

  3.  Leave the terminal window open, and run the Remote Desktop Connection client. Which can be downloaded here.  

  4.  Connect to localhost:[port], where [port] is the arbitrary source port number you chose.

  5.  Log in using your MCECS Windows credentials. Be sure to specify 'CECS' as the domain name.