Help Desk for Students

Hours are on our Home page, in the middle of the page.
Hours may vary around holidays, between semesters, and over the summer.

Located in the basement of the Olmsted Building, just outside the Computer Labs, the Student Help Desk is the first place students should visit when they have computer issues. Student Workers at the Help Desk will attempt to help you solve common problems with your PC or laptop. The Help Desk can be reached at 717-948-6412. (Note: residential students should see the "Rescom" section lower on this page.)

Student Accounts & Passwords

All students who attend Orientation should automatically receive Access Accounts.
Attended Freshman Orientation or Transfer Orientation But Don't Have an Account?
Start here to create your permanent Penn State Access Account.
Returning from a Leave of Absence? Start here to create your temporary Friends of Penn State Account used to register for your first set of classes.
Parent Account? Parents of students may wish to start here to create a Friends of Penn State account which can be used to pay/view student bills and tax information.
Want to Change Your Password? Simply visit the work.psu.edu site.
Forgot Your Password? Take your Student ID to any Signature Station: two in the basement of Olmsted, one in E302 Olmsted, one at the Library Front Desk, one outside Housing E121, or any Signature Station on any Penn State campus.

New Student Guide to Technology at PSH

ITS offers a clean, clear, step-by-step, online Getting Started Guide for new students, specifically targeted towards students at the Harrisburg campus. This should answer most of your questions, and will lead you through the process of activating accounts, getting on Angel, learning about your email, etc.

Printing in the Computer Labs

Printing in the Computer Labs is managed through the Classroom and Lab Computing organization at University Park. Complete information is available at the CLC Printing Services page.

Rescom for Residential Students

Residential Services has its own Residential Computing support organization specifically for residential students. Start with the Rescom website, which has most of the information you need to know about having a computer in your residence. If you are having problems in your room, contact the Community Center Desk at (717-948-6399). They will either help you immediately or take your name for later service. Once you are contacted, if they are unable to help you, AND if your problem has to do with either wireless or wired networking, they will refer you to ITS. (Non-network-related issues with your personal computer cannot be addressed by ITS; many local computer support organizations will be happy to assist you for a fee.) (NOTE: The dorms at PSH have wired network access only; they do NOT have wireless network access.)

Wireless VPN Support

Students seeking support with wireless connections to the PSH network should start with the following two websites: Wireless & Connecting to Wireless. These sites contain enough information to get 95% of our students started with no further help. If you find that you DO need assistance, please visit the Student Help Desk or Rescom Community Center Desk first; if they are unable to help they will refer you to the ITS offices in E302. (FYI, the most common problems are (1) attempting to connect to the VPN without first connecting to the wireless network; (2) attempting to access resources on the wireless network without activating the VPN client; and (3) problems associated with 64-bit Vista, which are addressed on the websites linked above.)

Other Routine Computer Support

If the Student Help Desk and Rescom are unable to help you with routine computer issues, there are many private organizations in the area that will be happy to assist you for a fee. For private computers (computers not owned by Penn State), ITS staff are only able to help with issues directly related to connecting to the Penn State wireless and wired networks.