Hard- & Software

We offer TU Clausthal staff* support in the procurement and installation of various devices and their integration into the TU network: For the procurement of PC/Mac hardware, we have framework agreements with various providers and are developing a central device management system to simplify the administration of devices by the IT officers of the institutes and facilities. In addition, we provide employees* with a wide range of software products; here too, the computer centre has central campus/framework agreements. Finally, we offer you leasing contracts for printers and multifunctional devices for the input and output of data.

A desktop PC or notebook is nowadays a natural part of a workstation. If required, we can take over the professional selection and installation of the necessary hardware to ensure the best possible functionality in the TU Clausthal network, including the basic installation of the operating system and some of the services we operate (e-mail, network drives, printers) for the users of the respective computers.

Standard systems & operating system

We offer some preconfigured standard systems from framework agreements for procurement. You will find the current catalogue in the box on the right (only in the campus network), alternatively please request it by e-mail.

The operating system with the largest distribution on campus is Microsoft Windows and is installed by us: The university has concluded a campus agreement with the computer centre, which means that the operating system is available and usable in various versions still supported by the manufacturer.

Within the scope of hardware procurement, the correct licensing of the operating system is ensured, and we also support the migration of old hardware from Windows 7 to Windows 10 within a defined framework. For this purpose, please contact us by e-mail - the delivery of any hardware without ticket/appointment arrangement or promise of processing slows down the process unnecessarily and leads to additional work due to the coordination effort resulting from enquiries.

Scientific requirements

Not all requirements especially from the scientific field can be covered by these standard systems, but the models we offer already provide some selectable options to improve performance for scientific use. If you require components that differ from these options, please also contact our support team by e-mail: We will be happy to arrange a telephone call or a personal consultation to discuss the available services.

Domain operation and device management

Operation in the Windows domain offers you many advantages and is the standard: For an entire institute, printers and network drives can be centrally managed and configured and automatically connected. Devices managed by the domain are centrally provided with group policies that minimize telemetry data transmission to Microsoft. Operation in the domain also offers the advantage that a user only has to log on to the computer once and from then on has access to network drives and printers without the need to enter user names or passwords.

Finally, operation in the domain offers participation in the central device management in the service portal of the computer center, which gives IT representatives in the institutes and facilities an overview of the hardware located and operated in their house.

User profiles, folder redirection, network drives and backups

A computer that is in the domain does not necessarily have to have a "roaming profile": Critical voices have repeatedly been raised about this, and even the manufacturer Microsoft seems to be abandoning the concept of roaming profiles.

Meanwhile, the computer center offers primarily the operation in the domain with local user profile. In this case, settings as well as local file stores such as the desktop or "My Documents" remain on the computer in use and do not have to be synchronized, but then do not end up in a central backup and are not available to other users or for access from other computers. Data must then be stored centrally on a user's personal home drive (usually integrated as M:\), on an institute share or in the TUCloud in order to be accessible or centrally backed up from other computers or users.

All central storage locations offer snapshots and backups of files in the background at different time intervals, so that recently lost or damaged files can usually be restored in case of errors. Folder redirections and roaming profiles have thus moved into the background. If you would like to receive further information on this or if you would like advice on the most flexible handling of data in your everyday life for your institute, please send us a corresponding request by e-mail to support@rz.tu-clausthal.de. We will be happy to enter into a constructive dialogue with you to find the most stable solution for your environment.

Besides the operating system, various applications and programs are part of the daily use of a PC workstation. We support you by always installing a basic set of software and by providing you with additional products via the "campus software" applications via license server or campus-wide installation keys.

As a matter of principle, we will install a common/distributed version of Microsoft Office from the campus contract as a standard, just as we will equip your computer with an up-to-date anti-virus software, a PDF reader, the Firefox browser, the unpacker 7-zip and the VLC media player.

Campus software

The Computer Center of Clausthal University of Technology procures and manages various software products as part of the campus software concept. Due to different license agreements, there are differences in the availability and use of the various applications. For example, some applications can only be used on the computers on the TU Clausthal intranet or there is a limited number of licenses. Other programs, in turn, can be used by employees and students on private devices for private purposes.

Licenses can either be granted by sending a request to support@rz.tu-clausthal.de or by specifying and using the license server provided. For most products, the installation files are available on the data center's file server via the campus software share. Since large amounts of data are sometimes moved during installation, it is recommended to copy the corresponding directories to a local data carrier first to avoid installation via WLAN or VPN.

You can find explanations of the available products at the moment still on the old web pages of the RZ, but in the future you will also find explanations in the Wiki at doku.tu-clausthal.de. In individual cases, please ask the RZ support team by e-mail how you can use the software.

Single user licenses

Common products such as Adobe Acrobat Pro or MS Visio can be obtained at a reduced price from state or federal framework agreements. Please send an informal request to the support team and name the product and the application scenario you intend to use (e.g. single workplace business room/professor/employee or use in a course in a PC pool).

Further software in the form of single-user versions is usually procured independently by the facilities and institutes of Clausthal University of Technology. Within the scope of software coordination, however, an inquiry to the computer center is always helpful in order to be able to estimate the need for a product or - if available - to reuse licenses from returns.

The TU Clausthal has concluded a framework agreement for leasing printers via the Computer Center. Every institution of the TU Clausthal can lease devices of different sizes and prices via the computer center. The computer center then invoices the services internally, but acts solely as the contracting party vis-à-vis the supplier.

The internal billing is done individually for each printer: By centrally recording the device model and the print volume (updated daily), the invoices can be created automatically via batch processing and sent by e-mail. The financial accounting department then receives a debit note from the data center - a cost center must be specified when ordering a printer from the data center. It is part of the contract that meter readings are sent to the supplier at least monthly. No exceptions can be made here, and it is essential that the devices are connected to the network. This is also necessary for automatic ordering of toner etc., and the printer can automatically call a service technician in case of a serious error. For all "minor" errors, please contact the data center first - if necessary, we will then refer you to the supplier's support.

An overview of the available models is provided in a printer brochure, which you can obtain by sending an informal e-mail to our support and which you can download from the box on the right if you access it from the campus network.

We offer institutes and their employees the possibility to dispose of no longer needed hardware provided by the company. The hard disk/SSD is removed from the computer and destroyed in accordance with data protection regulations. The rest of the device is taken to the electrical recycling and disposed of professionally.

Determination of residual value and purchase

If you are interested in buying used hardware, our employees* are also available to advise you by preparing a residual value report - on the basis of this report, it is then possible to take over a no longer required but still functional device in private ownership (purchase) under exclusion of any warranty, after expiry of any existing support contracts with manufacturers and taking into account a possible residual book value (department 1).

Please inform us before you send in hardware for scrapping and attach a note with your name and the destination of the scrapping to the device!