How To Install, Configure, and Uninstall Globus Connect Personal for Windows

Globus Connect Personal allows you to share and transfer files to and from your Windows laptop or desktop computer — even if it’s behind a firewall. Watch our Globus Connect Personal tutorial or follow the steps below to turn your personal computer into a Globus Endpoint.

Installation

  1. Download Globus Connect Personal.

    gcp download win

  2. Launch the application installer.

  3. If you have local administrator permissions on your machine, and will be the only user, click on 'Install'.

    GCP Windows1 Default Installation Folder

    1. If you do not have local administrator permissions (indicated by encountering a message such as the below):

      GCP Windows2 Default Folder Insufficient Privileges

    2. Or wish to specify a non-default destination directory for installation, or will have multiple GCP users, click on the 'Browse' button and select a directory which you have read/write access to.

      GCP Windows Specify Installation Folder AnonUserName

  4. After installation has completed GCP will launch. Click on 'Log In' in order to authenticate with Globus and begin the Collection Setup process.

    GCP Windows5 InstallationComplete LoginScreen

  5. Grant the required consents to GCP Setup.

    6GCP AnyOS Grant Consent WebApp

  6. Enter the details for your GCP Collection.

    GCP Windows Collection Creation

  7. Exit the Setup process or open the Globus Web App to view collection details or move data to or from your collection.

    GCP Windows Setup Successful

  8. At the end of the installation, you will see an icon in the menu bar at the bottom of your screen, indicating that Globus Connect Personal is running and your new collection is ready to be used.

    gcp win cornershot

Configuration

Tip

If you have a removable drive - such as a USB drive - you will need to configure the Accessible Folders settings for your endpoint as discussed below to be able to access it via your endpoint.

Right-click the Globus Connect Personal icon in the taskbar and select "Options…​" to configure Globus Connect Personal. Configuration options are divided into four groups; the most important (and commonly used) are the "Access" and "General" options. The "Access" tab lists folders that will be accessible via Globus for file transfer and sharing. By default, the only folder listed is your home directory.

gcp win 9

Add folders by clicking the "+" icon and selecting the folder you wish to make accessible. To share a folder, add it to the accessible list and check the "Sharable" box. Note: you must be a Globus Plus user to share files and folders. If you are not a Globus Subscription member, click on the "Enable sharing" icon and follow the instructions.

The "General" tab allows you to specify whether you want Globus Connect Personal to run when Windows starts and whether the software should automatically check for updates. We recommend that you leave the "Automatically check for updates" box checked, to ensure that you are running the most stable and secure version of Globus Connect Personal at all times.

gcp win 10
Note

Drive Mapping: Globus Connect Personal on Windows will translate a path beginning with /~/ into your home directory, e.g. C:\Users\Demodoc\. To access paths and drives outside of your home directory, use the syntax "/drive_letter/path", for example "/C/xinfo" lists the C:\xinfo directory. Also, as discussed above, it would be necessary for the C:\xinfo directory to be permitted in the Accessible Folders configuration as well. If the C:\xinfo directory is not permitted in the Accessible Folders configuration, then that folder will not be accessible via your endpoint.

Installing as non-administrator: By default, Globus Connect Personal prompts to be installed in C:\Program Files. Regular users can not write to this folder. Instead, browse to a place you have write access to (e.g. your Desktop folder).

Config Files: By default, Globus Connect Personal on Windows will store its config files in the "%LOCALAPPDATA%\Globus Connect" directory.

Starting Globus Connect Personal automatically on reboot

To start GCP up at system boot using the Windows TaskSchedule:

  1. Launch Windows "Task Scheduler"

    GCP Windows TaskScheduler 1 Launch TaskScheduler

  2. Create a Scheduled Task:

    GCP Windows TaskScheduler 2 Create Basic Task

  3. Provide a Title/Description for the Task:

    GCP Windows TaskScheduler 3 Basic Task Title Desc

  4. Define the Trigger type (i.e. "When the computer starts"):

    GCP Windows TaskScheduler 4 Task Trigger

  5. Define what the trigger will initiate (i.e. "Start a Program"):

    GCP Windows TaskScheduler 5 Start Program

  6. Browse for the Program to launch:

    GCP Windows TaskScheduler 6 Select A Prog To Launch

  7. Select GCP:

    GCP Windows TaskScheduler 7 Select GCP

  8. Select the "Open the properties dialog for this task" then click on "Finish":

    GCP Windows TaskScheduler 8 Select Open Properties checkbox and finish

  9. Update the "Security Options" to "Run whether user is logged on or not":

    GCP Windows TaskScheduler 9 Update Security Options

  10. Provide your password when prompted, then when feasible, reboot and attempt to access your GCP Mapped Collection from either another machine, or from another login (local account on your machine which does not own the GCP Endpoint) to confirm that the scheduled task has successfully executed.

Note

You will want to ensure that the local user your GCP Endpoint is owned by (e.g. "AGlobusUser" in our example above) has been granted the appropriate local (OS) permissions needed to access all paths which will be accessed via GCP.

Removing Globus Connect Personal

Please note that if you remove Globus Connect Personal, you will not be able to transfer files to or from your personal computer using Globus, and any files you have shared with other Globus users will not be accessible to those users.

To remove Globus Connect Personal:

  1. Open the Windows Control Panel, open the "Programs and Features" applet, then select Globus Connect Personal from the list and click "Uninstall/Change".

    gcp win 11

  2. Click "Uninstall" to confirm that you wish to remove Globus Connect Personal from your computer.

    gcp win 12

  3. Click "Yes" to remove all Globus Connect Personal settings from your computer.

    gcp win 13

  4. You will see the following confirmation when Globus Connect Personal has been removed from your computer.

    gcp win 14

Updating Globus Connect Personal

  1. Ensure that Globus Connect Personal for Windows is running.

  2. Locate the Globus icon (circle with the letter "g": in it) in the system tray (bottom right of screen).

  3. Right-click on the Globus icon to see the following menu:

    win gcp menu

  4. Select the "Check for updates…​" option and left-click.

  5. Follow the prompts to get updated to the latest version of Globus Connect Personal.

  6. If you should encounter any issues updating in this fashion, then consider simply uninstalling the old version of Globus Connect Personal, downloading the new version, and then installing the new version from the downloaded installer.

If you should encounter problems when attempting your upgrade and cannot resolve them, then feel free to contact support@globus.org for help.

Troubleshooting

If you need help installing or using Globus Connect Personal, please see our Globus Connect Personal troubleshooting guide or contact support@globus.org.