R Package-loading Advice

Advice on getting the Masters lab R installs to download packages

As part of its firewall and monitoring, the University uses a web traffic proxy which all web traffic has to go through. By default, R will try to make a direct connection to the internet, and therefore fail to escape the Uni. This becomes a problem if we want to load stuff from package stores. To get round this, you have to tell R to use Internet Explorer's proxy settings. Here's how.

1) We'll have to alter the way R starts up. However, we can't alter the link to it that it installed because we don't have permission, so we'll need to make a new link.

2) Find the R icon for the x64 bit version, and right-click on it, choosing Properties. Copy the "Target" field (select, Ctrl-C). Close the Properties dialog.

3) Right click your desktop, and choose New -> Shortcut. Paste the old target into the box for "Type the location of the item" and add the following to the end of the target, after a space: --internet2.

4) Hit Next and give the shortcut whatever name you like before Finishing.

You should now be able to use the new shortcut to run R in a proxy-using mode suitable for contacting package repositories.