IT Services passwords

How to change your password / reset a forgotten password

Your SSO account password has a lifetime of one year. You will start to be prompted to update it three weeks before it is due to expire.

• If you know your old password you can use it to set a new password
• If you have set your security questions you can reset a forgotten password
• You can set or reset your security questions using a rescue code provided either by your local IT support team, or to a registered alternative email address by contacting the central IT Service Desk.

Password rules

The rules the Single Sign-On password must follow are that it:

• is a minimum of 16 characters
• must not be a dictionary word or a name
• must be different from, and not based upon, your Oxford username
• must not be a previously used password
• must differ from the previous password by at least three characters
• must contain at least 5 different characters

Notice: Special characters

Please note that in some instances, setting a password using special characters e.g. $ £ % can cause it to be not recognised. There are also cases where some keyboards have different special characters.

For a list of services that use your Single Sign-On password, see How to sign in to a service.

How to change your password

Your Remote Access password's expiry date is set to your University card's current expiry date whenever the password is changed (if your University card is updated, this does not automatically update the expiry date of your Remote Access password).

• Your Remote Access password can be created or updated through your Self-Registration pages
• The new password will become active within 15 minutes
• If you do not have the option to set a Remote Access account, check your card status entitles you to an account at card entitlements page

Password rules

The rules the Remote Access password must follow are that it:

• must include at least one character from three of the following:
  • Lowercase letters (a-z)
  • Uppercase letters (A-Z)
  • Digits (0-9)
  • Punctuation characters (such as &^_-+)
• must contain between 16 and 127 characters
• must contain at least five different characters
• must not contain backslashes, backticks, spaces, single quotes or double quotes
• must not be a dictionary word or a name
• must not be a subset or superset of your current password
• must not be based on your SSO username
• must not be the same as your SSO password

Notice: Special characters

Please note that in some instances, setting a password using too many special characters e.g.! $ £ % can cause it to be not recognised. There are also cases where some keyboards have different special characters.

To log in, use your Oxford username in the format of [email protected]

A Remote Access account is used to access:

• the eduroam WiFi service

How to change your password

Your CONNECT password will need to be changed every 12 months.

• Read our guidance on how to change your CONNECT password
• You can also unlock your CONNECT account or reset a forgotten password using the CONNECT password manager when connected to the Oxford network or using the VPN

Password rules

The rules the CONNECT account password must follow are that it:

• must contain at least 16 characters
• must not have been used as one of your previous 24 passwords

To log in, use your Oxford username (without @OX.AC.UK after it)

For a list of services that use your CONNECT password, see How to sign in to a service.

A Chorus voicemail password is used for the Chorus telephone system's voicemail service.

Change your password

Your Chorus voicemail password can be changed or reset your through your Self-Registration pages.

Password rules

The rules the Chorus voicemail password must follow are that it:

• must only include following characters:
  • Digits (0-9)
• must contain 6 digits.
• must not contain more than three of the same digit.
• must not be in a sequence.

An HFS backup password is used for the HFS backup client.

Change your password

HFS backup client passwords expire 190 days after being set.

• Your HFS backup password can be changed through the HFS Portal.

Password rules

The rules the HFS backup password must follow are that it:

• must contain at least two characters from either of the following
  • Lowercase letters (a-z)
  • Uppercase letters (A-Z)
• must contain at least one character from either of the following:
  • Digits (0-9)
  • Plus, period, underscore, hyphen or ampersand characters (+._-&)
• must contain between 10 and 63 characters.

For advice on accessing computers or facilities on your college or departmental computer network, please contact your local IT support teams.

Please see How to sign in to a service, which details what password you need for a number of services and accounts. If IT Services do not directly support the service there will be a link to the team that does.

There is information available on passwords used at the Bodleian Libraries.