Description:

This article contains common issues and troubleshooting steps to help applicants, students, staff and associates with password issues, including to recover their account and reset their password.

Applicable to:

• Fort Collins and Pueblo staff who are NetID administrators
• Admissions, Registrar, Human Resources and Help Desk staff

Prerequisites

• Verify the client's identity.

Instructions

1. Select Menu > Person Admin > Person Info to view the client's information in the NetID website, including their CSU affiliation, NetID Life Cycle state, and account recovery email address.
   1. In the NetID Account section, check that their Life Cycle State is Active Account or Expiration Cycle. If not, see the article How to support NetID activation or How to support NetID expiration.
   2. In the Email Addresses section, check that their Account Recovery Email address in the NetID website matches the address that they are using.
   3. If they can log in to the NetID website, but they cannot log in to their email account, see the article How to support NetID email access.
2. If they received a message that their account was compromised or was sending phishing emails,
   1. Create a CSU System Freshservice ticket. Use the service offering Incident Reporting - Report a security incident. The Incident Response team will manage the incident.
   2. They should change their password at Menu > My Account > Change Password and add Duo two-factor authentication at Menu > My Account > Two-Factor Authentication (Duo) if not already set up.
      • A partial NetID admin may have already reset their password to a random value at Menu > Person Admin > Password Reset to assure the malicious actor is locked out of the account.
   3. Refer them to the CSU Cybersecurity Awareness and Training web resources and Microsoft Outlook: How to report phishing to help them keep their account secure in the future.
3. If they do not have a non-CSU account recovery email address, or can no longer access it, Partial or Help Desk admins can add a non-CSU account recovery email address that the client specifies.
   (If you are not a NetID Partial or Help Desk admin, find a contact in the NetID Administrators list, or contact Admissions or Human Resources.)
   1. From the top menu, select Admin > Person Search.
   2. Search for the client by CSU ID, NetID, name, or CSU email address and assure the account life cycle state is Active Account or Expiration Cycle.
   3. In the search results, click the client's name to view their account details and any existing account recovery emails.
   4. Select Menu > Person Admin > Recovery Email.
   5. Enter the client's specified non-CSU account recovery email address and click Add.
   6. Select any account recovery email addresses that they can no longer access and click Remove.
4. Inform the client that they can recover their password at netid.colostate.edu by selecting Menu > My Account > Recover Account/Reset Password with their NetID and account recovery email address.
   • Walk them through the article How do I recover my NetID account to reset their password.
5. If they have problems sending the account recovery link to themselves, any NetID administrator can send them a link.
   1. Select Menu > Person Admin > Person Info.
   2. Scroll down to the Email Addresses section.
   3. Click their recovery email address to go to the Recover Account page.
   4. Check the Verify you are human box if unchecked, and click Send.
6. If their new password does not work in the NetID website,
   1. Select Menu > Person Admin > Logs and verify that the password was successfully changed (in midPoint). 
   2. Select Menu > Person Admin > Active Directory and verify that the password was updated in Active Directory.
      • If not, select Menu > Person Admin > Reconcile Account and click Reconcile. Wait a few minutes and check Active Directory again.
   3. Have the client check that they are correctly typing their password. 
      1. Suggest clicking the Show Password checkbox when changing the password in the NetID website, and the eye icon in the right side of the password box when entering the password in the single sign-on page.
      2. Suggest copying and pasting the password from a password manager or text editor when changing or entering the password.

Outcome

• The client's password will be changed.
• The client will be able to log in to the NetID website and other CSU applications that use single sign-on.

Related Articles

• How to verify a person's identity before providing NetID support
• How to support NetID email access
• How to support NetID expiration
• How Do I Recover My NetID Password
• NetID Administrator Roles and Permissions
• NetID Administration Acceptable Use
• NetID Troubleshooting Guide