In the instructions below, substitute your UW Net ID wherever you see "uwnetid".

Last updated: 22 Oct 2009

Logins and Passwords

New and current students can now use their login name and password associated with their UW email account to login -- let's call this your "UW email login" for easier reference. When logging in to an Institute lab workstation (not a classroom computer!), you must choose the u.washington.edu (Kerberos realm) domain to do so.

There are advantages and disadvantages to this approach. The main advantage is for new students -- they don't have to find out what their INSTTECH login password is. Another advantage is that the UW email login password can be changed via the web using myuw.

On the downside, not all computing resources (e.g., cssgate/repos and sts2, the IIS server) support using your UW email login. Instead, they require an INSTTECH domain login. Since we create INSTTECH domain logins with your UW Net ID, you won't see any difference in the name of your login account (there is only one for all of our computers). When logging into a lab workstation, if you choose the INSTTECH domain, you use your INSTTECH password. If you want to and can log in to other servers, you use your INSTTECH password.

How do you get your INSTTECH password?

• Background

  Whenever we create an account or reset a password, that password will be written into your INSTTECH home directory (your H:\ drive) in a file called .pw. It is a one-time password which will need to be changed (10 character minimum) to be used anywhere else.

• Login

  Use your UW email login password and the u.washington.edu domain on an Institute lab workstation (not a classroom computer!) to gain access to the file.

• Look at the file contents

  Open a command shell (or "DOS Prompt" in earlier versions of Windows), and enter the following command (note that type is the command, not what you should do):

    type h:\.pw

Returning students should already know at least their UW email login password or their INSTTECH password. Institute lab staff can reset only INSTTECH passwords, not UW email login passwords.

Troubleshooting Logon Problems

Things don't always go right when you attempt to logon. Here are some common problems and their resolution:

• I can't see my INSTTECH password -- is the file is gone?

  It is not likely, though it is possible. More likely is that you are not logged on an Institute lab workstation. You won't see the file if you are logged on a library or classroom computer, since their H: drive resides on another file system.
  

• How do I login using my INSTTECH password?
  1. After logging in as uwnetid@u.washington.edu, follow the instructions above to see the INSTTECH password.
  2. Logoff as uwnetid@u.washington.edu
  3. Login as uwnetid@insttech.washington.edu
  
  
• How do I change my INSTTECH password?
  1. If logged on as uwnetid@u.washington.edu:
     1. Follow the instructions above to see the INSTTECH password.
     2. Copy the INSTTECH password because you will be logging off in the next step.
     3. Logoff as uwnetid@u.washington.edu
     4. Login as uwnetid@insttech.washington.edu
     
     
  2. When logged on as uwnetid@insttech.washington.edu, enter Ctrl-Alt-Del to change the INSTTECH password.

     Do not record the password in the H:\.pw file, as we don't want to know your password. We use that file only to communicate new or reset passwords; the file may get overwritten.

• My account is locked out -- what do I do?

  After several failed attempts at logging into your account, the security policy in effect will lock out your account for about ten minutes. Then it will unlock it, allowing you to try logging in again.

• My INSTTECH password doesn't work -- what do I do?

  There are several reasons for this:

  • You forgot the password you changed it to.

    Contact us for a password reset. Email is preferred. Then follow the instructions above.

  • You are trying to logon to another system (e.g., cssgate/repos), and you have failed to enter the correct password several times or it has been months since you've tried.

    Most likely, in the first case the account is locked out or you've forgotten the password; in either case, see above for resolving these problems.

    In the second case, INSTTECH passwords do expire after a certain period of time. You will need to login as uwnetid@insttech.washington.edu on a Windows workstation in an Institute lab to change the password.

• The system says "You must change your password", but I can't change it when logged onto uwnetid@u.washington.edu

  This is actually a confusing message, because it means you need to set your INSTTECH password. That's the only one you can change or we can reset. (If you want to change your UW Net Id password, see Change Your UW NetID Password).

• A message concerning my "roaming profile" appears when I logon.

  Please contact us. Email is preferred.

Change Log