Changing passwords

The University has a common username scheme which means that your username on all University systems should be the same. It is recommended that you also have the same password for all systems and if you change your password on one then you should change it on all the others.

Choosing a password

Choose a password that fits the following rules:

• It must be between 10 and 100 characters long
• It must contain at least one character from three of the following four groups:
  1. upper-case letters A - Z
  2. lower-case letters a - z
  3. digits 0 - 9
  4. other characters, for example punctuation marks

Your password should not be a recognisable word, telephone number, car registration or easily guessed pattern of characters (such as your username). Choosing a password that is based on your name or username is likely to cause problems when logging in to some services.

Good password choices are:

• A truly random sequence of mixed case letters, digits and punctuation marks. However if you have to write it down in order to remember it, it is not a good choice.
• A mixed-case phrase with one or more punctuation marks inserted somewhere in it.
• A sequence composed of the first letters of each word of a phrase. Book titles and authors can often be used in this way. For example 'The Dice Man' by Luke Rhinehart could give a password of Tdm:byLR. Avoid common phrases and very well-known works when using this method.

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Most commonly used methods

Email accounts at the University of Bristol

People registered on the main mail servers or Google (Gmail) email service

You can change your password using the web form.

The form asks for your username, current password and a new password (which you must type twice). Click on the Change UOB password button to change your password

The web form also allows you to change your Google password.  It is also possible to change you Google password using the form even if you have forgotten it,  as long as you know your UoB password. The form allows you to change your Uob password  and Google password independently.

Please note: If you have forgotten your UoB password and need it reset it then please contact the IT Service Desk. When you password is reset by the IT Service Desk this will apply to both your UoB password and your Google password.

People not registered on the main mail servers

Some departments have their own email servers.

Unless the server that supplies your mail uses the UOB username and password for authentication (check with the system administrator to find out if this is the case), you must change your password in two places:

• Change your password on the Post Office/ interactive system using the Unix passwd command (see Changing your password on a Unix interactive system)
• Change your password on the IMSP server using the web form
  The form asks for your username, current password and a new password (which you must type twice). Click on the Change UOB password button to change your password

If you change your password on one system, remember to change it on the other.

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Changing your UOB Domain password – central services

A UOB Domain account is automatically created at the same time as your @bristol.ac.uk email address and used to access (among other services):

• Email
• Public access computers in the University using the UOB Domain
• UOB VPN service
• An increasing number of local web tools, such as the University Calendar tool, the ‘Staff info’ tool and the ‘Student info’ tool.

To change your UOB password, use the web form.

The form asks for your username, current password and a new password (which you must type twice). Click on the Change UOB password button to change your password.

Notes

• it may take up to ten minutes for your password change to take effect.
• the web form will work only for passwords in the UOB Domain and not those in other Windows Domains. To change passwords in other Windows Domains, see Changing your password – departmental Windows servers.
• You cannot change your UOB password using a mail client such as Mulberry.
• New members of the University must change the initial password allocated to them within 30 days of the creation of their computer accounts. Once this period has elapsed, you must:
  • Either ask the Computer Centre Help Desk or your departmental computer administrator to change the password for you
  • Or log in to a computer in the UOB domain; you will be forced to change your password immediately (and will be logged out if you do not)

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Changing your Blackboard password

The University's virtual learning environment is Blackboard and uses the same username and password as for other centrally-administered services.

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Advanced methods

Changing your password – departmental Windows servers

You may have Windows usernames and passwords if you use a departmental computer which accesses a Windows server.

When logging in to a Windows server you must give your username and password. You must also specify the domain (group of systems) in which the username is valid.

Changing your password from a Windows desktop

This section describes how to change a Windows password from a PC running Windows.

• Log in to the Windows system as usual
• Press Ctrl/Alt/Del (that is, hold down the Ctrl and Alt keys with your left hand, then press the Del key)

A Windows Security box is displayed.

• Click on the Change Password button. Ensure that the username and domain name are set appropriately. Enter your old and new passwords in the appropriate boxes then click on OK

When you have finished the Windows Security dialog box is redisplayed.

• Click on Cancel to return to your Windows session

Note that it may take up to ten minutes for your password change to take effect.

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Changing your password from a Windows Terminal Server session

This section describes how to change a Windows password when you are logged in to a Windows Terminal Server session.

• Log into the Windows system as usual
• Click on the Start button, then click on Windows Security

A Windows Security dialog box is displayed.

• Click on the Change Password button. Ensure that the username and domain name are set appropriately. Enter your old and new passwords in the appropriate boxes, then click on OK

When you have finished the Windows Security dialog box is redisplayed.

• Click on Cancel to return to your Windows session

Note that it may take up to ten minutes for your password change to take effect.

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Changing your password on a Unix interactive system

This section describes how to connect to a Unix interactive system and change your password. This method uses the SSH secure shell client and the Unix passwd command. You must use SSH to connect to any of the centrally administered Unix systems in the University and to an increasing number of departmental Unix systems. You may use a different SSH client, such as Putty but if you do, consult the relevant documentation or ask someone to show you how to do this.

Note that changing your password on a Unix interactive server that uses the UOB username and password for authentication does not necessarily change the UOB password. On the central servers (for example eis.bristol.ac.uk/sis.bristol.ac.uk), changing your password using the passwd command does change the UOB password, but this is not necessarily the case on departmentally-administered Unix servers. Please check with the system administrator.

• Double-click on the SSH secure shell client icon to run the program
• Press Enter or the Space bar to display the connection dialog box
• In the Host Name field, type the name of the Unix system you want to connect to. In the User Name field, type your username on that system. Once you have used the program, the Host Name and User Name fields will be filled in. The other fields should stay the same
• Click on Connect and enter your password when asked

For more detailed information about SSH secure shell client connections, see the document Using SSH secure shell client on a PC to connect to and transfer files to and from a remote site (document ssh-i1).

Once you have logged in, a Unix prompt (usually the system name followed by %) is displayed. To change your password:

• Type passwd and press Enter
• Enter your old password, then enter the new one (twice) when prompted
  (you are asked to type your new password twice to ensure that you haven't mistyped it)
• Log out of the Unix system by typing:
  logout
• Exit from SSH secure shell client by, from the File menu, selecting Exit

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Changing your IMSP password

Your IMSP username and password are used for accessing the general email preferences and addressbook server.

Change your password on the IMSP server using the web form.

The form asks for your username, current password and a new password (which you must type twice). Click on the Change UOB password button to change your password

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