USF Username and Password
Understanding Your USF Account
Many USF computing services, for example, campus computers, Blackboard and email, require a valid USF username and password. Students will typically receive their account information at Orientation. Upon a student's graduation or withdrawal from the University, the USF account will become disabled. Students will need to ensure that any email or documents are backed up before that time. For more information regarding your USF account, please visit the Frequently Asked Questions.
Faculty and staff will need to visit the Help Desk with their USF OneCard in order to initially receive their username and password.
Always remember to log off a computer when finished. You are responsible for the actions taken under your username and password.
Usernames
Your computer username is unique within the University and is composed of alpha/numeric characters containing your last name. Your username also makes up the first part of your email address. Usernames are not case sensitive.
For students, the username is your last name followed by first initial then middle initial. Student usernames are printed on the back of the USF OneCard. For example, a student named John K. Doe, would have the username doejk and an email address of doejk@studentmail.sf.edu.
For faculty and staff, the username is typically your first initial followed by your last name. For example, a staff member named John Doe would have a username of jdoe and an email address of jdoe@sf.edu.
Passwords
Your USF account password will be randomly generated when your account is created. The password will expire every 180 days, so you will need to change the password before it is set to expire.
After incorrectly entering your password 3 times, your account will become locked for 30 minutes. At this point, you can either wait until your account becomes unlocked to try again or visit the Help Desk to have your password reset. You may also reset the password on using the Password Protection Program. This tool can only be used if you have previously enrolled your account in this service.
On January 8, 2007, UTS began to require stronger passwords for logging into your computer and other computing services. These new complexity requirements include:
- Must not contain all or part of your username
- Must be at least 8 characters in length
- Must contain characters from three (3) of the following four (4) categories:
- Uppercase letters (A through Z)
- Lowercase letters (a through z)
- Digits (0 through 9)
- Non-alphanumeric symbols or characters (for example: %,$)
- You cannot re-use any of your recent passwords
Managing your password
If you are on campus, you may change your password by logging into a campus computer with your old password. Once the desktop appears, you can press CTRL+ALT+DEL in order to bring up Windows Security. An option named Change Password will appear.
For off campus users, you will need to use the Password Protection Program. Enrolling your account in the program will allow you to change your password, reset your password or unlock your account, from anywhere. This application allows you to set security questions that must be answered correctly in order to change your password. After enrolling your account in this application, you can do routine password maintenance tasks without contacting the Help Desk. (Please note, your current password must be in good standing before enrolling.)