Changing Your Maths IT Account Password

To change your password, go to https://account.maths.ox.ac.uk/password and follow the instructions.

The password changer rejects passwords that it considers to be weak based on a modern strength algorithm. Longer sequences of words, known as a passphrase, are often stronger and easier to remember than a shorter cryptic password.

Remember: You are responsible for keeping your password safe. You must never share it with anybody else.

Information is also available on general password and computer systems security.

Forgotten Your Password?

If your password does not work there could be several reasons:

• Your account has expired - At 28, 7 and 1 days to go before an account is set to expire, you will be sent warning emails. Contact @email if you need to request an extension.
• Incorrect username - Your Maths username is normally your surname or a variant of it (bloggs, bloogsj, bloggsj1, etc.). It is not the same as your SSO (usually in the format abcd1234 or abcd1234@OX.AC.UK), and it is not your full email address. If you cannot remember your username, please email @email or visit the IT team in person so we can confirm it.
• Incorrect password - If you have forgotten your password, you will need to visit the IT team with proof of ID (e.g. your university card) to get it reset (it is impossible for us to decrypt your existing password). We cannot give out a new password over the phone, since we cannot be sure who we are talking to. We cannot send out passwords via email, as email is not secure, and again we cannot be sure who is actually reading/receiving the email. If you cannot visit an IT officer in person, please email @email - in exceptional cases, it may be possible to arrange a secure video call to verify your identity, or have a new password passed on to your course administrator (or someone else who knows you personally) and can pass it on securely.
• Your account has been phished, abused, and thus locked - You will need a password reset, similar to the above case.

Unlock Login Keyring

The next time you log into a Linux desktop after changing your password, you may see a prompt titled "Unlock Login Keyring":

If you know your old password, simply type it and the keyring will be unlocked and updated to use your new password.

If you don't know your old password, you will need to delete and recreate it, which means you will lose any saved passwords. To do that:

• Click Menu > Accessories > Passwords and Keys (or run seahorse from a terminal)
• Delete the "Login" keyring:
  • Right-click the "Login" entry
  • Click "Delete"
  • Tick "I understand that all items will be permanently deleted"
  • Click "Delete" to confirm
• If you have a separate "Default keyring", and don't know the password for it, repeat the steps above to delete it as well
• Log out and back in
• The new Login keyring will be recreated automatically with your new password

Note: RAP isn't able to automatically unlock your keyring and will always prompt for your password. You can change the password by going to Menu > Accessories > Passwords and Keys (or run seahorse from a terminal).