Questions and Answers

Here we provide answers to frequently asked questions about passwords and password security.

Change or forget password

How can I change my password?

Follow the instructions on this website (section Password Change).

What should I do if I have forgotten my user password?

If you have forgotten your personal password, please contact the SCC user service. In this case and for security reasons, please only contact us in person on site at Steubenstraße 6a or by telephone. You can find further information on the page »Forgotten your password?«.

Create secure password

How do I choose a »good« password?

A good password means, above all, a password that is both secure and memorable. On our page on »Password Guidelines« you will find all the requirements to be taken into account when choosing a password, thus ensuring a »good« password.

Why do I need to choose a complex password?

With the very long validity period of 365 days, the choice of a sufficiently secure password is of great importance, as a compromised password could be misused during the entire validity period. A compromise, e.g. by guessing, is prevented or at least made very difficult by choosing a complex password - in accordance with our specifications. The complexity is necessary because the password length is relatively short with the minimum length of 11 characters.

You can find more information on the page »Sense and purpose of our password rules«.

How am I supposed to think of and remember a new secure password every time?

There are various methods that help to repeatedly generate new, secure passwords that are then also easy to remember. These procedures, such as the »acronym method« or »collage method«, etc., have been explained in detail on the page »Help for generating the password«.

Example:
If you have generated a password using the »acronym method«, you can use the same mnemonic again if you need to change the password, but generate a completely new password by changing the use of the shift key (change of upper and lower case). However, if this procedure is used several times, the next change should not be easy to deduce.

Application:
Mnemonic: Wir wurden 2014 Fussball-Weltmeister.
Password (old): Wiwu"0!$FwM
Password (new): WIWU201$fwm
Password (new again): wIWu2=1$fWM

Possible problems after a password change

What should be done if an »eduroam« connection can no longer be established after changing the password?

After a password change, it can happen, especially with Android smartphones, that no connection is established despite entering the new password in the »eduroam« WiFi profile.

  • In this case, please restart the smartphone. Now an »eduroam« connection should be possible with the new password.
  • If not, delete the saved »eduroam« WiFi profile and create it again with your data according to our instructions. You can find these on the page »WiFi at the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar«.

Why can't I check my emails after changing my password?

Many programs (e.g. mail clients) offer that you save your password and do not have to enter it again the next time. This storage is only "local", i.e. only within your e-mail program. Consequently, after a change of the central password, the local password of your e-mail program now differs from the central password. For this reason, after changing the central password, you will be asked again by your e-mail program to enter the password. If you save the new password, you will not be asked again until you change the central password.

What can I do if I can't log in with my NEW password?

Caps Lock activated?
Num Lock activated?

Please check whether the Caps Lock key is activated on your keyboard. This Caps Lock key (above the left Shift key) ensures that capital letters are always written. It is equivalent to holding down the Shift key all the time.

As a rule, this state is indicated by the middle of the three LEDs at the top right of the keyboard. You deactivate the Caps-Lock key by clicking on it again (the LED goes out).

If you want to use the numeric keys on the numeric keypad on the right-hand side of the keyboard, please check whether the Num-Lock key is active (the left-hand one of the three LEDs is on). The Num-Lock key is the upper left key on the numeric keypad (labelled Num).

If the LED is off, the numeric keypad cannot be used. Activate the numeric keypad by pressing the Num key (LED is on) and enter your password again.

Password validity range

Is my new password valid in the University Library?

For the catalogue of the University Library Weimar, the library-specific log-in still applies.
On the other hand, the new, central password applies for logging on to the computers, in the VPN or WiFi.

Further information can be found on the University Library's information page.

Password misuse?

How can I determine if my password has been compromised?

You can use a so-called leak checker to determine whether your email address (including, for example, your private email address) is included in a data theft of sensitive data from online services etc. (e.g. of data such as log-in or password):

After entering the e-mail address, the result will be sent to the corresponding e-mail address or displayed to you.

Questions and contact persons

Do you have any further questions? Please refer to our web pages for information on the subject of »Password and Password Security« or contact the SCC user service.