We encourage teachers to allow their students to choose unique names and
passwords for their accounts. This often results in lost account information,
so this page contains tips on keeping track of and recovering lost usernames
and passwords. While account information can be recovered by SciCentr staff,
it could take as long as a day or two to receive a response, which is
generally inconvenient.
Quick Reference
- Keep a list of assigned login information
- Add all student accounts to your own contact list before assigning them
- Don't let anyone use the "remember password" feature
- Make sure account email addresses are known and can be checked
- Use the "I Forgot" feature
- Passwords are case-sensitive, but usernames are not
Initial Login Information
At the beginning of a program, each team is given a block of accounts
for new students. Students who have used CUni before should re-use their
existing accounts, and this account information must be communicated so
that these accounts can be re-activated. However, old accounts should
only be used by their original owner, not recycled for others.
Blocks of accounts have names consisting of a descriptive base name and a
sequential number. Passwords are generally a random sequence of characters
unless something else is requested. Citizen ID numbers are also provided
with the account information; these are important as they are the only unique
and reliable way to identify an individual account. Finally, an email address
is assigned to each account; this is generally the coach's address.
It is important that this address is correct and known, as it is needed
to quickly recover a lost password.
Record-keeping
Coaches should carefully keep track of the assigned
account information. One good way to do this is to keep a table containing:
- Citizen number
- Student name
- Original username
- Final username
- (Optional) Password
- Account email address (if changed)
Any request to our staff regarding account information should include the citizen
number and both the original and final (or suspected) usernames if possible.
Never use the "Remember Password" Option
This feature automatically logs in any user on the present computer with
the provided account information. On shared computers, this means users
will accidentally impersonate others, and possibly change their account
information. Just don't let students use it.
Recovering Lost Passwords
First, try the original username and/or password. Sometimes users believe
they have changed them but in fact have not. Remember that passwords are
case-sensitive, but usernames are not.
The fastest and easiest way to recover a lost password is to use the "I Forgot"
option on the CUni login screen. To do so, enter the correct username, click the
"I Forgot" button, and enter the email associated with the account. This is
initially a coach's email address though it is possible for a user to change it.
An email will be sent to that address with the password, but the username
will not be mentioned in the email. It is a good security practice to change the password
immediately after regaining account access.
Note that this only works if the username is exactly correct, including spaces, periods, etc.
Recovering Usernames - Contact List
Often the username is unknown, for example because it contains a space or punctuation that
has been forgotten. The best way to recover a lost username is using the contact
list. This only works if you have prepared in advance.
Before assigning accounts to students, add all of them to your own contact list. To do this,
go to the Tabs window and choose the Contacts tab. For each account, right-click the list,
choose "Add New Contact," enter the username and ensure it has been added to the list.
Right-click the username and you should see a drop-down menu with the name and a number
in parentheses. This number is the citizen number, so make sure it is correct. Repeat
this for all of your accounts. It is a good idea to also add the other people working
with your program, including other teachers, mentors, etc.
To recover a lost username, simply bring up the contact list and look for a username
that could possibly be it; the contact list is automatically updated when a user changes
their name. Right-click and check the citizen number to verify.
This solution has a couple of nice side-effects. First, you can easily look up
someone's citizen number for assigning rights and such. Second, you can usually
see what world the user is in, unless they block you.
Recovering Usernames - Alternatives
If the user is not on anyone's contact list, there are still ways to recover
their account information. First, try some likely possibilities:
- Original name/password
- For real names, try including the last initial
- With/without spaces, or with/without a period after an initial
Keep in mind that passwords are case-sensitive, but usernames are not.
Built objects are one way to find a username. Find an object built by the user,
right-click it, and look at near the bottom of the object properties box where it
says "owner" and "name." If you are a caretaker in a world or have eminent domain
rights, you can build an object owned by them. If needed, give yourself and the citizen #
in question build rights, and give yourself eminent domain rights in your world, under the
Options menu, World, Rights.
Then duplicate any object, and change the "owner" of the new object at the
bottom of the object properties box to the citizen # you need to look up, and accept the changes.
Right-click the object again and and the username will be shown. Delete the new object, and
remove any rights you added but don't want to keep, when you're done.
The chat log is also a good place to look for usernames. By default,
all chat is logged locally in the file C:\CUni\chat.txt. This includes messages
from the Immigration Officer, like the world welcome message which usually
ends with the username. So, take a look at the log on the computer the user used last,
find the appropriate time in the log, and look for their username. You could
also look for chat from that user in any log for a user that would have seen the
chat; chat lines also include the sender's username. This will not work if local files are wiped
between users (e.g. using Deep Freeze).
As a last resort, SciCentr staff can recover account information. Be sure to
include the citizen number, original username, and best guess as to the current username
in the request.
