Change password / Forgot password
Your password protects your user ID from unauthorised access by other persons. For this reason, it must be known only to you and must not be passed on. The password must also meet the complexity rules.
For your own security, the password for your user ID should not be the same as the password for other IDs or services, such as for your online banking.
Change password
Students and employees should log in to the
- user administration portal (BV) with their user ID an
- select the menu item ‘Change password’ in the overview.
Please note: For technical reasons, it can take up to 35 minutes to activate a new password.
Forgot password / request one-time password
If you forget your password for your user ID, you can set a new password for your user ID with the help of a one-time password.
The one-time password is used exclusively to set a new password in the user administration portal; you cannot use this password to log in to any other service or application.
You can have a one-time password sent to you independently by text message if you have previously entered your mobile phone number in the user administration portal. If you have any questions, please contact the RRZ-ServiceLine(rrz-serviceline"AT"uni-hamburg.de) by email.
The one-time password is also used to set a password for the user ID for the first time.
Students receive this one-time password with their matriculation documents, and employees receive it from the HR administrator when they are hired.
Complexity rules
You must protect your user ID with a secure password to prevent unauthorised use. You can change your password in the user administration portal.
The password you choose must meet the following complexity rules:
- It must not contain any significant parts of the user ID or the name of the ID holder.
- It must be at least 10 characters long.
- It must not be more than 20 characters long.
- It must contain characters from 4 of the following 4 categories:
- Capital letters from A to Z
- Lowercase letters from a to z
- numbers (0 to 9)
- special characters ( ! # $ % ( ) * + , - . / : ; =? @ [ ] _ { } )
- It must not be one of the five most recently used passwords.
In addition, it is recommended to avoid components with ‘their own meaning’ (complete words, names, distinctive dates, etc.).
Important: Please note the following when changing your password
If you change your password for your user ID using the methods described on this page, it is essential that you make sure that the password is updated wherever it is used for authentication.
This may require updating the password on several devices and/or in the context of several IT services that rely on the current and correct combination of user ID and password. This means that you have to update the password in all programmes and devices in which you use a service of the data centre with your user ID. If this update is not carried out promptly and completely, this can lead to a temporary block on your user account, since an old (and thus technically incorrect) password is used for authentication.
Experience shows that a password change may have to be carried out independently at these points:
Is the ‘user ID + password’ combination stored in the browser?
Please update the password accordingly. This may be necessary on several of your devices / browsers.
Do you use ‘eduroam’ on any of your devices?
Before changing the password, remove the eduroam profile from your device and re-establish the connection to eduroam after changing the password.
- Windows (only self-managed devices):
Settings > Network and Internet > Wi-Fi > Manage known networks > eduroam > Do not save - MacOS:
System Preferences > Privacy & Security > Profiles > select eduroam and click on the minus sign - iOS:
Settings > General > VPN and Device Management > eduroam > Remove Profile - Android:
Settings > Network and Internet > Internet > Saved WLANs > eduroam > Remove
Have you set up network drives on one of your self-administered devices (RRZ-administered devices of the type ‘FMD’ are not included)?
In this case, you need to update the password in the corresponding connection settings.
Have you integrated your university email account (@uni-hamburg.de & @studium.uni-hamburg.de) into one of your self-managed devices (in particular smartphones and tablets)?
In this case, you will need to update the password in the corresponding connection settings.
Pro tip:
Before changing your password, change your username in the email client settings, e.g. to ‘Temp-bxxxx’, and correct these access data again after the password change has been made. This prevents the email client from continuing to automatically try your old password for your username.
Do you administer or use a server (hosted by the RRZ) on which services run that require authentication with your user ID?
In this case, you will need to update the password in the corresponding settings.