Managing Passwords

When you are granted your Western identity or account, you sign the Acceptable Use Policy which activates and synchronizes your account. If you have had your Western identity for several years, you may have to subscribe to the Western Identity Manager and setup your challenge response questions. Challenge response questions are used if you forget your password and need to reset it.

To change your password, go to the Western Identity Manager at identity.uwo.ca. Passwords and challenge response questions are managed under the Profile tab. You can review or change your answers to your challenge response questions by choosing Security > Change My Security Answers. To see the guidelines for an acceptable password, see the Western Password Policy page.

Note: We recommend that you change your password once or twice a year. Try changing your password at the start of each term.

Before you change your password

Ensure that you have all of your devices with you, or that any devices that are not with you are powered off. If you have left a device on at home and you change your Western identity, you may get locked out of your account. That is because that device may check the server for new email messages using your old password. If your account does get locked out, you can call our help line at ext. 82152.

What do I need to do after I change my password?

Your Western Identity is saved in many places including phones, tablets, and various programs and websites on your computer. Once you change your password, it needs to be updated in all those locations. Below is a list of some of the places where you will need to update your password.

  • Saved passwords in email. When you open your email, it will prompt you for your password. You will need to resave this.
  • Wifi password for uwosecure-v2 or eduroam on your phone, tablet, or laptop.
  • You will need to edit your WesternU connection in Pulse Secure used for Western Roams access.
  • If you have saved your password in your Remote Desktop program, you will need to edit that. Remember to enter your username as username@uwo.ca or uwo\username.
  • You might have saved your password in your browser for various websites. These will also need to be resaved.