NetLink ID

Your NetLink ID is your personal username and passphrase that you’ll use throughout your time at UVic. You’ll need your NetLink ID to access all of UVic’s online tools and resources. This includes:

• Wi-Fi on campus
• online resources like Brightspace and Microsoft 365
• UVic email
• library databases
• student and employee records

Create your NetLink ID

You’ll need to create a NetLink ID if you’re a new employee, a student or an affiliate of UVic.

To create a NetLink ID, you must have:

• a non-UVic email address
• your V Number

Shortly after you create your NetLink ID, you'll be prompted to sign up for UVic MFA account security.  You must enable UVic MFA to access online resource, so we recommend doing this step as soon as possible so you can access things like Brightspace and UVic email.

How to find your V Number

A V Number is a unique ID number that all UVic students and employees receive.

If you have a ONECard, you can find your V Number printed on it. If you’re a student, you can also find it in your application confirmation email.

If you need support, you can contact someone at UVic for help:

• Undergraduate students: Office of the Registrar and Enrolment Management
• Grad students: Graduate Admissions and Records Office
• Continuing Studies students: Continuing Studies registration
• Employees: Payroll
• Former students or alumni: Office of the Registrar and Enrolment Management
• Affiliates: Contact your sponsor

Sponsors

If you’re sponsoring someone as an affiliate, you’ll need to provide them with their V Number. You can find it in AIMS.

You can learn more about how to use AIMS or contact the Computer Help Desk for help.

Forgot your NetLink ID or passphrase?

You can look up your NetLink ID or reset your passphrase online.

You’ll need your V Number and 5-10 minutes. If you change your passphrase, make sure it's secure. Also update all your devices to avoid getting locked out.

If you've tried this and still can’t access your account, contact the Computer Help Desk for help.

Change your passphrase

You can change your passphrase online. A passphrase is more secure than a password because it's longer than a single word.  For best security:

• never share your passphrase with anyone, including family
• don't save credentials on shared computers
• don't use the same or similar passphrases for different services

You’ll need your NetLink ID and current passphrase. It should take you 5–10 minutes, plus time to update your accounts on all your devices.

Why change your passphrase?

Sometimes changing your passphrase is necessary to protect your account. For example, you might receive a suspicious Duo Mobile push or accidentally click on a phishing link in an email. That could mean your passphrase was stolen or mistakenly exposed. It's better to change your passphrase immediately instead of waiting for something to go wrong.

UVic may also ask you to change your passphrase if you’re having trouble accessing your account or if there are signs that your account may have been compromised.

How to create a secure passphrase

When making a new passphrase:

• choose a phrase that's easy for you to remember, but tough for someone else to guess.
• don't use any of your personal information like birthdays, names (including pet names) or favourite sports teams.
• pick something between 15 and 128 characters in length. You can use lowercase letters, uppercase letters, numbers and most common special characters.
• make use of special characters like spaces and punctuation. For example:
  • ! ” # $ % & ’ ( ) * + , - . / : ; < = > ? @ [ ] ^ _ ` { | } ~ \
• don't repeat sequential letters on the keyboard like 'qwerty' or the same character repeated in a row like 'aaa' or '111'.

Updating your passphrase across devices

Whenever you change your passphrase, you’ll have to update it on all the devices and apps where you’re signed in or have it saved. This can include:

• desktop or mobile email apps (like Outlook, Apple Mail or Thunderbird)
• saved Wi-Fi connections (UVic and eduroam)
• your web browser’s built-in passphrase manager
• any other passphrase managers you use
• mapped network drives and printers on Windows computers

If you don’t update your passphrase everywhere, your account could get locked. This happens when your device tries to sign in continually with the wrong passphrase.

Before you change your passphrase, make a list of the places you need to update your passphrase. Consider all your work, home and mobile devices.

Sometimes, you’ll be prompted to enter your new passphrase by your OS or an app after you change it. Sometimes you won’t receive a prompt and you’ll have to do it manually.

Manage your account security

The best way to keep your UVic account secure is to enable multi-factor authentication (MFA).

If you've already turned MFA on, you can manage your devices and bypass tokens online.

Change your NetLink ID

If you want to change your NetLink ID, contact the Computer Help Desk.

There’s no charge to change it, but repeated requests may result in a cost. It can take 2–3 business days to fully process NetLink ID change. You might not be able to access all of your online resources during that time.

When you change your NetLink ID, you’ll need to change your account information on all your devices. It is similar to the process of changing your passphrase. If you're updating your NetLink ID because of a name change, make sure to update your legal name as well.

Privacy

The University of Victoria collects your personal information for the purpose of providing access to electronic services through the UVic sign in service. We're required to maintain audit logs of system access to ensure security and accountability within the system. Audit logs typically include:

• NetLink ID
• name
• date and time of access
• your device's IP address

We maintain strict control over who can access your personal information. We help keep your personal information safe if your identity information is lost or stolen. We collect only personal information for the services you need access to.

Personal information for all UVic students is stored by the Office of the Registrar and Enrolment Management.

If you have any questions or concerns about how your personal information is handled, please contact privacyoffice@uvic.ca

Support

We can help you if:

• you get an error message while you’re filling in the form
• you already have a NetLink ID but don’t know what it is
• you're not sure who to contact to help you find your V Number