Why can’t I use my NetID and password everywhere I need to log in?

Overview

UTK provides many services to faculty, staff, and students that require one to log in or "authenticate." We work hard to ensure these packages know it is you by standardizing on NetID and password. Unfortunately, our software vendors have slightly different approaches, and even when we standardize, there are subtle nuances. We encourage as many campus services as possible to use our Central Authentication Service (CAS). This is the sign-in page you see when you log into Canvas, MyUTK, and MyIRiS, and it only requires NetID, password, and two-factor authentication(2FA). Jump to additional details for more information.

Why do some services require tennessee.edu instead of utk.edu? 

The University of Tennessee has several campuses, and we collaborate on many software licenses. Like Zoom and Adobe, some require 'tennessee,' while others are campus contracts and need 'utk.' Each campus has its own email domain, so we use our campus email address (in our case, the Knoxville area) instead of a statewide address. We know it gets complicated! We have a few suggestions to help you keep it straight. 

  1. When possible, start in MyUTK.  MyUTK has links to resources such as Canvas, IRIS Pay Statement, Office 365, Google, Zoom, and more. When you log into MyUTK, we will sign you into any CAS services. 
  2. Start at the UT information page about the service. Signing into LinkedIn Learning from OIT's page is a much better experience than navigating the LinkedIn website. Go to linkedinlearning.utk.edu to get started. 
  3. Step-by-step login instructions are available for many applications in the Knowledge Base. A few examples are below.

Remember to pay attention to what you are asked. If the field says NetID or Username, it's most likely requesting your NetID.  If prompted to enter your email address, use your UT email address.

Additional Details

Microsoft and Google offer cloud-based email, storage, collaboration, and other services to almost anyone who wants them. To tell Microsoft and Google that you need to log into your UT account, you must use your full email address, either NetID@utk.edu or NetID@vols.utk.edu and then your NetID password and 2FA.

For some services, like Zoom, you must provide them with enough information to get you to CAS. Here are some examples:

  • Zoom: Select the Single Sign-On (SSO) option and enter 'tennessee' before zoom.us. This tells Zoom that you are using a UT Zoom account instead of a personal account. Once they have this information, they will send you to the CAS login page.
  • Adobe: Enter your NetID@tennessee.edu email address when asked for an email address; this tells Adobe to send you to the CAS login page.

We work hard to help ensure consistency and the integrity of single sign-on. Still, from the brief examples above, you can see differences even though it is ultimately NetID, password, and two-factor authentication(2FA).

Details

Article ID: 131022
Created
Mon 3/29/21 9:58 AM
Modified
Tue 1/9/24 8:47 AM
Environment
Active Directory (AD)
Central Authentication Service (CAS)
NetID