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Beginning July 2026, the campus community will be presented with a new sign-on experience provided by Microsoft Entra when accessing popular university services (MySAIL, Moodle, Google Workspace, etc.). This is being done to support a modernization effort in how the university manages user account authentication. This article contains answers to FAQ's regarding the transition to the new sign-in experience.
Overview
A side-by-side comparison between the previous sign-on page and the new sign-on page is pictured below:
Frequently Asked Questions
What should I do if I receive the error message, "Your organization does not allow you to update your password on this site" upon attempting to sign-in?
For the time being, this error message will occur whenever the password for your Oakland University NetID account has expired. You will need to reset your password from the official NetID Password Management website (netid.oakland.edu). Documentation regarding password resets can be found below:
How do I know this is a legitimate sign-in page?
Official Oakland University authentication screens that utilize this new system will be on either of the following pages:
- https://login.microsoftonline.com
- https://sso.oakland.edu
To avoid falling victim to a phishing scam, in which an attacker may use social engineering to "spoof" our sign-in page and trick individuals into giving their account credentials, please reference the OU Phish Tank support article.
Do I need to specify "@oakland.edu" in my username when signing-in?
With the new sign-on experience, it is critical that users specify their full email address, including the "@oakland.edu" portion when signing-in to services to avoid authentication failures.
Is anything changing with regards to how I reset my password?
All password resets will still be completed through netid.oakland.edu at this time, following the traditional password reset process. This will change in the future once we enable password resets natively through the new authentication system. This resource will be updated to reflect any changes in the password reset process when necessary.
Are changes being made to Multi-factor Authentication?
Faculty, staff, and eligible student employees will still be using Oakland University's provided Multi-factor Authentication (MFA) solution, DUO, with the new sign-on experience. Any possible change to MFA that may occur in the future will be communicated to the campus community.
Will I be signed-out of my applications at the time of cut-over?
At the time of cut-over to the new authentication system, users are expected to remain authenticated to their accounts on most university services, such as Google Workspace. However, there may be a few services where users are expected to log back in to their accounts.
Is there an account password expiration limit that is now being enforced?
The new authentication system enforces password expiration's, and will not allow users to sign-in to their accounts if their password has been expired. In order to ensure a smooth authentication experience, please ensure your NetID password is updated and reset at least once every 180 days.
It should be noted that the enforcement of account expiration's applies to both shared & guest NetID accounts as well.
Is anything changing with how I authenticate to the Internet on-campus?
No changes are being made with how users connect to the Internet on-campus at the time of the cut-over to the new authentication system. Should there be changes to how users authenticate to the Internet on-campus, users will be made aware of this change through appropriate communication channels.
Is it normal to see the sign-in page less frequently with the new system?
Windows devices managed by the university integrate with the new authentication system to reduce the amount of times users need to sign-in with a password. This is a feature of the new authentication system which allows for the password on your Windows device to be "passed-through" to the university service you are attempting to access.
In some instances, users might be prompted with the sign-in page, but can still authenticate to a university service without having to enter their password. This is also due to the password being passed-through from Microsoft Windows. If this feature is applicable to your account, it will be noted by the "Connected to Windows" label under your username:
Additional Support
- OU Technology Center
- 44 Oakland Center
- Rochester, MI 48309-4479
- (248) 370-4357
- Office Hours: M-F 8:00am - 5:00pm