Your university account may become locked out, in that case you may not be able to sign in to your accounts even if you are using a correct password or a newly reset password.

Your university account may become locked out, in that case you may not be able to sign in to your accounts even if you are using a correct password or a newly reset password.

Why is My Account Locked?

1. You have entered the wrong password too many times. Typically, 5-6 wrong passwords will result in your account being locked.
2. One of your devices remembers the wrong password and is continuously trying to connect, or it is incorrectly autofilling your credentials when you try to sign in. When this happens, your account will constantly lockout until the culprit is found and the password is updated.
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3. In more rare cases, your account might be a victim of a hacking attack. If you see any suspicious activity coming from your account, please contact IT Service Desk immediately and reset your password.

How Do I Regain Access?

Note: you do not need to reset your password if you know the correct password. Resetting the password will not unlock your account. However, if the password continues to not work, it is best to unlock your account and reset it.

If the lockout is a single time event (not a device or a hacker), your account will typically become unlocked within 15-30 minutes. However, you can also unlock your own account using the following steps:

1. Browse to passwordreset.microsoftonline.com.
2. Enter your SHU email address and the characters appearing in the captcha.
3. Choose "I know my password but still can't sign in".
4. Click Next.
5. Select "Text my mobile phone".
6. Enter your phone number.
7. Click Text.
8. Upon entering the code you receive, your account will be unlocked.

Continuous Lockouts

If the lockout continues to happen, please examine your devices and connections. A common sign that you are experiencing these issues is that you unlock your account, can sign in briefly, before your account is locked again. Try these steps:

1. Consider which of your devices connect to the Sacred Heart network or browse to your email or SHU sites.
2. Check your Wi-Fi settings on all your devices: laptop, desktop, phone, tablet etc. It can help to "Forget" the network and reconnect again with a known good password.
3. Check your E-mail apps such as Outlook, generic Android app, generic Apple Mail app etc. You might get a prompt to enter a correct password or update the password. If not, you might need to remove and re-add the mailbox. It is generally not advised to use the generic MacOS mail app as it tends to cause many lockouts.
4. When signing in to sites and web apps, make sure that your browser is not autofilling saved passwords into the fields. If it is, delete what it entered, and type in the correct password by hand.
5. Turn off all of your devices. Unlock your account. Begin turning on one device at a time. Connect it to network, open email (if applicable) etc. Perform these steps slowly to see if you can pin down the culprit device and fix the mismatched credentials.
6. If you are still experiencing lockouts, contact the IT Service Desk for further assistance.