Spartan 365 - Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) About Switching the Office 365 Login to Okta

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Select a link below to jump to that section:

• Overview
• Why is this happening?
• How will this impact me?
• Login
  • Will this change affect my laptop/PC only or my mobile devices as well?
• Passwords
  • Can I find out when my password is going to expire?
  • Is my password expired?
  • Will I be prompted to change my password?
  • How can I change my password?
  • If I change my password, will it change on all my devices (laptop, mobile phone, tablet, PC)?
  • What happens if I change my password and then it still tells me I have the wrong password?
• Basic Authentication (POP, IMAP, Active Sync, SMTP, etc)
  • What if I have a mail client that uses Basic Authentication?
  • Can I still use a client with a POP or IMAP connection?
• Special Situations
• What do I do if I cannot switch to a different account that I used to login as (i.e. shared mailbox)?

Overview

The following article discusses frequently asked questions about the implementation of OKTA in front of Office 365.

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Why is this happening?

This maintenance is necessary to implement important security enhancements to the MSU unified login system (Okta). This change is part of a larger initiative to improve data privacy and security for the MSU community and implement MFA (multifactor authentication) to applications across campus.

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How will this impact me?

• If you currently use an MSU email address through spartanmail.msu.edu, Outlook Client, or any other Microsoft Office products, you will see a slightly different login screen.
  • You may get prompted for your password by Okta when running an application that uses your Office 365 login (i.e. MS Word, Outlook, etc).
  • If your password is expired, you will also be prompted to change your password at that time.
• You may get multiple prompts for a password thru your email client or application on their phone, tablet, or computer.
  • If you experience any issues, visit https://auth.msu.edu (link).
    • See if you are prompted to change your password. If so, proceed with the change, and then try accessing your email or application again.
  • If the application or email client still keeps prompting for your password, your client may be using what is called “basic authentication”. You should upgrade your client to one that can use a Modern Authentication connection.
    Outlook is the recommended email client at Michigan State University and will automatically configure new connections with Modern Authentication).

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Login

Will this change affect my laptop/PC only or my mobile devices as well?

• The change will affect any device where you login to an Office 365 application using your MSU NetID and Password.

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Passwords

Can I find out when my password is going to expire?

• There is not currently a way to confirm when your password is going to expire. If you believe it has been some time since you last changed your password it is never a bad idea to change it.
• The service desk does have a tool that can determine the date it expires (called Tools365) but you will need to contact them over the phone to obtain this information.

Is my password expired?

• You can determine if your password expired by logging into auth.msu.edu. If it is expired, you will be prompted to change it.
  • Symptoms of an expired password include receiving continued prompts to enter your password on an email client or application.
    Individuals are sent email reminders when their password is going to expire (14 days prior, 5 days prior, 3 days prior and 1 day prior to expiration).

Will I be prompted to change my password?

• If you login to auth.msu.edu, you will be prompted to change your password if your password is expired. Note: You will not receive a warning if the password is expiring in the near future.

How can I change my password?

• To change your password at any time:
  • Visit auth.msu.edu and perform the following steps:
  • Sign in with your MSU email address and current password
  • Click on the drop-down menu in the upper right corner (near your name)
  • Click Settings, Edit Profile, and complete the Change Password fields
  • Follow the prompts
  • Create a strong passphrase (using the best practices found at secureit.msu.edu/passwords)

If I change my password, will it change on all my devices (laptop, mobile phone, tablet, PC)?

• Once you change your password, it is changed for your NetID, so any device you are logging into using the NetID will use the new password
  • You may need to logout and log back in for it to be recognized.
  • Some clients like Outlook may not prompt immediately for a new password after you have changed it but should prompt within 30 minutes.
  • It make take 15 minutes for the password to sync to other systems (like EBS, Office 365, Course Management Systems, etc).

What happens if I change my password and then it still tells me I have the wrong password?

• If this happens there is a good chance your email application is configured for basic authentication.
• You have several options to assist with this situation.
  1. You can access your mail at spartanmail.msu.edu. All email should be available there unless you setup a POP connection to your email account.
  2. If your current email client is not Microsoft Outlook, you can setup and use the Outlook App on your tablet or phone or use Outlook on a computer and set it up for your MSU account. If you are using Outlook on your computer and are having issues you may have it configured incorrectly.
  3. You can update your current email client to use “modern authentication”. It should be noted, however, that Outlook is the supported client at Michigan State University. Limited or no support will be available for other clients.
• Wait 72 hours and your old account configuration should start to work again.
  • You should update your configuration to an Active Sync connection, however, because Microsoft will be making changes that will cause most of the older type of connections to stop working in October of 2022.

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Basic Authentication (POP, IMAP, Active Sync, SMTP, etc)

What if I have a mail client that uses Basic Authentication?

• You should upgrade your client to one that supports Modern Authentication - see the How This Impacts Me section (link) above.

Can I still use a client with a POP or IMAP connection?

• Maybe ... but it won’t be supported by MSU. Email clients that use IMAP connections could work if they support modern authentication.
• As indicated above, Outlook with an active sync connection is the recommended client at Michigan State University. Other types of connections are used “at your own risk” and could quit functioning at any time in the future without notice.

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Special Situations

What do I do if I cannot switch to a different account that I used to login as (i.e. shared mailbox)?

• Okta SSO can create situations where users trying to access resources across multiple Microsoft accounts are unable to access them without killing their Okta session. This is due to the Okta authentication token overriding any Microsoft logins. So, the first user will be logged in again.
  1. Users can navigate to the Okta portal (https://auth.msu.edu) and logout before attempting to login to another Microsoft account.
  2. Users can use a different browser for each account since the Okta token is browser based.

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