All students, faculty, and staff are given an Active Directory account, which is created 24 hours after the creation of the NetID. Your NetID username is the same as your AD username; however, each account has a different password. The first step in using Active Directory is to set your AD password.
You will need to know your NetID and NetID password for this process.
CITES currently recommends that you change your passwords at least once a year for security reasons (for more password recommendations, see the CITES Guide to Passwords).
1. Go to https://passwords.cites.uiuc.edu/index.html.
2. Log in using your NetID and NetID password.
3. Check the box next to "Active Directory Password". You can optionally set additional service passwords at the same time by checking additional boxes. Enter your new AD password once in each field provided, and then click the "Set Passwords" button.
4. Your password must:
- Contain at least eight characters.
- Use at least one uppercase and one lowercase letter
- Use at least one numeral.
- Not contain any common words.
- Not duplicate your most recent password.
5. Click the "Logout" button in the lower-right corner of the screen.
Remember: Do not change your password more than once every 24 hours. Please review the full password complexity rules for more information.