Login Help

James Madison University offers a common login page for computing resources. During the first phase of implementation, this service will be used by JMU eID Management (MyAccounts), MyMadison, Student Administration, Human Resources, and Finance. Other applications will be added.

Logging In

When you authenticate to a computing resource, the login process helps us to identify you and helps you identify us. Identifying you:

• You will enter your JMU eID and password.
• At times, you may be asked to answer one of your knowledge based question answers in addition to your password.
• We also attempt to recognize the computer that you are coming from as additional assurance of who you are.

Identifying us:

• We will prompt you for your password with a virtual authenticator (also referred to as a security device). The authenticator looks like:
• This authenticator should:
  1. Have the picture you selected during enrollment for existing users, eID activation for new users or password change.
  2. Have a current timestamp in the picture.
  3. Have the phrase that you selected during enrollment for existing users, eID activation for new users or password change.

If you do not see your personal authenticator, you should not enter your password and should contact the JMU Information Technology Help Desk for assistance. Remember that the JMU Information Technology Help Desk will not ask you to send your password through email or to ask you to reset your password through any unofficial web pages.

For additional information about accessibility, see our accessibility page.

Extra Authentication Steps:
Sometimes the system may prompt you with a knowledge based question. This is done for three reasons:

1. If the system prompts you occasionally for an additional answer, you are more likely to be able to answer the question when you need to reset your password.
2. The system may decide that your login pattern is atypical. For example, if you login from a computer located in Harrisonburg and then a few minutes later login from a foreign country, the system may prompt the second login with a knowledge question since it is unlikely that you traveled from the United States to the other country in just a few minutes.
3. Some applications may require additional authentication steps beyond the single login. A knowledge based question is one of the options available.

Logging Out

It is very important to close your browser. If you do not close your browser, someone else may be able to open resources as you and perform transactions as you.