Nexus Troubleshooting Tips

Owned by Carol Lu
Last updated: Mar 15, 2023 by Rohan Raghavan
3 min read

Many computing services offered by UWaterloo rely on the Nexus Active Directory services for authentication. Services such as the Central Authentication Service (CAS), wireless services (Eduroam) and many corporate applications (see list below) use Nexus accounts when authentication (username and password) is required.

The following services use Nexus authentication:

  • Eduroam (wireless)

  • uw-unsecured (wireless)

  • 802.1x (wired public access point)

  • LEARN

  • WaterlooWorks

  • Quest

  • myHRinfo

  • myPENSIONinfo

  • Virtual Private Network (VPN)

  • any web page or service that displays a CAS login page

 

What is my Nexus username and password?

Your Nexus username and password are the same as your 8-character username (e.g. j25rober) and password. This username and password are also used to sign into WatIAM and other UWaterloo websites.

To change your password, sign into WatIAM and follow the instructions listed here: https://uwaterloo.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/ISTKB/pages/297799896. Once your password has been changed in WatIAM, your NEXUS password will also be updated.

However, any saved passwords on your various mobile and computing devices will not be automatically updated. This may cause sign in issues on those devices therefore they should be modified or deleted. For additional support regarding this, take a look at the articles below:

https://uwaterloo.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/ISTKB/pages/262013238

https://uwaterloo.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/ISTKB/pages/262013240

Other applications

Other applications/connections may also contain saved password information and you will need to update your username and password there as well. These applications and mappings may display an unable to connect error and if prompted, you should update the username and password.

Windows drive mappings

  • If you have used the Map Network Drive feature in Windows to map "uwaterloo.ca" drives, we recommend hovering the mouse over the mapped drive, and clicking the secondary mouse button (usually the right-click), and then choosing Disconnect

  • You now need to create a new Map Network Drive connection with your NEXUS\username and updated password

Nexus Issues with SharePoint

Not on a Nexus managed workstation

When using SharePoint on a Nexus authenticated workstation, you will not be prompted to log in. On a non-Nexus workstation you must log in as NEXUS\username.

The Nexus\ prefix is required, and note the slash is the back slash key found above the Enter key on your keyboard (and not the forward slash used in typing web addresses).

Multiple Password Prompts

Follow the Internet Options tips in the Sharepoint basic troubleshooting tips article.

Connect to Outlook (for connecting to SharePoint Calendars, Tasklists and other SharePoint features)

Outlook should ask you to update your saved credentials. If Outlook doesn't provide an option to save the new password, you may have to delete your connection and recreate it.

Connect to Excel

If you have used Connect to Excel or Exported data from SharePoint to Excel, you will be prompted to update your credentials

Remember to use your Nexus\username when doing this.

I don’t use Internet Explorer as my browser

If you use any other browser (FireFox, Chrome, Safari) then you may need to log in to SharePoint using "NEXUS\username" format (see Not on a Nexus managed workstation section above).

Adding new users to SharePoint sites

You must add people as NEXUS\username.

Do not use friendly names (e.g., jack.jones) for the username.

The built-in SharePoint directory lookup is a handy tool for finding the Nexus username (book icon on the right side of the users add window) or you can use the authenticated WatIAM search.