IT issues: Duo 2-factor authentication for staff

25 Aug 2023

We are aware of a number of authentication issues following Wednesday's planned change to how staff use Duo to log in to some University services.

Students and postgraduate researchers should not have been impacted.

We’ll post more information here when we have it.

Update: 5pm, Friday 25 August

We have resolved the authentication issues affecting University systems that we are aware of, though we are still working through a high volume of support tickets. If you become aware of a problem please report it to our IT Support Centre by calling 0161 306 5544. 

Colleagues who may have been on leave this week will need to reauthenticate to Microsoft 365 services such as Outlook and Teams upon their return to work. If you experience issues doing this please try logging out of the application and then logging in again. 

If you’re having difficulty authenticating with Duo using the new method of entering a three digit verification code, you can still log in using a passcode generated by the Duo Mobile app. When you see the screen to enter a verification code select ‘other options’ and choose the ‘Duo Mobile passcode’ option. A step-by-step guide that includes screenshots is available: https://documents.manchester.ac.uk/DocuInfo.aspx?DocID=68919

Update: 1.30pm, Friday 25 August

We continue to work as our highest priority to resolve all outstanding authentication issues following Wednesday’s planned change to the Duo service for staff. Note, the issues should not have impacted students or postgraduate researchers. 

For many colleagues the action of re-authenticating (logging out and then in again) to Microsoft 365 services resolved their issues, but if you are still experiencing problems please call our IT Support Centre for help and support: 0161 306 5544. 

We have resolved authentication issues affecting a small number of University systems, however we are still investigating issues with a couple of internal systems.

Update: 5pm, Thursday 24 August

For many colleagues the action of re-authenticating (logging in again) to Microsoft 365 services has resolved their issues. For some colleagues a call to the IT Support Centre was needed.

There are still issues with some other University systems which we continue to work to resolve.

Update: 12noon, Thursday 24 August

Most colleagues will have to reauthenticate (log in again) to Microsoft 365 services including Teams and Outlook, on all of your devices. If you’re having difficulty authenticating using the new method of entering a three digit verification code, you can still log in using a passcode generated by the Duo Mobile app. When you see the screen to enter a verification code select ‘other options’ and choose the ‘Duo Mobile passcode’ option. A step-by-step guide that includes screenshots is available: https://documents.manchester.ac.uk/DocuInfo.aspx?DocID=68919

We are aware of some other University services that are impacted by the Duo change and are working to resolve them.

If you’re seeing any other issues with Duo please contact the IT support centre on 0161 306 5544 or by raising a ticket using the IT Support portal: https://www.itservices.manchester.ac.uk/help/