Account Management

Modified: Feb 12, 2026

Computer Science user ID is your University NetID. You must have a University NetID before activating a computer science account. Here’s the University’s tool for activating your NetID: https://netid.rutgers.edu

Computer Science Linux systems use the same passwords as the University NetID. An account will automatically be created and activated upon your first login.

• Changing your password. If you are using your NetID password (most users) to change your password, just follow the University NetID password page.
• Users with separate Computer Science passwords can use Manage your Computer Science password to change their password.  A computer science passwords are required to use Two-factor authentication
• Group and Guest management. This will help you create and manage groups. This is useful for three purposes:
  • Sharing Files: If you want to share files with a group of people, create a group that lists the people, then change the file’s permissions so they can access it. For more help with this, see Sharing files.
  • Sponsoring Access: If you are authorized (normally, faculty) and want to allow grad students or collaborators to access research or instructional systems, you can create a guest group. For help with this, see Managing Your Guest Users.
  • Control Logins: If you are running your own computer cluster, you can use groups to control users’ ability to log in.
• Other info. Consider providing your contact information so we can reach you for support. You can set additional information using “ipa user-mod” on any of our systems, e.g. ipa user-mod YourNetID --phone=8485551212, ipa user-mod --help will give a list of what can be set. ipa user-show YourNetID will show your current information. You only need to do this once. The same information applies to all of CS Linux systems. Note: Changing the first and last names and GECOS will be useless since we reset them to the official university names nightly.
• Linux Shell. By default, everyone uses the bash shell. To change to tcsh, for example, use ipa user-mod YourNetID --shell=/bin/tcsh on any of our systems.
• Integrating your computer into Kerberos is a how-to for setting up your computer to use Kerberos. (This is for computers located in the computer science department areas. For systems at home, see Working at Home.)
• Sharing files between systems
• Technical information on our security and account setup.
• Cron jobs. For systems that use CS Linux accounts, cron jobs need special attention. Because cron jobs are started without your password, they can’t normally access your files. You will need to enable home directory access in cron jobs on each host where you’re going to use cron. Note that there is a slight decrease in the security of your home directory if you do this, as explained at the link.

For help with our systems or immediate assistance, visit the LCSR Operator at CoRE 235 or call 848-445-2443. Otherwise, see CS HelpDesk. Don’t forget to include your NetID and a description of your problem.