Getting started: logging in, email, and accessing resources (Students in credit programs)

Owned by Douglas 2brown
Last updated: Nov 06, 2024 by Cecilia David
11 min read
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Welcome to RRU!

Congratulations on embarking on this exciting journey of learning! As you step into this new chapter of your academic life, remember that every lesson, every challenge, and every triumph will contribute to your growth.

You may already start feeling overwhelmed because you are being bombarded with new usernames, new passwords and new systems. We don't want technology to be a challenge. We've designed this page to help you navigate the various IT information and RRU resources available at RRU and invite you to contact us at any time if you have questions. Our contact information is found at the bottom on this page.

We are the Computer Services team and we are here to help you succeed in your studies.

Tips:

  1. Bookmark this page for easy reference

  2. Right click on the linked pages in this article to open the links in a new tab so you do not lose your place

Your RRU Login (must read!)

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As a student in a credit program, you have one RRU Login that you’ll use to access resources during your studies. You received a notice to set up a passphrase and activate your RRU Login when it was created for you, which may have been early in your application process or near the end, when you accepted a seat.

Depending on which resource you’re using, you may be required to enter your RRU Login in one of two formats. No matter which format you use, the same passphrase should be used.

RRU Login Formats

Use this format to log into sites and services like:

RRU Login Formats

Use this format to log into sites and services like:

Your first initial + (maybe a number) + your last name + @royalroads.ca

like: dbrown@royalroads.ca or d1brown@royalroads.ca

This is NOT used as an email address at RRU

(technically called a User Principle Name (UPN), this is the long form of your RRU Login)

 

Your first initial + (maybe a number) + your last name

like: dbrown or d1brown

(technically called a Security Accounts Manager (SAM), this is the short form of your RRU Login)

  • MyAdmin where you can you can pay bills, order transcripts, view grades, order a bus pass, upload documents, manage your email forwarding and update your personal email address.

  • If you need to reset your password

  • RRU Library while you are enrolled in a credit program

    • exception: the RRU Bookstore requires you to login with your full email address (like douglas.brown@royalroads.ca), not your RRU Login

Why do you have two Moodle Sites? Undergraduate & Graduate Courses Moodle contains all Credit Program courses. Professional & Continuing Studies Moodle contains all other courses, often non-credit but there are exceptions. This includes prerequisite courses like Academic Writing or Accounting Prep. You will always have access to the PCS student portal and can enroll in additional continuing studies courses during your credit program and in the future.

Where are my courses? Your courses will not appear on Moodle until the day they go live. This is usually 9am on the first day of classes. In some cases, the instructor might open up the course on the Friday before, but if this happens you will be notified in advance. If you do not hear otherwise, just expect the courses to appear automagically on day one of your course.

How will I know which format to use?

Look for prompts on the login screen that tell you which format to use.

However, a simple rule is: if the site is a Microsoft managed site with a login that looks like this, you should use the long format (i.e. d1brown@royalroads.ca).

All others use the short format (like d1brown) unless otherwise directed.

 

  1. The RRU Login is created using the first initial of your preferred name + your last name.
    (i.e. for a student named Douglas Brown, the username would be dbrown.)

  2. If the username dbrown has been used previously, the last name is preceded with a number.  Therefore the username would be d1brown.  If that is already used, the system tries d2brown and so on, until it finds an unused username (i.e. d3brown).

  3. The email address is generated based on the username. Using the example above for Douglas Brown, username d1brown, the email address will be: douglas.1brown@royalroads.ca.

We cannot change the username except in very specific circumstances, such as a legal name change.

What is my passphrase?

As mentioned above, you set up a passphrase when you activated your RRU Login.

If you cannot remember your passphrase is, you can reset your passphrase on our web site here.

You MUST know your username (short form) and your student ID number. If you don't know your student ID number, you will need to contact the registrar's office at 1-800-788-8028 x4862. The student number is also on all receipts your received from Royal Roads.

 

A passphrase is another word for a password however it encourages a sequence of words or other text rather then a single word to control access to a computer system, program or data. A passphrase is similar to a password in usage, but is generally longer for added security. The passphrase at Royal Roads can also contain spaces, numbers and special characters.

Passphrase => Password

Setting up Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) (must read!)

Royal Roads University has adopted Microsoft 365 MFA for Webmail, and Office 365 (currently only for people outside Canada, but soon coming to all accounts). This means you will eventually need MFA to access any Microsoft resource as well as any resource that use Microsoft to authenticate like Zoom and many others. In the near future MFA will also be required to log into Moodle.

MFA uses a mobile device to “authenticate” your account. The Microsoft Authenticator application uses minimal data (~<2mb over 3 months) and does not access your personal or private information on your device. You may use another authenticator if you would prefer.

You only have to set this up once and it will work for all the applications listed.

As this procedure is a little longer, we have setup a page all it’s own. Please go here for detailed instructions to setup MFA.

Please do not delay setting up MFA.

Email address (must read!)

When you became registered in a credit program, we automatically created an email address for you. Email addresses at RRU are in the format: preferred-name.last-name@royalroads.ca and may contain a number, like “douglas.1brown@royalroads.ca”. This looks similar to your RRU Login except that your name is spelled out. Many people confuse these two.

With few exceptions, you rarely use your email address to log in to RRU resources.

All RRU official correspondence is sent to your RRU email account. There are a few ways to access your RRU email account. (some require a mobile device)

Email forwarding (default) - All RRU email is forwarded directly to the official personal email address on file for you in the student system. There is no copy anywhere else including in your RRU webmail account. You can manage your forwarding using the web interface so please make sure you can log into Webmail first (addressed below). Although most students forward email to the official email address we have on file in the student system, you can forward to any email address you choose.

If you wish to update the official email address we have on file in the student system, do that on the MyAdmin site. This is independent of email forwarding.

Webmail access - Once you have MFA setup, you can log into RRU Webmail at https://outlook.office.com/.

Use the long format of your RRU Login (d1brown@royalroads.ca) to log in to this account, not your email address) (Forwarding must be turned off to see any email in webmail)

Mobile device - You can setup your email account on a mobile device using the default mail application or using your own email software. You can find instructions to setup this account here. (Forwarding must be turned off to get email on your mobile device)

Please note that the max file size your RRU email account can send/receive is 20mb uncompressed regardless of you access your email. Also note that PDF/JPG/ZIP documents are compressed so anything over 12-15mb (total) of these file types will probably be too big.

We are aware that some RRU email going to Hotmail, Outlook, MSN and Live.ca accounts, including RRU passphrase reset and academic account activation emails, are going directly into SPAM folders or not arriving at all for staff/faculty and students that are using Microsoft email accounts like Live.ca, Outlook.com and Hotmail.com among others. If you are concerned you are missing an email, please check your Junk Email folders. 

We also strongly suggest that you add “royalroads.ca” domain to the Safe Sender's list in your account. 

Please see this page for instructions.

Additional Resources

Is my computer ready?

Since most of your work will be done over the internet and through a browser, your only limits will be your internet speed and availability. Most computers will be able to handle this processing without any difficulties.

Depending on your program, you might be required to record a video, work on documents with Microsoft Office, or install additional software. In those cases, again, most computers should still have no difficulty handling those tasks.

Inevitably, we get the question of Mac vs Windows? RRU supports both options and our only recommendation is not to try something new at RRU. If you are most comfortable with a Mac, then stick with it. Courses, and especially residencies, can be quite intense and busy, so you do not want to be learning a new operating system at the same time as learning at RRU. Both OS will handle what you need to do.

Finally, if you do not already have a copy of Microsoft Office, RRU provides a free subscription to Office 365 that can be used to install on up to 5 computers. So please do not pay for your own license if you do not want to. (RRU Office 365 license not available for Chromebook)

Detailed list of requirements can be found at Computer Requirements for Online Learning

 

How to Contact the Computer Services Department

Submit a ticket
To submit a ticket, you will be required to log in using your FULL Royal Roads email address (detailed instructions here)
New! If you do not have a full RRU email address (students not currently in a credit program and/or visitors), you can create a portal account using your personal email address.
Email us at IT Customer Service
Contact Form
Phone: 250-391-2659 Toll Free: 1-866-808-5429
Come visit us in the Sequoia Building
Hours of Operation