Oh-Wooo Help Desk

What are the OWU password requirements?

Your password MUST:

• be at least 10 characters in length
• contain at least one upper or lower case alphabetic character
• contain at least one numeral or one of these special characters: ~ ! @ # $ % ^ & * ( ) _ + – = < > ? [ ] { } |

Your account password MAY NOT:

• contain or be equal to your last previous password if you are a student
• match your previous 5 passwords if you are faculty or staff
• contain your name, nickname, OWU account username, or OWU ID number
• contain any spaces
• contain any punctuation except the special characters above

Your password is case sensitive. That is, ‘badpassword’ and ‘BaDpaSsworD’ are not the same. Choose a password that’s easy to remember but hard to guess. Don’t just use a single word with a guessable trail of numbers (like “password123” or “555bishops”).

Two ways to make a strong password: 1) Use the first letters of a long familiar phrase and add a numeral. Example: “Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall, Humpty Dumpty had a great fall” plus a number becomes “HDsoawHDhagf740”. 2) Use the phrase itself with upper and lower case and add a numeral. Example: “DoNotUseThi5ParticularPassword” (using five for the letter “s” in “This”).