Locked Student Account

[RonaldB]

I'm using the free version and I have a student who can't join my class. When creating his account it says he already has an account and to login. He doesn't remember every using Canvas and doesn't know what his password is. When asking to reset the password the screen says to contact his teacher but he doesn't know who that is.

The account used name looks like an autogenerated D with several numbers instead of his name. He can't create a new account because the old account is tied to his school email address and he doesn't have another email address.

Is there anyway to find out who his teacher is that created his old account? Has anyone found a work-around for something like this? I need him to be able to log in to my Canvas class to do his assignments.

[james_whalley]

@RonaldB Do you know where the student is going to report the forgotten password? Is he going to https://canvas.instructure.com/login/canvas? That should allow him to reset his password.

[RonaldB]

He just gets a response says to contact his administrator/teacher. But, I didn't create his account.

[james_whalley]

@RonaldB Do you know the steps he is taking to get that message?

[RonaldB]

He gets to the login screen like the page linked to in your message. When he clicks the link for "forgot password" he's instructed to enter his email. Once he gets an email response, it tells him to contact his teacher or administrator. I can't change his password. He doesn't know who created his account or when. My guess is that a previous teacher created his account but he didn't know he was in the Canvas environment.

[NoahBoswell]

That is so strange... I've never experienced receiving a message like that before. Is this a message that is appearing in his email or on the popping up as like a message bubble on the same page as the forgot password link where he enters his email?

[RonaldB]

It came in his email. He just sent me the message:

"

You requested a confirmation of your password for logging into Canvas.

This address is associated with the login, "10532294767XXXXXXXXXX".

The password for this login should have been given to you by the system administrators at Free for Teacher, and Instructure doesn't have access to your password. If your password is not working, please contact the system administrators about changing or verifying your password.

[KristinL]

Hi @RonaldB -

While a different team usually manages FFT accounts, I may be able to help. Would you mind emailing the username and email of the individual to community@instructure.com?

[CallieAlreza]

Did you publish the course? Invitations will not be sent unless you publish your course.

[RonaldB]

Yes. He's the only student who can't log in. It looks like some else registered his school email address for a different class but he doesn't know who. His is the only account that has a series of numbers for an ID. Everyone else created an account using their own name.

[CallieAlreza]

This is confusing. Maybe contact the person who registered his email to change it?

[NoahBoswell]

@RonaldB , the administrator that they are referring to are the Canvas employees that run the free for teacher Canvas instance, they are really the only ones aside from your student who are able to reset his password, and given that his account is locked, I don't see another option. The free for teacher instance isn't connected a specific school, so the only people that actually run that instance are employees of Canvas themselves.

That being said, here are a couple suggestions that I have for you:
1) Have your student create a new account with a different email.

2) Have your student sign in via a cloud provider (i.e. Google, Microsoft, Facebook, etc.). There are buttons he can click on the login page to seamlessly login and create a new account. This way, he won't need to memorize any username/emails or passwords to gain access to his account. He'd just click on the cloud provider's button each time he wants to login.

3) Reach out to Canvas support directly as the teacher. Ensure they know which course your student is trying to access, as well as their email associated with the account. This process however, can take a few days.

I hope this helps and clears things up a bit, reach out with any additional questions or concerns! Thanks!
- Noah

[RonaldB]

Thanks! I'll try these. He doesn't have another email account so I was think about creating one and allowing him to use it for this semester. I'll try the other two options first.

[NoahBoswell]

Happy to help! If you have any additional questions or concerns, feel free to respond here!