Help & support

Work through these in order:

• Check whether your account is locked — five failed attempts within 15 minutes triggers a 30-minute lockout.
• Confirm the workstation clock is accurate. A drift over 90 seconds will invalidate verification codes.
• Make sure you are using your domain account (firstname.lastname), not your email address.
• If you changed your password in the last hour, sign out of all devices and try again.

This is almost always a cookie problem. Clear cookies for portal.northbay.example and id.northbay.example, then close every browser window before retrying. Private windows and strict tracking protection block the session cookie the identity service needs.

A reinstall generates a new device identity, so the trust record no longer matches. Sign in with your password and a verification code, then re-enroll the device from Account → Trusted devices. The old record can be revoked from the same page.

Self-service reset is available if you have an enrolled second factor: on the sign-in page choose Forgot password, verify with your authenticator, then set a new password. Without a second factor, call the Servicedesk on ext. 4120 — identity verification is required and can take up to one working day.

• Northbay Authenticator — time-based 6-digit codes; the default for all staff.
• Hardware security key — FIDO2 keys issued to administrators and privileged roles.
• Backup codes — ten single-use codes generated when you enroll. Store them outside the workstation.

Codes are time-based, so the clock on the phone running the authenticator must be accurate. Enable automatic date and time on the device, then generate a fresh code. If the device has been offline for a long period, resynchronise it before trying again.

Use a backup code to sign in, then remove the lost device under Account → Multi-factor authentication and enroll a new one. If you have no backup codes left, contact the Servicedesk — a manager countersignature is required to reset the factor.

On a trusted managed workstation, once every 30 days. On any other device, at every sign-in. Administrative actions — user management, permission changes, audit export — always require a fresh verification regardless of device.

Raise a software request in the Servicedesk with the vendor, version and business justification. Security review takes three to five working days; licensed products also need cost-centre approval from your manager.

Patch rings install updates weekly and allow a deferral of up to 72 hours. After that the prompt repeats hourly until the machine is restarted. Save your work and restart — the whole cycle takes about four minutes on image 24.3.

Check Service status first — file services are currently degraded. If the service is healthy, your group membership may have changed: view your effective permissions on the Account page and request access through the Servicedesk if a group is missing.