Windows Authentication

[Table of Contents]

The most important thing to remember is that users must exist within Data Academy’s user list with the EXACT SAME username as their Windows username, before Windows Authentication will work. If the user does not exist in Data Academy, then they will receive an error message when attempting to browse to the Data Academy website.

Creating an Administrator

It’s useful to keep the administrator account as a backup account only.

For day-to-day management, it’s an idea to assign someone as the Data Academy administrator.

  1. Log on using the instructions in section 11 above. Browse to Admin, Users, Data Academy Users.
  2. Click on the Add button. Enter the details, as required.

Please note the following:

  • The Data Academy User Name has to be the same as the Windows User Name of the person whose account you’re setting up, but without the domain part. So if the full user name is "Megabank\AlexM" then the Data Academy User Name should be just "AlexM".
  • The password field is in plaintext on this form, but is stored in an encoded form in the database. This password is only used if you are not using Windows Authentication. Therefore, it is ignored when using Windows Authentication. Under any circumstances, it should not be the same as your Windows password!
  • The user should be added to the Administrators user group. Click on Save.

Turning Windows Authentication On

Data Academy 5.4 Configuration

  1. Log on to Data Academy
  2. From the main menu, select Admin -> System -> Site Configuration
  3. Under "Authentication Modes" select Authentication Mode = Windows

Data Academy Legacy Configuration

  1. Press Windows Key+E to open a new Explorer window (alternatively, go to Start, Run and type explorer).
  2. Browse to the location of the Data Academy website.
  3. Hold down shift and then right-click on web.config inside the Data Academy website directory, and release shift.
  4. Click on Open With and select Notepad (if Notepad isn’t listed, select Choose Program and select Notepad from the following screen).
  5. Find the line that starts <authentication mode= Change the text between the quotes to Windows (with a capital W).
  6. The line should now read <authentication mode=”Windows” />
  7. Find the line starting <allow users= Change the text between the quotes to *. The line should now read <allow users=”*” /> 
  8. Add the following keys after <appsettings>: <add key=”customauthenticationon” value=”y” /> <add key=”customauthenticationmode” value=”windows” />

IIS Configuration

If you revieve the error "Custom Authentication Failed. Is Anonymous Access off in IIS?" then you need to configure IIS to use Windows Authentication.

Open Internet Information Services Manager (by going to Start, Run and typing inetmgr).

Expand the server name, and go into the Default Web Site.

IIS 7

  1. Left click on the Data Academy website, and make sure you’re in Features view (see the bottom of the window).
  2. Click on Authentication.
  3. If there is no Windows Authentication entry, open the Windows Components/Features section from the Add/Remove Programs entry in the Control Panel, and tick Windows Authentication. This can be found in Internet Information Services > World Wide Web Services > Security. Right click on Anonymous, and select Disable. Right click on Integrated Windows Authentication, and select Enable.
  4. Now, click on Start, Run and type in iisreset followed by pressing on the OK button. This will restart IIS.

IIS 5/6

  1. Right-click on the Data Academy directory and select Properties.
  2. Click on the Directory Security tab. Click on the Edit button in the Authentication and Access control section. Deselect Anonymous Access. Enable Integrated Windows authentication. Press OK.
  3. Now, click on Start, Run and type in iisreset followed by pressing on the OK button. This will restart IIS.

Testing Windows Authentication

  1. If you haven’t already, log on to the computer with the username you set the Administrator account up for.
  2. Open up Internet Explorer.
  3. Enter the URL of the Data Academy website in the Address bar and press Enter.
  4. You should, after a pause, be logged straight in without a username and password prompt.