Faculty Support Services for Teaching with Technology

Accessing Blackboard without a Cornell NetID

If you are a part of the "Cornell community", you can log in to Blackboard  using your NetID (e.g. cgh2) and your regular password. For most people this is their email password. The Cornell community includes students, faculty, staff, alumni, and retirees. See FAQs about Network IDs from CIT Identity Management for more information. If you do not have a NetID and do not qualify to obtain one, you will need to get a Cornell GuestID in order to be able to use Blackboard.

Note: Faculty, staff, and students at Weill Cornell Medical College can be issued a NetID if they need access to online services offered on the Ithaca campus. A NetID may be requested by sending the completed Application for a Network Identity, along with a photocopy of the requester's Cornell ID card or valid government-issued photo ID card (such as a driver's license or passport), to the CIT Contact Center.

How do you get a GuestID?

Instructors whose students will need GuestIDs will direct their students to this page, and will give the students the name and password required to get to the actual GuestID Registration form. The form asks for name, email address, and a password. For security reasons, each student will fill out the form himself. That will also simplify the process if the student forgets his password later on.

Getting a GuestID

1. Your instructor or Cornell contact will give a special user name and password that will allow you to access the “GuestID Registration form.”
2. Complete the “GuestID Registration form”. (You must have the name and password from step 1 to access the form.)
3. After you fill out the form, read through the "Terms of Use", and click the "I Agree" button to submit your request.
4. After the form is submitted, you will receive an email asking you to confirm that you want a GuestID.
5. Click on the link in the email. The link will open a web page. (or, you can copy and paste the web address into a web browser like Internet Explorer.)
6. On the web page, you will need to confirm your date of birth (as it was entered on the registration form), and click the "Submit" button. When you reply to the confirmation email, your GuestID will be changed from Pending to Active. IMPORTANT: This step needs to be completed to make your GuestID active.
7. Next, you will get a second confirmation email letting you know that your GuestID has been created in the system. (Please note that this does not mean you have access to the course yet.)
8. Once your GuestID has been activated Once your GuestID has been activated you will receive a confirmation email. You can then get a Blackboard account by going to Blackboard Resource Requests.

What will GuestIDs look like?

GuestIDs will be constructed from the first and last name, separated by a dot. Names will be turned to lower case, spaces will be omitted, and punctuation will be omitted, except for hyphens. Characters with diacritic marks will be changed to the corresponding character without the mark. Duplicate names will have a number appended. Other rules may apply to very short and very long names, but the above rules cover the vast majority of cases.

For example:

• John Doe becomes john.doe
• Mary O'Neill becomes mary.oneill
• Carter van Zandt becomes carter.vanzandt
• Anne-Marie Childs becomes anne-marie.childs
• Lisa Smith-Kline becomes lisa.smith-kline

• Computing and Communications Center Room 124 Garden Ave.
• Open Monday-Friday 9:00AM - 5:00PM during the academic year
• Closed on university holidays

• (607) 255-9760
  atc_support@cornell.edu

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