If you have forgotten your password you will need to use the self-service password reset feature within the NHSmail Portal over both an Internet and a N3 connection. To use this, you must know the answers to your security questions and you must have a mobile number set within the profile section of your account (note: you must have access to this mobile). If you do not know the answers to your security questions or you do not have a mobile phone number associated with your account, you will need to contact your Local Administrator to reset your password.
Note: You are able to hide your mobile number so that it is not searchable within the NHS Directory – refer to the Updating Your Profile section for more information.
To use the self-service password reset:
Performing a self-service password reset will also unlock the account if it is locked
- Navigate to www.nhs.net
- Click on Unlock Account or Forgotten password?
3. Type your full email address and last 4 digits of your registered mobile number
If If you don’t have a mobile phone number associated to your account, just fill in the NHSmail Email Address field and leave the mobile number field blank
4. Click Next
If the security questions are not set up, you will see the following message:
5. Enter the appropriate characters of the answers to your security questions into the
corresponding box and click Next
You will never be asked to enter the full answer to your security questions
If you do not have a mobile number associated with your account, or you have forgotten the answers to your security questions you must contact your Local Administrator.
If you have correctly answered the security questions and there is no mobile number associated with your account, your Local Administrator’s contact details will be displayed. You will also get the option to update the mobile number and hide it from being displayed in the NHS Directory.
Once you have correctly answered the security questions, a text message with a new temporary password will be sent to the mobile number associated with your account
6. Check your mobile to get the details of your temporary password
7. Go to to www.nhs.net
8. Type your email address and your temporary password
Once you log in with your temporary password, you will be prompted to update your password
Unlocking your account
If you know the answers to your security questions and have a mobile number set within the profile section of your account (note: you must have access to this mobile), you will be able to unlock your account. If you do not know the answers to your security questions or you do not have a mobile phone number associated with your account, you will need to contact your Local Administrator to unlock your account.
If you lock your NHSmail account, follow the steps 1-5 in Self-service password reset to answer the security questions as part of the authentication process. Once you have correctly answered the security questions, you will get two options.
Option 1. To unlock the account without resetting your password:
- Select Unlock and Keep Current Password
The following message will be displayed :
Option 2. To unlock the account and reset the password
1.Select Unlock and Reset Password
A text message with a new temporary password will be sent to the mobile number associated with your account.
- Twelve attempts to login with an incorrect password will lock your account
- Three attempts to answer the security questions with incorrect answers during self-service password reset will lock your account
Additional considerations
If you access NHSmail using a number of different methods (e.g. Outlook, mobile phone, tablet), you must update to your new password on each device that is configured to store the password, to prevent your account from becoming locked.
