Common questions

What is my University of Waterloo Identity and Access Management (WatIAM) account, username, and/or user ID?

  • A WatIAM account or username is not your student ID number. A WatIAM username is up to eight characters long.
  • It is typically a combination of your initials from your given/first name, possibly some digits and your surname (or family name). For example, Jonathan William Smith may have an account or user ID of jw25smit.
  • If you have forgotten your username, you can:

I am having a problem signing into Quest. I have claimed my account on WatIAM; however, when I sign into WatIAM I do not see the summary of my application nor my applications status.

  • To log into Quest you need to go to the Quest log in page at http://quest.uwaterloo.ca and use your WatIAM username and password to sign in. There you will find any of your application or student related information.

I have forgotten my password. What do I do?

  • Recover your password - Passwords are recovered using your username and entering at least one of the ‘external’ email addresses we have on file (that could be from Quest, MyHRInfo, Alumni, the sponsorDB, or the Centre for Extended Learning (CEL)). If those two things match data on the identity, a password reset message will be sent to the supplied email address.

I received an email asking me to claim my account but now the links don't work, what do I do?

  • The links are good for five (5) days. You will have to contact an administrator to have the email regenerated. Submit a support ticket to the IST Service Desk to have this done.
  • Make sure you are sending the email from the email address you registered with and include your full name and your student ID number.

I can successfully log in to WatIAM but I cannot access Quest or other applications that use the WatIAM username and password?

  • If you have successfully logged in to WatIAM, it is likely an issue with Quest or the application you are trying to access.
  • Take a look at the Quest help pages for using Quest.
  • MyHRinfo and LEARN will have help pages on their websites as well.