Electronic Resources: Troubleshooting

From off-campus, when you use the library web site to access our subscribed services (e.g. databases, journals, articles), you should be prompted for a UT EID and password, and DUO multi-factor authentication. After signing in, you should have full access to the range of our subscription.

The following sections are common problems with accessing library resources from off-campus.

If none of these solutions work, please report the problem to the Ask A Librarian email. When filling out the form, list the name of the database, the name of the article (if applicable), and a description of the error. We will contact you when the issue has been resolved.

Many off-campus errors occur due to a browser blocking our EZproxy's cookies. To fix this problem, you need to change your cookie settings in the browser:

• Chrome
  • Click on More (three vertical dots) > Settings > Show Advanced Settings (if not shown) > Privacy > Content Settings.
  • In the Cookies section, select "Allow local data to be set."
  • Click OK to save changes.
  • The "Always allow," "Accept third party cookies: Always," and "Accept All Cookies" will let all websites, third parties, and advertisers store cookies and other data on your computer.
• Safari
  • Choose Safari > Preferences, click Privacy, then select "Always allow"
• Firefox
  • Menu > Options > Privacy > History > Select "Firefox will: Use custom settings for history."
  • "Accept cookies from sites" should be check marked.
  • "Accept third party cookies" should be set to "Always."
• Internet Explorer
  • Tools (gear icon) > Internet options > Privacy tab
  • Set to "Medium," "Low," or "Accept All Cookies."

If you are never prompted for an EID, and instead receive a "Page cannot be found" error for every resource that you try to access, you may need to adjust your firewall settings.

Your local network may be rejecting traffic from the proxy server, which helps off-campus users to connect to databases and online journals. If you administer your own personal firewall, then you will have to make an exception for www.lib.utexas.edu.

How to add exceptions to your Firewall:

• PC
• Mac

If you are at a place of work with a local area network, talk to your help desk or network administrator about how your network is configured.

If you use the IHS databases (US Industry standards), then you also want to add an exception for port 443. IHS requires a secure connection, and the secure proxy transaction takes place on port 443.

The system that we use for off-campus access uses encoded links. You can add a prefix to the article or journal links (that don't already have them) and that should allow you to access them from off-campus. The prefix is:

• https://ezproxy.lib.utexas.edu/login?url=

So a link to an article without EZproxy would start out as #1, and adding the prefix would result in #2:

1. https://search.epnet.com/direct.asp?an=6893715&db=aph
2. https://ezproxy.lib.utexas.edu/login?url=http://search.epnet.com/direct.a...

You can also use the Check UT Libraries' Bookmark to check for access when using links without the proxy. 

Virtual private networking (VPN) is a campus IT service that provides secure remote access to university network resources. However, VPN does not make your off-campus computer or device appear to be on campus. To access the libraries' electronic resources, you will still need to go through the UT Libraries site and authenticate as always with your EID.