Activating Offline Access with Duo Mobile
To activate Duo Mobile for offline access:
- Select Duo Mobile Passcode and click Activate Now to begin setting up offline access (or click Enroll later (May prevent offline login) to set it up another time).
- Scan the activation QR code using the Duo Mobile app installed on your iOS or Android device. Tap Add in the app and then tap Use QR code to begin adding the account by scanning the barcode shown by Duo for Windows.
- Enter a name for the new offline access account in Duo Mobile and tap Save to continue.
- Tap the new account you just added for your Windows computer in the Duo Mobile account list to generate a six digit passcode.
- Enter the passcode from Duo Mobile (without a space) into the offline activation screen on your computer and then click the Activate Offline Login button to finish setting up offline access.
Authenticating with Offline Access
Once you’ve activated offline access for your account, when your computer isn’t able to contact Duo’s cloud service you’ll automatically be offered the option to login with an offline code or security key (depending on which type of device you activated earlier) after successfully submitting your Windows username and password during system logon or after entering your password in a UAC elevation prompt (if User Elevation is enabled).
If you activated Duo Mobile, tap the entry for your Windows computer in Duo Mobile to generate a passcode, enter it into the Duo prompt, and click Log In.
If you activated a security key, you should see it start blinking. Tap your security key to log in.
The offline two-factor authentication prompt shows you how many remaining offline logins you have left, or the last day you’ll be allowed to authenticate using offline access (depending on which option your organization's administrator chose when enabling offline access in the Duo Admin Panel).
Once you reach the offline access limit, the Duo prompt informs you that you must complete online authentication to Duo before you can log in again with an offline passcode. Offline access refreshes when you perform an online Duo authentication.
If Duo Authentication for Windows Logon was installed with the fail mode set to “fail closed”, then a user who does not activate offline access on that computer may not log in while disconnected from the internet. Make sure to complete offline activation the next time the computer has internet access.