Skip to main content

icon Kerberos for Macintosh: Setting Options

  1. Click on the Kerberos icon in the menu bar and choose Open Kerberos Control Panel, OR open the Apple menu and choose Control Panels, then choose Kerberos.
  2. Choose Preferences... from the Edit menu.
  3. The Preferences window will open. In this window, you can do the following:

Save a default NetID

The default NetID will appear in the Username field when the Kerberos authentication dialog box comes up asking for a password. This field can still be modified by the user each time a ticket is acquired.

Kerberos Preferences window

  1. Open the Kerberos control panel and choose Preferences from the Edit menu. The Preferences window opens as shown above.
  2. Pull down the upper menu and select Use this principal information. (At Cornell, "Kerberos principal" is another way of referring to your NetID.)
  3. Select the radio button next to Always use this username: and type your NetID in the box.
  4. Click the OK button.
  5. The next time the Kerberos authentication dialog box comes up it will display that NetID.

Choose whether or not to display the ticket in a floating window

An optional floating window can display the status of your ticket.

NetID  remaining lifetime indicator
(shows how soon your ticket will expire)

Note! This floating window does not work the same way as in previous versions of Kerberos -- closing the window will not clear your ticket.

Floating window tab

  1. Open the Kerberos control panel and choose Preferences from the Edit menu.
  2. Click the Floating Window tab.
  3. Check the box marked Show floating window.
  4. Check or uncheck other options as desired. The Show commands option makes the floating window larger, like this:

  5. Click the OK button. The floating window will appear.

Set default, maximum, and minimum ticket lifetimes

The Kerberos ticket lifetime is the time before the Kerberos ticket on your computer will expire. A longer lifetime will prevent you from being asked to type your password as often, but a shorter lifetime is more secure, as it will prevent others from using valid tickets left on your machine.

  1. Open the Kerberos control panel and choose Preferences from the Edit menu.
  2. Click the Lifetimes tab.
  3. In the "Hours" and "Mins" boxes, adjust the times as you prefer.
  4. Click the OK button.