Logging In to Vista

When you enroll in a course that uses Vista, you are in a virtual classroom. Your Vista ID, or username, and password protect your data like a key does for your locker.

Your Vista ID and password should be your University NetID (UID) and password. Every student, faculty, and staff member has a Neo account at Texas A&M University.

If you already have an active Neo account:

Neo is the official email system for Texas A&M. Using your NetID and password will allow you to log in to all courses you are registered for that use Vista. Unique Vista IDs and course IDs are no longer needed.

If you have not yet activated your Neo account:

I. Activating Your Neo Account

1.   Open a Web browser (e.g., Microsoft Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, or Netscape Communicator) and go to the Web address: http://neo.tamu.edu to activate your account.

2.  Click the Need a NetID account link. Do not enter a username or password if you have not activated a Neo account.

The link will take you to the activation page. Enter your University Identification Number (UIN) number and select your birth date. Then click the Login button.

3.  The Terms of Service page lists the computing rules that you must abide by to use your TAMU email account. Read through this information and click Proceed.

The next page gives you four fields to complete.

Your NetID is used for Vista authentication. You will use this username when you access your Vista courses. Your ID will be the first part of your username@neo.tamu.edu email address.

The NetID also needs to be listed in the Username field.

Your NetID and two optional emailboxes allow up to three different names, which means that email sent to any of these three user names will be delivered to your account. Multiple user names are allowed for flexibility. For example, some people may already have a name that they go by online (e.g., AOL screen-name, Yahoo, etc.), but they may want a more formal email address for their resume. You can log in to Neo with any of these usernames.

The NetID also needs to be listed in the email aliases field. Both the NetID and email aliases must be at least two (2) characters long without any spaces. Neo does allow punctuation to be included; however, it is limited to the period, underscore, and hyphen. In addition, Neo also ignores case and automatically defaults the NetID and email aliases to lowercase.

Note: Regardless of what case shows up in Neo, your ID in Vista is all lowercase.

4.  Finally, create a Neo password in the last two fields. Your password must be at least six (6) characters long and must contain at least one numeric digit.

5.  Once you have completed entering information into each field, click Submit.

The next page notifies you if any of your chosen usernames are already in use. If the username you just created is currently being used, please create another one instead. Otherwise, click Finish to complete setting up your Neo email account.

6.  Go back to http://neo.tamu.edu and log in to your Neo mail account. Enter your NetID, which was selected when you activated your account and your password.

7.  You can view your Neo account information by clicking Directory.

8.  Check your account settings and make any changes, if necessary. You can make a change to any of the fields by selecting Edit on the upper right-hand corner of the page. Some of the fields in your Directory Entry, such as your address, phone number, birth date, and your department/major cannot be edited from this page. If students want to change or suppress information in the Directory Entry that does not appear on the Edit page, you must contact the Registrar’s Office. Employees should contact their departmental payroll representative.

9.  When you finish your account editing, click Submit and log in to your Neo account by using your NetID and password you just created. Remember that your NetID is the ID that Vista uses to create your account for Vista courses. You can change your NetID, but make sure that it is one of your Neo usernames.

Now that you have created your NetID and password, you may need to wait up to 24 hours for your account to be added to your courses before you can log in to Vista.


II. Logging In to Your Vista Course

1.   Open a Web browser (e.g., Microsoft Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, or Netscape Communicator) and go to the Web address: http://elearning.tamu.edu. Select TAMU (NetID) under Vista Logins.

2.  You will be sent to the Central Authentication System (CAS) where you will enter your Username and Password. Enter your NetID and password you created for your Neo email account.

3.  Your My Vista page will appear. All of the Vista courses you are registered for will be listed on your My Vista page. Click a course title link to access a particular course.

III. How To Get Help If You Cannot Log In

First, try to log in to Neo. If you cannot log in to Neo, please contact the CIS Helpdesk Central or one of the Open Access Labs for assistance. If you are able to log in to Neo, but not Vista, please check if you are affected by any of the following:

Late Neo activation: Your Vista ID will be created within 24 hours after you have activated your Neo account.

Neo username change: If your NetID has changed, the change will be made in Vista the following night.

Late registration: If you registered for the course late, it will take up to 48 hours for the information to be loaded into Vista.

NetID: Make certain that you are using your NetID to log in to Vista. To determine this, you can search for your name at http://neo.tamu.edu.

If you do not fall into any of these categories and must access your course immediately, or if you have other questions, contact ITS at (979) 862-3977 or its@tamu.edu.