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Signing In to Communicator Web Access

Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 and Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2 will reach end of support on January 9, 2018. To stay supported, you will need to upgrade. For more information, see Resources to help you upgrade your Office 2007 servers and clients.

Use the next procedure to sign-in to Communicator Web Access using a supported client, with any additional configurations that might or might not be required by your system administrator.

To sign in to Communicator Web Access

  1. On the computer, open a browser window.

    Important

    Pop-up blockers prevent Communicator Web Access from functioning correctly. If a pop-up blocker is installed in your browser, disable it for the Communicator Web Access Web site. For details about the pop-up blocker, see your browser and toolbar documentation.

  2. In the address field of your browser, type the URL that your system administrator provided, for example, https://im.example.com.

  3. Depending on the browser you are using and policy set by your domain administrator, you might see one or more Security Alert dialog boxes. Follow your administrator's instructions, but you must allow pop-ups for correct Communicator Web Access behavior. Also, downloading the certificate chain to the client computer can prevent a certificate warning dialog from displaying.

  4. Depending on the account you are using to sign in to the computer and your role on the computer and in the domain, you might or might not see a sign-in window. If you do see the sign in window, type the required information. The information that you need to type depends upon the authentication that your administrator chooses, your computer operating system and browser, and from where you are signing in. The next figure is typical of what you might see when signing in from outside the internal network.

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    The next figure is typical of what you might see from inside the network and when you are using the Internet Explorer browser.

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    However, you will bypass the window shown above and go directly to the Contact List window if all of the following conditions are met:

    • You are a domain member.

    • You are signed on to your computer with your domain account.

    • You are using the Internet Explorer browser.

    • The Communicator Web Access site has been added as a trusted site to your intranet.

    If you want to use an account other than the one you used to sign in to the computer, click Sign in with a different account, enter the sign-in address, click Sign In, and then provide credentials in the Connect to dialog box that appears.

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Information You Might Be Asked for

Information that you could be asked to provide to sign in to Communicator Web Access, depending on the above factors includes:

  • Type of Computer. You will see this only from outside the internal trusted network. If you are signing in from outside your organizations network and you are using a private computer and not a public Web kiosk, you can select the I'm using a private computer radio button. This setting allows you a longer period of inactivity before you are automatically signed out.

  • Sign In. Type the sign-in name (the SIP address) that was assigned to you by your system administrator to use for instant messaging. Your sign-in name is usually in the form someone@example.com. Click the arrow and select the status you want displayed when you sign in.

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  • Language box. Click the arrow, and then click your preferred language, if necessary.

You might be challenged for credentials as shown in the next figure.

Figure 1: Credentials Challenge

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You will see this challenge if you select Sign in with a different account on the Sign In page.

You will also see this if you are using the Internet Explorer browser and the server URL (https://cwaserver.contoso.com in this example) is not trusted in the Local Intranet Zone or the Automatic logon only in Intranet zone option is not selected on the Security Settings – Local Intranet Zone page in the Internet Explorer browser. See the "Configuring the Internet Explorer Browser for Quick Sign In" section later in this topic for the procedures to do this.

  • Domain\username. In the User name box, type the domain and user name that you use to log on to the network.

  • Password. In the Connect to dialog box, type the password that you use to log on to the network, and then click OK.

    Important

    Pop-up blockers prevent Communicator Web Access from functioning correctly. If a pop-up blocker is installed in your browser, disable it for the Communicator Web Access Web site. For details about the pop-up blocker, see your toolbar documentation.

Upon successful authentication, you see the Contact List seen in the next figure.

Figure 2: Contact List

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Configuring the Internet Explorer Browser for Quick Sign In

Before you can use Quick Sign In, you must prepare Internet Explorer by configuring two settings in Internet Explorer 7:

  • The Automatic logon only in Intranet zone option must be selected on the Security Settings – Local Intranet Zone page.

  • The Communicator Web Access server URL must be added to the Local Intranet zone.

To select the Automatic logon only in Intranet zone

  1. On the Tools menu in Internet Explorer 7, click Internet Options.

  2. On the Internet Options page, click the Security tab.

  3. On the Security tab, click the Local intranet icon, and then click Custom level that takes you to the Security Settings – Local Intranet Zone page.

  4. On the Security Settings – Local Intranet Zone page, scroll to the bottom of the list in the Security Settings box and select User Authentication.

  5. Select Automatic logon only in Intranet zone.

  6. Click OK, click Apply if enabled, and then complete the next procedure.

To add the Communicator Web Access URL to the Local Intranet zone

  1. If you are not currently on the Security tab from the last step in the last procedure, perform steps 1 and 2 in the previous procedure, and on the Security tab, select the Local intranet icon, and then click the Sites button.

  2. On the Local intranet page, click Advanced.

  3. On the Local intranet page, add the server URL in the text box, click Add, and then select Require server verification if using HTTPS (recommended).

  4. Click Close, click OK, click Apply if enabled, and then click OK.