Set up WinAuth desktop 2FA
A strong password can help to keep your accounts and data safe, but in the event of a data breach, you’ll want something more secure. Two-factor authentication, or 2FA, adds another layer of security to your personal information. We highly recommend setting up 2FA for your SEiNG account.
As well as using authentication apps on mobile devices, its also possible to set up a 2FA authentication application on a Windows desktop PC. We recommend setting up 2FA if an account will be shared between multiple users. (Or you may just prefer not to have it on a mobile device).
WinAuth - Portable open-source Authenticator for Windows
The application we recommend for Windows is ‘WinAuth’. You can find the download via this link: https://winauth.github.io/winauth/download.html
Start the WinAuth download
Click the link ‘WinAuth 3.5.1’ to begin the download.
Then, open browser and navigate to your SEiNG URL.
Depending on whether you use a custom URL or sign in via seing.ai, you will see a login prompt similar to:
Enable MFA
Log into your account
You will be greeted by an ‘enable MFA’ webpage.
Install WinAuth
At this point, you will need to open the WinAuth application which was downloaded earlier.
Open file explorer and locate your downloads folder. It will likely need to be unzipped - double click ‘WinAuth’ to install. It will auto open once installed.
Pin to Windows Taskbar
Once WinAuth is open, we recommend pinning the application to the taskbar so its easy to locate for users. To do this, find the WinAuth logo and right click. Then, click ‘pin to taskbar’. It will now remain here, even when the application has been shut down.
Add Authenticator
Then, in the WinAuth window, click the add button and then select ‘Authenticator’.
Input secret code
Then, fill out the details appropriately. Set the name the same as your site for easy identification.
- ‘Secret code’ is the code which appears next to the QR code on the enable MFA webpage, copy the secret code from the enable MFA webpage and paste into the WinAuth secret code field. Then, click the ‘decode’ button next to the secret code field.
- Leave this as ‘time-based’
- Once you have inputted the secret code and clicked the decode button, click ‘Verify authenticator’ button.
- Once you have clicked ‘verify authenticator’ button, a six-digit code will appear. Right click and copy the code. Then, paste the code into the ‘Force MFA’ field. (Or manually type the six-digit code in). Then, click the green ‘Verify’ button
You will be prompted to set your own password to access the WinAuth application. You can choose to skip setting a password for WinAuth access, but we recommend that you do set a password. If you wish to set a password, then ensure that the ‘protect with my own password’ checkbox is ticked. If you are extra security conscious, then we also recommend that you enable ‘encrypt to only be useable on this computer’. Ignore YubiKey.
Sign back in to SEiNG
Sign in again, and you will now be asked for your secret code. You will notice the green notification to confirm that MFA has been enabled:
Return to the WinAuth app
If the code has been masked, you can right-click and select ‘show code’.
Or, click the refresh arrow to generate a new code.
A six-digit code will then appear, either manually type the code into 2FA authentication page or copy and paste the code into the 2FA authentication page:
Input 2FA secret code and then click verify button:
You are now signed in.