Generating a Bypass Code

Internal article only visible to IT Staff. Copied from https://duo.com/docs/administration-users#generating-a-bypass-code.

A bypass code is a temporary passcode created by an administrator for a specific user. These are generally used as "backup codes," so that enrolled users who are having problems with their mobile devices (e.g., mobile service is disrupted, the device is lost or stolen, etc.) or who temporarily can't use their enrolled devices (on a plane without mobile data services) can still access their Duo-protected systems.

Bypass codes expire after being used the allowed number of times, or after an administrator-defined amount of time. A user can have up to 100 active bypass codes.

To generate a bypass code:

Log in to the Duo Admin Panel and click Users in the left sidebar.

Select a user by clicking their username. Scroll down to the bottom of the user properties page and click the Add Bypass Code button.

By default, bypass codes expire after a single use or in one hour, whichever happens first.

To change the expiration and reuse settings, or to define the bypass code (instead of letting the system generate a random string of nine digits) click the Change options link.

Once you've finished adjusting these options, click Generate Bypass Code to generate the bypass code.

The code is generated and shown in the green bar at the top of the user properties page. It can be used immediately.