Honorlock Troubleshooting
As with all technology and services, students may experience the occasional error while trying to initiate Honorlock for a quiz. Here are some of the most commonly reported issues and how to fix them.
All students and faculty have access to 24/7 chat support from Honorlock whenever they're in an Honorlock quiz, on the Honorlock page in their course, or visiting Honorlock's website. Simply click on the chat icon on the lower-right corner of the screen to begin the chat room.
Information for Instructors
Honorlock protects a quiz by adding a passcode to the quiz's Canvas settings. Honorlock will automatically enter this passcode for students after they finish the Honorlock startup process, such as closing their other browser tabs or initiating their webcam recording, if required. Do not give students this quiz passcode or delete the passcode from the quiz settings.
If all your students are being asked for an access code, then you will need to check the Honorlock settings for that quiz. Either Honorlock was never re-enabled in your current course after being copied over from your previous course, or Canvas & Honorlock have different passcodes stored for this quiz. You can fix this by simply disabling & re-enabling Honorlock for that quiz.
If only one or two students encounter the access code screen, it's due to user error on their end or an issue with their device. This is by far the most common Honorlock error encountered by students. The following steps cover the various reasons why a student may be getting stopped at the quiz passcode screen.
Stuck at Passcode (Password/Access Code) Screen
Troubleshooting Steps for Students
You will need the Honorlock browser extension for all Honorlock-required quizzes. Additionally, some quizzes may require the Honorlock Desktop Application. Download links to both of these will be provided in Canvas if it detects that you do not already have them downloaded.
Step 1) Make sure you're using the Google Chrome web browser on a Windows, Mac, or Chromebook device. You can also use Microsoft Edge or other Chromium-based browsers, though there are exceptions to this, depending on the quiz settings. See the Using Non-Chrome Web Browsers section below for more details.
Step 2) Make sure that you're using uwpks.instructure.com for Canvas instead of uws.instructure.com or any other UW-System URL variants, especially if you're enrolled in another Universities of Wisconsin school. You can access your courses with either of these URLs, but third-party Canvas tools such as Honorlock can break if you're using a different University of Wisconsin Canvas address instead of the UW-Parkside-specific address.
Step 3) The Honorlock startup window should pop up once you start opening your quiz. If you have the Honorlock extension enabled but don't see this window, make sure it's not hidden behind your primary browser window. This pop-up will walk you through the remaining steps to finish the start-up process.
Step 4) Once the Honorlock extension is downloaded & enabled, it should automatically refresh the quiz page if the page is still open in your browser. If this doesn't happen, try re-opening the quiz assignment from somewhere in the Canvas course. If the access code screen appears again, try one of the following solutions to force your browser into downloading a fresh version of the quiz webpage:
- Type Shift + F5 (Windows/Chromebook) or Command + Shift + R (Mac) on your keyboard
- Add a Person or Profile to Chrome (which can be deleted afterwards, if preferred)
- Disable your other Chrome extensions on Chrome's Extensions page
- Clear your Google Chrome cache
- Try using a different device
- Use a different web browser (this comes with a caveat– see below for further information)
If these don't work, please contact Honorlock chat support by clicking on the chat icon on the lower-right of the Honorlock page in your course.
NOTE: If your device is incompatible with Honorlock's Google Chrome extension or it doesn't grant the required permissions for things such as webcam and/or screen recording access (only if required for that specific quiz), then there won't be a way to get past the passcode screen. See more details below.
Incompatible Hardware or Browser
Honorlock is a Google Chrome browser extension designed for use on Windows, Mac, and Chromebook computers. You Honorlocked quizzes cannot be taken on mobile devices. Honorlock has a webpage where you can check your device's compatibility.
If your device is not supported or you cannot figure out how to fix it, the TechBar offers free laptop rental for students throughout the semester. Alternatively, students may use on-campus computer labs (open labs or open labs w/ exceptions for scheduled classes) to take their Honorlocked quizzes. The Mac lab in RITA L123 should be able to support any Honolock quiz requirements since those Macs have webcams built in, though you'll likely need to enable webcam permissions for Chrome since Macs tend to have strict accessibility settings by default.
If your device is not supported or you cannot figure out how to fix it, the TechBar offers free laptop rental for students throughout the semester. Alternatively, students may use on-campus computer labs (open labs or open labs w/ exceptions for scheduled classes) to take their Honorlocked quizzes. The Mac lab in RITA L123 should be able to support any Honolock quiz requirements since those Macs have webcams built in, though you'll likely need to enable webcam permissions for Chrome since Macs tend to have strict accessibility settings by default.
Using Non-Chrome Web Browsers
You can unofficially use Honorlock with Microsoft Edge, Opera, and other Chromium-based web browsers.
However, there is one major caveat when using these other browsers: If your quiz also requires the use of the Honorlock Desktop Application, it's safe to assume that Chrome is the only browser that will work for your quiz. This is because the Honorlock Desktop App is designed to block other programs while you take your quiz, so Edge and other browsers will be blocked by default unless your instructor manually whitelisted them for that particular quiz. Edge and other browsers can be whitelisted if you instructor chooses to allow them, but it will very rarely, if ever, be enabled ahead of time. In this case, it will not be a very timely option, especially for quizzes with short availability periods.
If the quiz does not require the Honorlock Desktop Application, you should be able to use Edge as an alternative browser. Please note that FireFox and Safari are not Chromium-based web browsers and therefore are not compatible with the Honorlock browser extension.
I Don't See the Quiz Listed in My Course
Students can access their Honorlock-enabled Canvas quizzes by directly opening the quizzes like normal, such as from the course Assignments page or their Canvas calendar. However, all third-party quizzes need to be launched by opening the quiz from the Honorlock page in your Canvas course. If you try to directly launch the third-party quiz rather than going through the Honorlock page in Canvas, you will be stuck at the quiz's password screen.
If you don't see your third-party quiz listed in the course's Honorlock page, then your quiz is most likely not available yet or has already passed its due date. Your instructor would have to adjust the quiz's availability settings in Honorlock for students to have access to it again.
Hardware Error Code or Webcam Troubleshooting
If Honorlock gives you a "Hardware Error," then there are a few potential causes. This usually stems from permission issues regarding Google Chrome's access to your webcam, or your webcam not working correctly. You can visit https://webcammictest.com/ to verify whether your webcam is working correctly. Webcam access can be restricted at multiple levels: the entire system, your browser, on a specific website, or for a specific Chrome extension. The Honorlock launch window should tell you which of these is the cause of your access denied error.
If you are using a Lenovo device and see a greyed out camera icon, you may need to toggle privacy mode off in the Lenovo settings or Vantage app.
Honorlock Won't Download/Launch and "This item has been disabled in Chrome" Error
If the extension's storefront page gets stuck in a "downloading" phase, if it claims that Honorlock hasn't been added even though it has been, or if you get an the "This item has been disabled in Chrome" error, then your other Chrome extensions may be preventing Honorlock from working properly, which inevitably leads to getting stuck at the quiz's access code screen. Temporarily disable your other Chrome extensions and try loading the quiz again.
You can disable/enable your Chrome extensions by going to the upper-right of Chrome and clicking More (⋮) > More Tools > Extensions (or open the Extension page by clicking this link) and switching the sliders to the off position for your other extensions.
You can disable/enable your Chrome extensions by going to the upper-right of Chrome and clicking More (⋮) > More Tools > Extensions (or open the Extension page by clicking this link) and switching the sliders to the off position for your other extensions.
-1 Browser Error
Upon launching the quiz, Honorlock will ask you to close your other browser tabs. If it tells tells you that there are -1 tabs left to close, this results from Honorlock not being given the proper permissions in Google Chrome. Details can be found at Honorlock's Knowledgebase.