The new credentials dialog can be invoked from the Credentials menu, by typing Ctrl + N, using the context menu in the credentials window or using the context menu in the NetIDMgr icon in the system notification area.
Once invoked, you will be presented with a dialog similar to the following:
New credentials dialog with a valid identity selected.
Note that the above screenshot is from an instance of NetIDMgr with Kerberos 5, Kerberos 4 and OpenAFS plugins with a Kerberos 5 identity manager. Actual display may be different depending on the plugins that are active.
If the Kerberos 5 identity provider is used, the dialog will ask for a username and a realm to determine the identity for which new credentials will be obtained for. Depending on the selected identity, you may be required to provide a password or other form of authentication for new credentials to be obtained.
Below the prompts is the credentials summary window. This window provides an overview of the credentals that will be obtained when the dialog is completed.
If you click any of the credentials type hyperlinks in the credentials summary window or select the Options >> button, the dialog will switch to the exanded view. An example of this is shown below:
Expanded view of the new credetials dialog
The expanded view provides access to additional options available for each credential provider. For example, the Kerberos 5 credentials provider allows you to set the lifetime of the obtained Kerberos ticket as well as ticket flags such as renewable or forwardable.
The credentials summary window provides an overview of the credentials that will be obtained after the successful completion of the new credentials dialog. The window contains hyperlinks that will take you to the corresponding credentials option panels where you will be able to set additional options for each type.
If there is a problem with the selected identity, the credentials window will display a message describing the problem. For example:
The above is an example of what you would see if the provided identity is invalid. Once the identity provider (in this case, Kerberos 5) indicates that the identity is invalid, it will be displayed as above along with a brief description of why the identity was found to be invalid. Here, the Kerberos 5 identity provider is reporting that the specified principal does not exist in the Kerberos database.
The new credentials dialog can be invoked from the command line using the -i or --kinit command line option. Additionally, if you specify the -a or --autoinit command line option, the new credentials dialog will be displayed if there are no credentials available.
Setting the Prompt for new credentials if there aren't any at startup option is set in the General configuration panel, then the behavior is similar to the --autoinit option.