Frequently Asked Questions - Students

If you want to change your Learn@UW-Stout (D2L) password, you will first need to request to have your email password changed (as both systems use the same password). Once your email password has been changed, it will automatically be updated in Learn@UW-Stout (D2L). 

If you'd like to fix your pop-up blocker problems, please follow the steps below to keep Internet Explorer from blocking your Learn@UW-Stout pop-ups:

1. Start Internet Explorer.
2. Click Tools -> Internet Options and select the Privacy tab.
3. In the "Pop-up Blocker" section, click Settings.
4. In the "Address of Web site to allow:" field, enter the URL http's://uwstout.courses.wisconsin.edu and click Add.
   

Did you already try the above and still have your content blocked? Following the steps below should fix it once and for all:

1. Open Internet Explorer to any web page.
2. From the Tools menu, choose Internet Options...
3. In the Internet Options dialog box, click the Security tab and then click the CUSTOM button.
4. Scroll down the list of custom security options to the Downloads section.
5. Under "Automatic prompting for the downloads", choose Enable. Also, make sure the adjacent "File download" is set to Enable.
6. Click OK on the custom settings box and then OK again on Internet Options to close the dialog box.
7. Exit and restart Internet Explorer.

Some special characters, besides letters and digits (A-Z, a-z, 0-9), are allowed in file and folder names. This applies to all tools in the Learn@UW-Stout (D2L) application where files and folders may be uploaded or created: for example, the Dropbox and Locker tools.

The following special characters are allowed in file and folder names:

    !     #     $     %     &     '     (     )     +     ,     -     .
    ;     =     @     [     ]     ^     _     `     {     }     ~

These special characters are NOT allowed in file and folder names:

    "     *     /     :     <     >     ?     \     |

Problems will likely arise if file or folder names contain any of these characters.

If you attempt to upload a file containing any of these characters, you will receive an appropriate message. You will then have to rename the file before you can successfully upload it.

Notes::

• All file names must have a valid extension. It is good practice to only use periods in a file name between the root name and the extension. In particular, avoid using two consecutive periods ( .. ) in a file name. The occurrence of two consecutive periods may cause problems.
• If a file name that contains semicolons ( ; ) is uploaded into a Locker or Dropbox folder, the semicolons will be stripped out of the name.
• Pound signs ( # ), ampersands ( & ), braces ( { } ), and apostrophes ( ' ) are now allowed in file and folder names and no longer cause problems. They have caused problems in the past.
• Spaces in file and folder names are allowed, however, they have been known to cause problems in the past. You may wish to use underscores ( _ ) instead..
  

Yes, Learn@UW-Stout is updated on a nightly basis. If you do not see a change right away, wait overnight and check again in the morning.

Compatible browsers for Learn@UW-Stout include only those browsers which are claimed as supported by the current production version of the Learn@UW-Stout Course Management Software (D2L), as determined by the software vendor. Alternative browsers may or may not work properly with Learn@UW-Stout in certain cases, but there should be no expectation that they do.

Desire2Learn is no longer supporting Netscape or Mozilla.

Note: These are the minimum browser requirements needed for using Learn@UW-Stout.

Is the file extension correct (should be .htm or .html)? You can check this in Content > Manage Files. Also, make sure you are not using any of the following illegal characters within your filenames: " * / : < > ? \ | 

There is a problem viewing some non-HTML files on computers with Windows XP, Service Pack 2 using Internet Explorer (IE), but there is a way to resolve it:

1. Open Internet Explorer to any web page.
2. From the Tools menu, choose Internet Options...
3. In the Internet Options dialog box, click the Security tab and then click the CUSTOM button.
4. Scroll down the list of custom security options to the Downloads section.
5. Under "Automatic prompting for file downloads", choose Enable. Also, make sure the adjacent "File download" is set to Enable.
6. Click OK on the custom settings box and then OK again on Internet Options to close the dialog box.
7. Exit and restart Internet Explorer.

Now you should be able to log into Learn@ UW-Stout, go to your course and try to view a Word document, PowerPoint, or PDF file. You should get a pop-up box asking if you want to open or save the file. Open it and your PowerPoint should appear. **Note: It is recommended that you always have IE ask before opening a file for security reasons.

Click Cancel at the authentication prompts. It may be necessary to click through several prompts.

More information can be found on the Learn@UW Helpdesk - Authentication Prompts Appear when accessing MS Office Documents in Content

There has been an issue in some classes with discussion messages reverting to an "unread" state after leaving the discussion. Students and instructors can't tell which messages are new and which they've already reviewed. While D2L is trying to locate the cause of this issue, it has been noted it appears to be occurring with the Internet Explorer7 (IE7) browser, but not with Firefox.

If you're having this problem, you can refer to our Word document on this subject, which includes Firefox download and set up issues.  

There is a limit of 20MB when downloading files from the Locker and Dropbox. Attempts to download files larger than 20MB will result in either a message reading that the file has no data or an Internal Error (Error 500). For the Dropbox, D2L suggests avoiding zipping files if the resulting zipped file is larger than 20MB. It is better to download individual files instead. If the file is larger than 20 MB, at this time there aren't any other options within D2L to download the file. 

There is a 10MB limit for email attachments sent from Learn@ UW-Stout. Also, the following file types cannot be sent as attachments: .asa, .asax, .ascx, .ashx, .asmx, .aspx, .axd, .bat, .cdx, .cer, .com, .config, .cs, .dll, .exe, .idc, .ini, .java, .jsl, .licx, .rem, .resources, .resx, .shtm, .shtml, .soap, .stm, .vb, .vbproj, .vjsproj, .vsdisco, and .webinfo.

The problem occurs because certain features of D2L are incompatible with Internet Explorer 7 (IE7). However, it is possible to get around this problem. The student having difficulty should follow these steps:

1. In IE7, pull down the Tools menu, and click Internet Options
2. Change to the Security tab, then click the zone icon that D2L is under – by default, Internet*
3. Click the 'Custom Level' button.
4. Scroll down to 'Allow Programmatic clipboard access' and select Disable.
5. Click 'Ok', then 'Ok' again.

*You can also add D2L to your Trusted Sites zone and then change this setting for Trusted Sites.