AspNetCore.Docs/aspnetcore/security/authentication/accconfirm.md

title	author	description	ms.author	monikerRange	ms.date	uid
Account confirmation and password recovery in ASP.NET Core	rick-anderson	Learn how to build an ASP.NET Core app with email confirmation and password reset.	riande	>= aspnetcore-3.1	2/9/2022	security/authentication/accconfirm

Account confirmation and password recovery in ASP.NET Core

By Rick Anderson, Ponant, and Joe Audette

This tutorial shows how to build an ASP.NET Core app with email confirmation and password reset. This tutorial is not a beginning topic. You should be familiar with:

• ASP.NET Core
• Authentication
• Entity Framework Core

:::moniker range=">= aspnetcore-8.0"

For Blazor guidance, which adds to or supersedes the guidance in this article, see the following resources:

• xref:blazor/security/account-confirmation-and-password-recovery
• xref:blazor/security/webassembly/standalone-with-identity/account-confirmation-and-password-recovery

:::moniker-end

:::moniker range=">= aspnetcore-6.0"

Prerequisites

• .NET Core 6.0 SDK or later
• Successfully send email from a C# console app.

Create and test a web app with authentication

Run the following commands to create a web app with authentication.

dotnet new webapp -au Individual -o WebPWrecover
cd WebPWrecover
dotnet run

Register user with simulated email confirmation

Run the app, select the Register link, and register a user. Once registered, you are redirected to the to /Identity/Account/RegisterConfirmation page which contains a link to simulate email confirmation:

• Select the Click here to confirm your account link.
• Select the Login link and sign-in with the same credentials.
• Select the Hello YourEmail@provider.com! link, which redirects to the /Identity/Account/Manage/PersonalData page.
• Select the Personal data tab on the left, and then select Delete.

The Click here to confirm your account link is displayed because an IEmailSender has not been implemented and registered with the dependency injection container. See the RegisterConfirmation source.

[!INCLUDE]

Configure an email provider

In this tutorial, SendGrid is used to send email. A SendGrid account and key is needed to send email. We recommend using SendGrid or another email service to send email rather than SMTP. SMTP is difficult to secure and set up correctly.

The SendGrid account may require adding a Sender.

Create a class to fetch the secure email key. For this sample, create Services/AuthMessageSenderOptions.cs:

[!code-csharp]

Configure SendGrid user secrets

Set the SendGridKey with the secret-manager tool. For example:

dotnet user-secrets set SendGridKey <key>

Successfully saved SendGridKey to the secret store.

On Windows, Secret Manager stores keys/value pairs in a secrets.json file in the %APPDATA%/Microsoft/UserSecrets/<WebAppName-userSecretsId> directory.

The contents of the secrets.json file aren't encrypted. The following markup shows the secrets.json file. The SendGridKey value has been removed.

{
  "SendGridKey": "<key removed>"
}

For more information, see the Options pattern and configuration.

Install SendGrid

This tutorial shows how to add email notifications through SendGrid, but other email providers can be used.

Install the SendGrid NuGet package:

Visual Studio

From the Package Manager Console, enter the following command:

Install-Package SendGrid

.NET CLI

From the console, enter the following command:

dotnet add package SendGrid

---

See Get Started with SendGrid for Free to register for a free SendGrid account.

Implement IEmailSender

To Implement IEmailSender, create Services/EmailSender.cs with code similar to the following:

[!code-csharp]

Configure app to support email

Add the following code to the Program.cs file:

• Add EmailSender as a transient service.
• Register the AuthMessageSenderOptions configuration instance.

[!code-csharp]

[!INCLUDE]

Register, confirm email, and reset password

Run the web app, and test the account confirmation and password recovery flow.

• Run the app and register a new user
• Check your email for the account confirmation link. See Debug email if you don't get the email.
• Click the link to confirm your email.
• Sign in with your email and password.
• Sign out.

Test password reset

• If you're signed in, select Logout.
• Select the Log in link and select the Forgot your password? link.
• Enter the email you used to register the account.
• An email with a link to reset your password is sent. Check your email and click the link to reset your password. After your password has been successfully reset, you can sign in with your email and new password.

Resend email confirmation

Select the Resend email confirmation link on the Login page.

Change email and activity timeout

The default inactivity timeout is 14 days. The following code sets the inactivity timeout to 5 days:

[!code-csharp]

Change all data protection token lifespans

The following code changes all data protection tokens timeout period to 3 hours:

[!code-csharp]

The built in Identity user tokens (see AspNetCore/src/Identity/Extensions.Core/src/TokenOptions.cs )have a one day timeout.

Change the email token lifespan

The default token lifespan of the Identity user tokens is one day. This section shows how to change the email token lifespan.

Add a custom xref:Microsoft.AspNetCore.Identity.DataProtectorTokenProvider%601 and xref:Microsoft.AspNetCore.Identity.DataProtectionTokenProviderOptions:

[!code-csharp]

Add the custom provider to the service container:

[!code-csharp]

Debug email

If you can't get email working:

• Set a breakpoint in EmailSender.Execute to verify SendGridClient.SendEmailAsync is called.
• Create a console app to send email using similar code to EmailSender.Execute.
• Review the Email Activity page.
• Check your spam folder.
• Try another email alias on a different email provider (Microsoft, Yahoo, Gmail, etc.)
• Try sending to different email accounts.

A security best practice is to not use production secrets in test and development. If you publish the app to Azure, set the SendGrid secrets as application settings in the Azure Web App portal. The configuration system is set up to read keys from environment variables.

Combine social and local login accounts

To complete this section, you must first enable an external authentication provider. See Facebook, Google, and external provider authentication.

You can combine local and social accounts by clicking on your email link. In the following sequence, "RickAndMSFT@gmail.com" is first created as a local login; however, you can create the account as a social login first, then add a local login.

Click on the Manage link. Note the 0 external (social logins) associated with this account.

Click the link to another login service and accept the app requests. In the following image, Facebook is the external authentication provider:

The two accounts have been combined. You are able to sign in with either account. You might want your users to add local accounts in case their social login authentication service is down, or more likely they've lost access to their social account.

Enable account confirmation after a site has users

Enabling account confirmation on a site with users locks out all the existing users. Existing users are locked out because their accounts aren't confirmed. To work around existing user lockout, use one of the following approaches:

• Update the database to mark all existing users as being confirmed.
• Confirm existing users. For example, batch-send emails with confirmation links.

:::moniker-end

:::moniker range="< aspnetcore-6.0"

Prerequisites

.NET Core 3.0 SDK or later

Create and test a web app with authentication

Run the following commands to create a web app with authentication.

dotnet new webapp -au Individual -uld -o WebPWrecover
cd WebPWrecover
dotnet run

Run the app, select the Register link, and register a user. Once registered, you are redirected to the to /Identity/Account/RegisterConfirmation page which contains a link to simulate email confirmation:

• Select the Click here to confirm your account link.
• Select the Login link and sign-in with the same credentials.
• Select the Hello YourEmail@provider.com! link, which redirects you to the /Identity/Account/Manage/PersonalData page.
• Select the Personal data tab on the left, and then select Delete.

Configure an email provider

In this tutorial, SendGrid is used to send email. You can use other email providers. We recommend you use SendGrid or another email service to send email. SMTP is difficult to configure so mail is not marked as spam.

The SendGrid account may require adding a Sender.

Create a class to fetch the secure email key. For this sample, create Services/AuthMessageSenderOptions.cs:

[!code-csharp]

Configure SendGrid user secrets

Set the SendGridKey with the secret-manager tool. For example:

dotnet user-secrets set SendGridKey <SG.key>

Successfully saved SendGridKey = SG.keyVal to the secret store.

On Windows, Secret Manager stores keys/value pairs in a secrets.json file in the %APPDATA%/Microsoft/UserSecrets/<WebAppName-userSecretsId> directory.

The contents of the secrets.json file aren't encrypted. The following markup shows the secrets.json file. The SendGridKey value has been removed.

{
  "SendGridKey": "<key removed>"
}

For more information, see the Options pattern and configuration.

Install SendGrid

This tutorial shows how to add email notifications through SendGrid, but you can send email using SMTP and other mechanisms.

Install the SendGrid NuGet package:

Visual Studio

From the Package Manager Console, enter the following command:

Install-Package SendGrid

.NET CLI

From the console, enter the following command:

dotnet add package SendGrid

---

See Get Started with SendGrid for Free to register for a free SendGrid account.

Implement IEmailSender

To Implement IEmailSender, create Services/EmailSender.cs with code similar to the following:

[!code-csharp]

Configure startup to support email

Add the following code to the ConfigureServices method in the Startup.cs file:

• Add EmailSender as a transient service.
• Register the AuthMessageSenderOptions configuration instance.

[!code-csharp]

Scaffold RegisterConfirmation

Follow the instructions for Scaffold Identity and scaffold Account\RegisterConfirmation.

[!INCLUDE]

Register, confirm email, and reset password

Run the web app, and test the account confirmation and password recovery flow.

• Run the app and register a new user
• Check your email for the account confirmation link. See Debug email if you don't get the email.
• Click the link to confirm your email.
• Sign in with your email and password.
• Sign out.

Test password reset

• If you're signed in, select Logout.
• Select the Log in link and select the Forgot your password? link.
• Enter the email you used to register the account.
• An email with a link to reset your password is sent. Check your email and click the link to reset your password. After your password has been successfully reset, you can sign in with your email and new password.

Resend email confirmation

In ASP.NET Core 5.0 and later, select the Resend email confirmation link on the Login page.

Change email and activity timeout

The default inactivity timeout is 14 days. The following code sets the inactivity timeout to 5 days:

[!code-csharp]

Change all data protection token lifespans

The following code changes all data protection tokens timeout period to 3 hours:

[!code-csharp]

The built in Identity user tokens (see AspNetCore/src/Identity/Extensions.Core/src/TokenOptions.cs )have a one day timeout.

Change the email token lifespan

The default token lifespan of the Identity user tokens is one day. This section shows how to change the email token lifespan.

Add a custom xref:Microsoft.AspNetCore.Identity.DataProtectorTokenProvider%601 and xref:Microsoft.AspNetCore.Identity.DataProtectionTokenProviderOptions:

[!code-csharp]

Add the custom provider to the service container:

[!code-csharp]

Debug email

If you can't get email working:

• Set a breakpoint in EmailSender.Execute to verify SendGridClient.SendEmailAsync is called.
• Create a console app to send email using similar code to EmailSender.Execute.
• Review the Email Activity page.
• Check your spam folder.
• Try another email alias on a different email provider (Microsoft, Yahoo, Gmail, etc.)
• Try sending to different email accounts.

A security best practice is to not use production secrets in test and development. If you publish the app to Azure, set the SendGrid secrets as application settings in the Azure Web App portal. The configuration system is set up to read keys from environment variables.

Combine social and local login accounts

To complete this section, you must first enable an external authentication provider. See Facebook, Google, and external provider authentication.

You can combine local and social accounts by clicking on your email link. In the following sequence, "RickAndMSFT@gmail.com" is first created as a local login; however, you can create the account as a social login first, then add a local login.

Click on the Manage link. Note the 0 external (social logins) associated with this account.

Click the link to another login service and accept the app requests. In the following image, Facebook is the external authentication provider:

The two accounts have been combined. You are able to sign in with either account. You might want your users to add local accounts in case their social login authentication service is down, or more likely they've lost access to their social account.

Enable account confirmation after a site has users

Enabling account confirmation on a site with users locks out all the existing users. Existing users are locked out because their accounts aren't confirmed. To work around existing user lockout, use one of the following approaches:

• Update the database to mark all existing users as being confirmed.
• Confirm existing users. For example, batch-send emails with confirmation links.

:::moniker-end