Activate your account

To activate your account, do as follows:

  1. Open the welcome email from Sophos.
  2. In the email, click Create Password.

    Sophos welcome email
  3. Now you see the Activate your account page.
    1. Create your password.
    2. Leave Make all admins sign in with multi-factor authentication selected. This gives you greater security. The activation process guides you through signing in with multi-factor authentication later.
    3. Select a Central Admin Portal location. Your data is stored in this region.

      Your Sophos Partner might have selected this for you.

    4. Read and acknowledge the legal agreements.
    5. Click Activate Account.

    Account activation page
  4. A message prompts you to set up an additional form of authentication. Click Next.

    Set up Your Login Information screen
  5. On the next screen, do as follows:
    1. Enter the security code we just sent to your email address. The email's subject line is "Your security code".
    2. Create a PIN that can be used for email authentication.

    Provide Security Code screen
  6. On the next screen, select the type of authentication you want to use.

    In this guide, we'll describe setting up the SMS Text Message option. This lets us send you security codes by text message so that you can sign in.


    Choose Authentication Type screen
  7. On the next screen, select your country. Then enter your mobile number. Don't include the country code or a leading 0 in the number.
    SMS setup screen
  8. On the Verify Your Device screen, you need to enter a security code to sign in to Sophos Central. You'll find the code in a text message we've just sent you. Enter the code and click Finish. You'll need to do this each time you sign in.

    Verify Your Device screen

If you see a pop-up screen where you can select products, dismiss it.

Don't activate a trial license. These aren't compatible with Sophos MTD.

Instead, you must activate your paid-for Sophos MTD license, as described in the next section.