Easily Fix Origin “You must be online when logging in for the first time”

When trying to login to Origin, you get the message “You must be online when logging in for the first time.” In some cases, you might also see the message “Online login is currently unavailable”. How to fix this error? Read on to find the solutions.

The error can be caused by different issues. Just try the possible solutions below from the top of the list and see if you can find the one that works for you.

Method 1: Run Origin as administrator
Method 2: Disable proxy server
Method 3: Reset Internet Explorer settings
Method 4: Ensure your Windows system date and time is set correctly
Method 5: Clear Origin cache data

Method 1: Run Origin as administrator

When you can’t login to Origin due to the error “You must be online when logging in for the first time”, to fix the error, the first method you can try is to run Origin as administrator. Here’s how to do it:

1) Ensure Origin is exit.

2) Go to the installation directory of Origin (the default installation directory is C:\Program Files (x86)\Origin).

3) Right-click on Origin.exe and then select Run as administrator.

If the error still occurs, continue to try Method 2.

Method 2: Disable proxy server

If your system has proxy server enabled, the Origin “You must be online when logging in for the first time” error can occur. In my case, this was the cause and disabling proxy server helped me fix the error. So to fix the error, you can check the proxy server settings and disable it if you need. You can follow these steps:

1) Open Control Panel.

2) View by Large icons and click on Internet Options.

3) Under the Connections tab, click on LAN settings.

4) Ensure the box next to Automatically detect settings is checked, and the box next to Use a proxy server for your LAN is unchecked. If not, change the settings appropriately. If you don’t need to change anything, it means you don’t have a proxy server enabled. In that case, skip this method.

5) Click OK to save the changes.

6) Restart your computer and check to see if you can login to Origin. If the error still occurs, you can try resetting Internet Explorer settings. See Method 3.

Method 3: Reset Internet Explorer settings

Incorrect Internet Explorer settings like incorrect proxy server settings can cause you not to be able to login to Origin. In that case, resetting the Internet Explorer settings to default can fix the error. To do so:

1) Open Control Panel.

2) View by Large icons and click on Internet Options.

3) Click the Advanced tab, and then click the Reset… button.

4) At the pop-up window, continue to click the Reset button.

5) Restart your computer and check to see if you can login in to Origin.

Method 4: Ensure your Windows system date and time is set correctly

If your Windows system date and time is set incorrectly, you may encounter the Origin “You must be online when logging in for the first time”. So check and make sure your Windows system date and time is set correctly. Here’s how to do it:

1) On your keyboard, press the Windows logo key.

2) Type “date” and then select Date & time settings from the result list.

3) Ensure the toggle of Set time automatically is set to On.

4) Ensure the Time zone is on where you live.

5) Once done, restart your computer and check if it helped fix the Origin error. If the error still occurs, try Method 5.

Method 5: Clear Origin cache data

Try clearing the Origin cache data and see if it works for you. Here’s how to do it:

1) Ensure Origin is exit.

2) On your keyboard, press Win+R (the Windows logo key and the R key ) at the same time to invoke the Run box.

3) Type “%ProgramData%/Origin” into the Run box and click OK.

4) Inside the Origin folder, delete all the files and folders except for LocalContent (keeping the LocalContent folder will avoid integrity scanning while installing Origin).