Manage Users

Authentication and Access Control

• TWikiUserAuthentication describes options of user authentication
• TWikiAccessControl describes how to define groups and how to restrict access to content

Register User

It is not necessary to have user home pages in the TWiki system for Authentication to work - see TWikiUserAuthentication for deatils.

• TWikiRegistration is for users to fill out a form
• NewUserTemplate can be changed to customize user home pages, it can optionally use the UserForm to define user fields as meta data
• BulkRegistration is for administrators to use to set up one or more accounts: either from a table or from an external file

Change, Reset and Install Passwords

• ChangePassword is for users who can remember their password and want to change it
• ResetPassword is for users who cannot remember their password; a system generated password is emailed to them * BulkResetPassword if for administrators who want to reset many passwords at once

Removing User Accounts

To remove a user account (FredQuimby^?, who logs in as "fred"):

1. If you are using a .htpasswd file, edit the .htpasswd file to delete the line starting fred:
2. Remove the FredQuimby - fred line from the Main.TWikiUsers topic
3. Remove FredQuimby from all groups and from all the ALLOWWEB/ALLOWTOPIC... declarations, if any.
   Note: If you fail to do this you risk creating a security hole, as the next user to register with the wikiname FredQuimby will inherit the old FredQuimby's permissions.
4. [optional] Delete their user topic: Main.FredQuimby

Note: Consider leaving the user topic file in place so their past signatures and revision author entries don't end up looking like AnUncreatedTopic^?. If you want to make it clear the user is inactive on your site (e.g. UserWikiName^?) or has been banished add a note to that effect and write protect the page (TWikiAccessControl). The existance of the UserName topic should also prevent that user name from being re-used, sealing the potential security hole regarding inherited permissions..

Related Topics: AdminDocumentationCategory