Standalone Vanilla Forum Installation (Admin Locked Out Issue Resolved)

jsonsbiz

Hi Users,

I have a standalone vanilla forum on my server. I never used vanilla forums before last week. When I installed vanilla forums on my server, I have to face a major issue which is 'Admin Locked Out'. Then I came to this forum and read many topics but couldn't find a solution. I am a newbie, may be I didn't understand many of the solution given by other users. After many re installations and tries. I found a solution and I am sharing it now. It may be not the right way but it works. It's mostly for newbies like me.

1. Upload vanilla forum files on your hosting server.
2. Go to your domain and fill the fields in installation wizard and complete the installation.
3. Once you installed it successfully, you will be redirected to admin dashboard.
4. Don't logout your user, It's very important. If you logout now you will never able to sign in to admin area again.
5. In admin dashboard, go to 'User' tab, where you will find two users. First is the one you created during installation and other is named as 'system'.
6. Click edit on admin user you created. you will see user fields and some check boxes.
7. Make sure the 'Administrator' check box on "Roles" section is ticked. save the settings.
8. Now select the 'system' user and click on edit.
9. You will see the same fields and check boxes like before.
10. Change the username and email address. Don't use the same email address you used for your admin user. use different one.
11. Now on 'Roles' section tick the 'Administrator'.
12. Scroll down and go to 'password options' and change the password using "Manually set user password. No email notification."
13. Save the settings.
14. The work is done. Now both of the users are admins. You can use anyone of them to login and you will see dashboard link in your front end menu.

Hope everyone will enjoy my trick.

Jinu

jsonsbiz

This locked out situation can also be happen because of the default vanilla theme "Baseline". It's sad that the default theme doesn't have a dashboard link on menu or the dashboard menu is not showing up in the theme.

So after done the above things. do one more thing before you logged out first time;

1. change the theme to bitter sweet, which is already in the theme section installed default.

hope this one helps.

R_J

@jsonsbiz said:
Hi Users,

When I installed vanilla forums on my server, I have to face a major issue which is 'Admin Locked Out'. Then I came to this forum and read many topics but couldn't find a solution.

@jsonsbiz said:
This locked out situation can also be happen because of the default vanilla theme "Baseline". It's sad that the default theme doesn't have a dashboard link on menu or the dashboard menu is not showing up in the theme.

If you do not find anyone talking about that problem, it quite probable that only you are facing the problem.

If it is not a general problem, you should find out what the real problem is. If you only use a dirty workaround, you are in danger to stumble upon errors caused by the original problem again and again. That would always enforce you to think of new workarounds.

If you do not find a link to the dashboard, either your installation is broken, or you simply haven't found it.

By the way: what is the original error you've got when you experienced that "locked out" problem?

River

No need to get rid of system user or modify it, it is created by vanilla for a reason. It is not the real reason you were locked out.

River

If your goal is to create an additional superAdmin. One with all the privileges of the first admin you created during installation. Create a second user (for example a user named SuperAdmin2) via the dashboard and go to roles and give it admin role, and then to elevate it to a "SuperAdmin" , use phpmyadmin and add a 2 to the Admin column in the User table for that user (in this example the user named SuperAdmin2). You need to decide if you really need two superAdmins or can live with one. In theory the less Super users the better, but some occasions you may want two.

hgtonight

@River said:
If your goal is to create an additional superAdmin. One with all the privileges of the first admin you created during installation. Create a second user (for example a user named SuperAdmin2) via the dashboard and go to roles and give it admin role, and then to elevate it to a "SuperAdmin" , use phpmyadmin and add a 2 to the Admin column in the User table for that user (in this example the user named SuperAdmin2). You need to decide if you really need two superAdmins or can live with one. In theory the less Super users the better, but some occasions you may want two.

Just a note that super admins have a 1 in the admin column. Putting a 2 in there flags the account as a system account.

Bleistivt

Vanilla will remove all additional super admin flags when updating. But I'd actually argue for not using the super admin account or not having a super admin at all, especially if you are developing.

River

@Bleistivt said:
Vanilla will remove all additional super admin flags when updating.

Do you mean /utility/update will reset additional super admins? If so, I do not see this behavior in vanilla 2.2.1 or 2.3b1. If the number is a 1,2, or 5 in the admin column. The user still has that number in the user column after a /utility/update. Utility/structure also has no impact regarding "removal super admin flags". Perhaps I misunderstand your statement.

But I'd actually argue for not using the super admin account or not having a super admin at all, especially if you are developing.

Agreed. Better to test as a self-created admin that is not a super admin.

@hgtonight said:

@River said:
If your goal is to create an additional superAdmin. One with all the privileges of the first admin you created during installation. Create a second user (for example a user named SuperAdmin2) via the dashboard and go to roles and give it admin role, and then to elevate it to a "SuperAdmin" , use phpmyadmin and add a 2 to the Admin column in the User table for that user (in this example the user named SuperAdmin2). You need to decide if you really need two superAdmins or can live with one. In theory the less Super users the better, but some occasions you may want two.

Just a note that super admins have a 1 in the admin column. Putting a 2 in there flags the account as a system account.

Correct, vanilla creates an admin on installation with a "1" in the admin column and creates a "System" user with a 2 in the column. Both have "super admin privs", seeing dashboard, etc. From the code it looks like sometime it tests for "greater than 0" , or "0" or not, or equal to "2" to perform different things. So a 1,2, or 3 or greater would have some super admin privs. The thing I like about "2" is it shows a "System" special user. So, if you created a secondary user with super admin privs, you would see the word system in the user list and profile, even if it had member role (it would still have admin privs if the admin column was a 1 or greater). Just easier to visualize, if you are going to screw around with unorthodox user of super admins. It would be beneficial to show "SA" superadmin if the number in the admin column was not a zero, just for security sake. Because if someone had access to your db user table they could create a hidden super admin with a role of member if the admin column had a "1" in it.

Bleistivt

@River said:

@Bleistivt said:
Vanilla will remove all additional super admin flags when updating.

Do you mean /utility/update will reset additional super admins? If so, I do not see this behavior in vanilla 2.2.1 or 2.3b1. If the number is a 1,2, or 5 in the admin column. The user still has that number in the user column after a /utility/update. Utility/structure also has no impact regarding "removal super admin flags". Perhaps I misunderstand your statement.

You are correct. This was only in 2.1.