Question

I searched but could not find a way to learn how to delete users (other than just from the .htaccess file to disable them from logging in). I also want to delete the User Entry FirstLastname so that some other user with the same name could come in and take that (in this case it's just removing Erroneous signups).

• TWiki version: 03 Aug 2002
• Web server:
• Server OS:
• Web browser:
• Client OS:

Answer

To remove a user:

1. Edit the data/.htpasswd file to delete their entry
2. Remove their topic files: data/Main/FredQuimby.txt and data/Main/FredQuimby.txt,v
3. And remove them from the Main.TWikiUsers users page (ColasNahaboo - 06 Sep 2002)
4. Remove them from groups, if any (otherwise this is a security hole as the first one to re-register with this name will be granted the permissions of the previous user), and of course of all the ALLOWWEB/ALLOWTOPIC... declarations for the same reasons. (ColasNahaboo - 06 Sep 2002)

It wouldn't be that hard to write a script to do this, but that is left as an exercise for the reader! Any such script would of course need to be well written and secure to avoid problems - see TaintChecking and SecureSetup.

-- RichardDonkin - 05 Sep 2002

Good point, Codev.HowToDeleteUserAccount needs to be documented. I do those steps mechanically at work.

-- PeterThoeny - 07 Sep 2002

I followed the steps listed above and tried to register myself. I get this error:

Undefined subroutine &main::encode_base64 called at e:\twiki\bin\register line 200.

I'm running my twiki on an NT.

-- JesseLiwag - 14 Jan 2003

Please WebSearch for "base64" or ask a new support question.

-- PeterThoeny - 18 Jan 2003

Removing doesn't seem to work for me. I have followed all the steps and even removed the user txt files from Trash, but I still get the user-has-been-registered error. grep -r reveals that there are still a couple of places where the username is mentioned.

-- RobertSawko - 2012-04-01