Manage users and roles

This guide shows you how to create a user account, assign global roles, edit a user's details, and deactivate or remove a user from the User Management screen.

Before you start

• Role required: Administrator. User administration is gated by the CanManageUsers policy, which in V1 is held by the Administrator role only. The Admin menu and the User Management screen are not visible to other roles.
• Prerequisites: None — accounts are created here. There is no self sign-up. New users receive a welcome email or a one-time temporary password (see Result).

Create a user

1. Go to Administration → User Management.

2. Select Add (the grid's add button). The Add User dialog opens.

3. Enter the required fields:

   Field	Type	Required	What to enter
   First Name	text	Yes	The user's given name (max 100 characters)
   Last Name	text	Yes	The user's family name (max 100 characters)
   Email	text	Yes	A unique email address — it also becomes the sign-in username
   Windows Logon Name	text	No	The user's Windows account name (for example, CONTOSO\jdoe) — required only if they sign in with Windows single sign-on. See Windows single sign-on.
   Role	role	Yes	The user's single global role

4. Choose the user's Role from the Select a role list. Every user must have exactly one global role; you can change it later from Edit (see Change a user's role).

5. Select Save. Erde creates the account, marks the email as confirmed, and generates a secure temporary password. What you see next depends on whether email is configured — see Result.

Erde validates these fields on the server. The email must be unique; the password is generated by Erde, so you never enter one here.

Change a user's role

Every user holds exactly one global role. You set it when you create the account and change it later from the Edit User dialog — there is no separate roles dialog, and a user is never left with no role.

1. On a user row, open the Actions menu (the kebab icon) and select Edit.
2. Pick the new role from the Role list and select Save.

The four global roles are:

Role code	Label
Admin	Administrator
DataManager	Data Manager
Manager	Manager
Staff	Staff

An "internal user" is anyone holding one of the internal roles — Administrator, Data Manager, Manager, or Staff. For what each role can do, see the permissions matrix.

Changing a user's role signs them out of all active sessions, so their updated permissions take effect the next time they sign in.

You cannot change your own role away from Administrator — Erde blocks this with "You cannot remove the Admin role from yourself." You also cannot demote the last remaining Administrator; Erde blocks that with "Cannot change the last Admin's role. Assign another Admin first." Grant Administrator to another user before stepping down the last one.

Windows single sign-on

Enabling sign-on

This section covers the per-user provisioning that Windows and OIDC sign-on both need. To turn a method on and set up the identity-provider side, see Configure single sign-on.

If your installation enables Windows single sign-on (System Settings → Authentication, Mode set to Windows or Both), each Windows user needs their Windows Logon Name set on their Erde account before they can sign in that way. Erde matches the Windows account that signs in to the Erde account carrying the same logon name, then links the two permanently.

• Enter the user's down-level logon name — DOMAIN\username (for example, CONTOSO\jdoe), or MACHINE\username on a workgroup install. The match is not case-sensitive.
• Set it when you create the account, or later from Edit (see Edit a user).
• A logon name can belong to only one account. Entering one already assigned to another user blocks the save with a conflict.
• Accounts are never created automatically. A Windows user with no matching Erde account — or whose account has no Windows Logon Name — is refused with "Your account has not been provisioned. Contact your administrator." The exact logon name they tried is recorded in the audit log, so you can copy it onto their account.

OIDC single sign-on matches by the email address on the account instead, so it does not use this field. On a user's first OIDC sign-in, the provider must assert the address is verified (an email_verified or xms_edov claim) before Erde links the accounts. Providers that never send a verification claim — AD FS, or Microsoft Entra ID without the xms_edov optional claim — need Trust email addresses the provider has not marked as verified enabled in System Settings → Authentication.

Edit a user

1. On a user row, open the Actions menu and select Edit. The Edit User dialog opens.
2. Change First Name, Last Name, Email, Windows Logon Name, or Role as needed.
3. Select Save. Erde shows "User updated successfully."

Changing a user's email also updates their sign-in username and signs them out of all active sessions, so they must sign in again.

Reset a password

1. On a user row, open the Actions menu and select Reset Password.
2. In the Reset Password dialog, confirm with Reset Password.

Erde generates a new password and signs the user out of all sessions. Delivery follows the same two paths as account creation: a Password Reset email if email is configured, otherwise a one-time temporary password shown in the Password Reset dialog — use the Copy button to copy it. If email is configured but the send fails, Erde shows the temporary password and a warning so you can share it directly.

Deactivate (lock) a user

Locking is the reversible way to stop a user from signing in — their account and data stay intact. To remove an account permanently, see Delete a user.

1. On a user row, open the Actions menu and select Lock.
2. The user can no longer sign in, and a Locked pill appears in the Locked column. Erde shows "User locked successfully."

To restore access, open the Actions menu and select Unlock. Erde clears the lock and resets the failed-sign-in counter.

A locked user is also hidden from active directories — for example, you cannot @mention them. You cannot lock your own account.

Locking here stays in effect until you unlock it. It is separate from the automatic sign-in lockout, which holds an account for 15 minutes after 5 failed attempts and then clears on its own. While that automatic lockout window is active, the same Locked pill appears in the Locked column.

Delete a user

Deleting removes the account and its memberships permanently. Prefer Lock if you might restore the user later.

1. On a user row, open the Actions menu and select Delete.
2. In the Confirm Delete dialog, read "This action cannot be undone." and select Delete.

danger

Deleting a user is a hard delete. It removes the account, the user's site and project memberships, and their active sessions. There is no undo. You cannot delete your own account.

Result

After Save in the Add User dialog, the outcome depends on whether outgoing email (SMTP) is configured in System Settings:

• Email configured — Erde sends a welcome email (heading Welcome to Erde) with a Set Your Password button link, and shows User created. A welcome email has been sent to <their email>. (Erde substitutes the recipient's address.)
• Email not configured, or the send fails — Erde shows the User Created dialog with a one-time temporary password. Use the Copy button to copy it and share it with the user securely; it will not be shown again. The user should change it after signing in. When email is configured but the send fails, Erde also shows a warning — Welcome email could not be sent — please share the temporary password with the user directly.

The new user appears in the grid, listed by email. The User column shows their name and email; the Role column shows their role as a pill; the Created column shows when the account was created; and the Locked column shows a pill only while the account is locked. You can sort, filter, and search these columns.

Figure: how Erde delivers credentials for a newly created user.

Troubleshooting

Symptom	Cause	Resolution
The Admin menu or User Management screen is missing	The signed-in account does not hold the Administrator role	Sign in as an Administrator, or have one grant you the role
Save fails on Add User with a duplicate-email error	The email already belongs to another account	Use a unique email; emails must be unique across all users
No welcome email arrives	Email (SMTP) is not configured, or the send failed	Use the temporary password from the User Created dialog and share it securely; configure email in System Settings to send welcome emails
"You cannot remove the Admin role from yourself."	An Administrator tried to remove their own Administrator role	Have another Administrator remove the role for you
"Cannot change the last Admin's role. Assign another Admin first."	You tried to demote the only Administrator	Assign Administrator to another user first, then change this one
"You cannot lock your own account." / "You cannot delete your own account."	An Administrator tried to lock or delete themselves	Have another Administrator perform the action
A user reports being signed out unexpectedly	Their email was changed, their password was reset, or their role was changed	Expected — these actions end active sessions; the user signs in again
A Windows user sees "Your account has not been provisioned"	Their Erde account has no Windows Logon Name, or it doesn't match the account they signed in with	Open their account in Edit and set Windows Logon Name to the DOMAIN\username shown in the audit log for the failed attempt

Related

• Users, roles, and permissions — the concepts behind global roles and scoped access.
• Permissions and scoping — the full matrix of which role can do what.
• Administration overview — other administrative tasks.