Zope manager users

Zope manager users#

This guide explains how to add a Zope user with the "manager" role—called a "Zope manager user"—to an existing Zope instance.

Zope manager users have full access to the whole Zope instance.

Some installation methods automatically create a Zope manager user named admin for you already.

There are multiple reasons why you might need to add a Zope manager user, including the following.

  • Your installation method did not create one.

  • You lost access to your instance.

  • You inherited a project without proper documentation.

Note

If you need to regain access to your instance, this user is also referred to as an "emergency user" in this context only.

The emergency user is a superuser with full access to the Zope instance. It is not limited to a specific Plone site. Please be aware of the security implications. Consider changing the passwords of the existing Zope manager users after you regain access to your instance.

Add a new Zope manager user#

There are multiple methods to create a Zope manager user. The method depends on how you created and manage your Zope instance, either via buildout or pip.

Important

If you are running a standalone instance, you must stop it before adding the user.

adduser instance command#

If your site was installed with buildout and plone.recipe.zope2instance, you can add a Zope manager user via the instance script.

Run the following command.

bin/instance adduser username password

The name of the instance script might vary based on your installation. Replace username and password with the desired values.

If the command is successful, then it will return the following console output.

Created user: username

When you run the script, if the user already exists:

  • No user will be created.

  • The password will not be changed.

  • The command will return a message such as the following.

    Created user: None

addzopeuser script#

For pip based installations, you will have a script called addzopeuser in the bin directory of your virtual environment. The addzopeuser script might also be available in buildout based installations.

Run the following command.

$ .venv/bin/addzopeuser -c path/to/etc/zope.conf username password

The addzopeuser script and zope.conf locations might vary based on your installation. Replace username and password with the desired values.

If the command is successful, then it will return the following console output.

User username created.

When you run the script, if the user already exists:

  • No user will be created.

  • The password will not be changed.

  • The command will return a message such as the following.

    Got no result back. User creation may have failed.
Maybe the user already exists and nothing is done then.
Or the implementation does not give info when it succeeds.
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