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To change one person’s privileges in MediaWiki, open Special:UserRights, enter the username, load the account’s current groups, select groups to add or clear groups to remove, set an expiry if your wiki supports it, enter a reason, and save. Your account must have the userrights right; in a standard installation that right belongs to the bureaucrat group.
If you need to change what an entire group can do, rather than one account’s membership, edit the $wgGroupPermissions array in LocalSettings.php. That second operation requires server-administrator access and affects every member of the group.
What “user privileges” means in MediaWiki
MediaWiki separates a user’s membership in groups from the rights assigned to those groups. A person may belong to the built-in Users group and, if trusted with additional responsibilities, to groups such as Administrators (often called sysops) or Bureaucrats. The group membership determines which configured capabilities apply to that account.
The distinction matters because the two administrative tasks use different tools and authorities. The normal web interface changes one account’s memberships. The configuration file changes the policy for a group and therefore changes the effective capabilities of all current and future members of that group.
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| Decision | Individual membership | Group policy |
|---|---|---|
| What changes | The groups assigned to one named account | The rights granted or denied to every member of a group |
| Normal tool | Special:UserRights |
$wgGroupPermissions in LocalSettings.php |
| Authority required | The userrights right or a delegated group-management capability |
Server access sufficient to edit and deploy MediaWiki configuration |
| Duration | Usually permanent, with an expiry option on installations that support expiring memberships | Remains in force until the configuration is changed |
| Audit trail | Recorded in the User rights log | Recorded through your configuration-management or deployment history |
MediaWiki’s documentation describes user rights and groups as the foundation of its permissions system. See MediaWiki Help: User rights and groups for the concepts behind memberships and permissions.
Before you change a privilege
Confirm the intended scope before opening the form. If only one person needs an additional capability, change that account’s membership. If every member of a role needs a different capability, change the group policy instead. Accidentally editing LocalSettings.php for a one-person exception can grant a capability to many accounts.
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- Identify the exact username. Usernames can contain spaces, punctuation, or capitalization that differs from the name a colleague uses informally.
- Decide whether the change is permanent or should expire. Use an expiry for temporary projects, on-call coverage, or event administration when the feature is available.
- Choose the smallest group that supplies the required task. Avoid granting a broader administrative group when a narrower, locally defined role is sufficient.
- Prepare a concise reason. The reason becomes part of the administrative record and should explain the request, ticket, event, or review that justified the change.
For a description of the configuration model and the standard setup, consult the MediaWiki manual on setting user groups.
How to change one user’s privileges in MediaWiki
- Sign in with the required authority. Use an account that has
userrightsor another group-management capability explicitly delegated by this wiki. On a default installation, bureaucrats receiveuserrights. - Open the user-rights page. Go directly to
Special:UserRights, or open the wiki’s Special pages list and select the user-rights page. If the page is not available to you, your account probably lacks the required right or the wiki has disabled or restricted the interface. - Enter the target username. Type the account name exactly as it exists on the wiki, then load the account’s current groups. Check that the displayed account is the intended recipient before making a selection.
- Select groups to add or clear groups to remove. The form shows the memberships that can be changed by your account. Select a group to grant it; clear a currently selected group to remove it. Do not alter groups that are outside the request merely because they appear in the form.
- Set an expiry when appropriate. If the installation supports expiring group memberships, choose one of the offered durations or enter a custom expiry. A membership without an expiry remains until an authorized operator removes it.
- Enter a reason. Record why the change is being made, such as a documented role assignment, a temporary moderation duty, or the closure of an access review. Avoid putting passwords, private personal data, or sensitive incident details in a public log reason.
- Submit the change. Save the form and wait for the confirmation. If MediaWiki reports that you cannot add or remove a selected group, leave the page and ask a bureaucrat or the wiki’s delegated group manager; do not try to work around the restriction by editing unrelated settings.
- Review the User rights log. Confirm that the intended groups, account, operator, reason, and expiry were recorded. The log is the authoritative check that the membership operation completed.
Making someone an administrator
To make a user an administrator, use the same Special:UserRights procedure and select the wiki’s administrator group, commonly labeled Administrators or sysop. Group names are configurable, so use the label shown on your installation rather than assuming a particular spelling. Verify the assignment in the confirmation and User rights log before the person begins administrative work.
Removing administrator or bureaucrat rights
Load the account in Special:UserRights, clear the applicable administrator or bureaucrat group, enter the reason, and submit. Removing one group does not automatically remove other groups the account may retain; inspect the complete membership list and change only the memberships covered by the decision. If your own account is the subject of the change, another authorized operator must perform it.
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Granting temporary privileges
Use the expiry control rather than relying on a calendar reminder when a role is time-limited. Select the requested duration or enter a custom date supported by the form, then state the end date or event in the reason. After saving, check the log so the expiry was stored rather than merely noted in prose.
Who can change user privileges?
The userrights right controls who can assign or revoke user groups. In the standard MediaWiki setup, that right is assigned to Bureaucrats. A wiki can delegate narrower group-management powers through configuration, so the exact authority may differ from the default.
Membership in the Administrators group does not, by itself, guarantee the ability to change other users’ groups. Conversely, a custom group may be given a limited ability to add or remove specified groups. Look at the rights available to your account and the groups listed on the user-rights form rather than inferring authority from a job title.
If you can view a user’s memberships but the form has no editable controls, you are authenticated but not authorized for group management. Contact a bureaucrat or the person who administers the wiki configuration. Granting yourself a group through page content or a URL parameter is not a supported method.
Changing what a group can do with $wgGroupPermissions
Use LocalSettings.php when the requirement is a role-wide policy. The file is read by MediaWiki as server configuration, so this task belongs to a server administrator or to a team with an approved configuration-deployment process.
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The basic syntax is an assignment to a group and a right:
$wgGroupPermissions['customgroup']['edit'] = true;
$wgGroupPermissions['customgroup']['delete'] = false;The first line enables the edit right for customgroup; the second denies delete for that group. Replace the group and right names with values that exist in your wiki’s design. A true value grants the right to every member of that group, while a false value removes that right from the group’s policy.
- Define the intended role. Write down which accounts should receive the capability and which accounts must not. Check whether an existing group already models the role.
- Inspect the current configuration. Find the existing
$wgGroupPermissionsentries and any local custom groups before adding a new assignment. Duplicate or contradictory entries can make later maintenance difficult. - Edit the configuration on the server. Add or change the specific group-right assignment using the documented syntax. Keep the change in the same version-controlled or reviewed process used for other production settings.
- Review group-management boundaries. If a role should be allowed to manage only selected groups, configure
$wgAddGroupsand$wgRemoveGroupsto restrict which groups it may add or remove. These controls prevent a delegated operator from receiving broader group-management power than intended. - Deploy and verify. Follow your normal configuration deployment procedure, then test with a representative account and review the resulting permissions. Confirm both the capability that should work and a sensitive capability that should remain unavailable.
The syntax and the relationship between groups and rights are documented in the MediaWiki Manual: User rights. Configuration edits are not the same as a user-membership action: they affect the role as a whole and should be reviewed after deployment.
Choosing between a membership change and a policy change
Use these questions before deciding where to work:
- Is the request about one named person? Use
Special:UserRights. The account’s group membership is the object being changed. - Is the request about everyone in a role? Edit
$wgGroupPermissions. The group’s capability policy is the object being changed. - Does the access have an end date? Prefer an expiring membership when supported. A configuration assignment has no per-user expiry.
- Does the operator need a visible administrative record? Membership changes appear in the User rights log. Configuration changes should be traceable in the server team’s change history and deployment records.
- Could the change grant more power than requested? Re-check inherited memberships and the rights attached to the selected group. A narrowly named custom group may still carry broad rights if its configuration says so.
How to verify the result safely
Verification should test the effective result, not only the checkbox you selected. First, reload the target account’s user-rights page and confirm the expected membership and any displayed expiry. Next, review the User rights log entry for the operator, reason, groups changed, and time.
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For a group-policy change, test with an account that has the target group and, where practical, with an account that does not. Check a representative action that should now succeed, such as editing a page when edit was enabled, and a protected action that should still fail, such as deletion when delete was denied. Perform these checks in accordance with your wiki’s access policy and avoid testing destructive operations on real content.
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If the observed behavior does not match the membership or configuration, inspect all groups on the account. Effective permissions can reflect several memberships, so another group may be granting the capability you thought you removed or may be masking the effect of a policy change.
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The Special:UserRights page says you cannot make the change
Your account lacks userrights or a delegated capability for the selected operation. Ask a bureaucrat or the designated group administrator to perform the change. If you administer the server, review the group-management configuration rather than granting broad rights automatically.
The target username cannot be loaded
Check spelling, capitalization, spaces, and the wiki on which you are signed in. A username from another wiki or a display name copied from a profile may not be the account’s canonical name. Search for the account through the wiki’s user interface, then return to Special:UserRights and load the exact name.
The group you need is not listed
Group names and the groups an operator may manage vary by wiki configuration and MediaWiki release. The group may not exist, may be restricted by $wgAddGroups or $wgRemoveGroups, or may be intentionally unavailable to your role. Ask the server administrator to confirm the configured group and its delegation rules.
An expiry option is missing
Expiring memberships are available only on installations and configurations that support them. If the form has no expiry control, do not write a date in the reason and assume MediaWiki will remove the group automatically. Use the wiki’s approved manual review process, or have an administrator confirm whether an upgrade or configuration change is appropriate.
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The person still has a capability after a group was removed
Reload the account’s complete group list and inspect other memberships. A second group may grant the same right. Also distinguish membership from policy: removing a group from one account does not change the rights attached to that group for other accounts.
A configuration edit did not produce the expected result
Check that the assignment uses the exact group and right names configured on the wiki, that the edited LocalSettings.php is the file used by the running installation, and that the deployment completed successfully. Review the server-side change history and test with accounts whose memberships are known. Do not compensate for uncertainty by granting a more powerful group.
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- Use least privilege: grant only the group needed for the documented task.
- Prefer temporary memberships for temporary responsibilities when the installation supports expiry.
- Always enter a reason that another administrator can understand months later.
- Review the User rights log after every membership change, including removals.
- Keep
LocalSettings.phpchanges in the same review and deployment process as other server configuration. - When delegating group management, constrain add and remove authority with
$wgAddGroupsand$wgRemoveGroups. - Separate production testing from destructive actions; verify with safe, representative permissions checks.
- Document which groups are standard and which are custom, because labels and available rights vary by wiki configuration and MediaWiki release.
What can vary by wiki and MediaWiki release
The names of groups, the rights attached to them, which groups a bureaucrat may manage, and whether expiry controls are available can all vary. A default installation commonly includes Users, Administrators (sysop), and Bureaucrats, but a local administrator may add custom groups or delegate narrower powers. Treat the labels and controls displayed by your own wiki as authoritative.
The official references are the manual on setting user groups, Help: User rights and groups, and the Manual: User rights. They explain the standard model, while your site’s configuration determines the exact groups and delegation available to operators.
Practical decision examples
One editor needs a higher role for a project
Confirm the project’s end date, assign the existing appropriate group through Special:UserRights, set an expiry if available, and record the project and date in the reason. Verify the membership and log entry.
Every member of a custom role needs editing but not deletion
Do not edit each account. Ask a server administrator to set $wgGroupPermissions['customgroup']['edit'] = true; and $wgGroupPermissions['customgroup']['delete'] = false;, review the deployment, and test with a member and non-member account.
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Use Special:UserRights to clear the administrator group and any other group that independently grants the elevated capability. Record the reason, verify the User rights log, and inspect the remaining memberships so another group does not preserve the access unintentionally.
Key takeaways
Use Special:UserRights for an individual account, and use $wgGroupPermissions in LocalSettings.php for a role-wide policy. The first requires the userrights capability and is recorded in the User rights log; the second requires server-administrator access and should be tracked through configuration review and deployment records. Check the exact groups, rights, delegation limits, and expiry support on your own wiki before saving a change.
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