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To require an account before anyone can edit your MediaWiki installation, add this directive to LocalSettings.php:
$wgGroupPermissions['*']['edit'] = false;The asterisk group includes anonymous visitors, so removing its edit right stops logged-out editing while leaving the normal edit right for the registered user group. Reading remains available unless you change read permissions separately.
How MediaWiki decides who may edit
MediaWiki assigns permissions to groups rather than directly to individual visitors. The two groups relevant to this policy are:
| Group | Who belongs to it | Effect of the policy |
|---|---|---|
* |
All users, including people who are not logged in | The edit right is disabled, so anonymous visitors cannot edit |
user |
All registered users who have logged in | The normal registered-user edit right remains available unless you disable it separately |
MediaWiki permissions are additive: a person can receive rights from every group they belong to. A registered account is therefore in the broad * group and the user group. Turning off edit for * removes the anonymous capability, while the user group can still grant editing to logged-in accounts. The official Manual:User rights describes these as group-assigned rights, including the ability to edit pages.
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This distinction matters because changing the wrong group can produce a much stricter result than intended. Disabling edit for user as well would prevent ordinary registered users from editing. That is appropriate only when editing must be limited to another group, such as administrators.
Apply the registered-users-only policy
-
Open the
LocalSettings.phpfile used by the wiki installation. This is the main local configuration file for the site.Recommended Free Tools
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Add the directive shown in the introduction. Keep the group name as
*, keep the permission name asedit, and assign the Boolean valuefalse. -
Save the file and deploy it through the installation’s normal configuration process. The change takes effect only when the running wiki is using the updated file.
-
Test while logged out. An anonymous visitor should no longer see the edit action on pages that were previously editable.
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Log in with a regular registered account and open an editable page. The edit action should still be available to that account.
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The official Manual:Preventing access characterizes this configuration as one that “Requires that a user be registered before they can edit.” The manuals document the permission model and setting; the result still needs to be checked on your own deployment because configuration, group membership, and page-level restrictions can differ between wikis.
What the setting changes
Anonymous editing is blocked across the wiki
The policy applies to the whole wiki because it changes the global permission assigned to the anonymous group. A visitor who has not signed in cannot use the edit action, even on a page that has no additional protection level.
Registered-user editing is preserved
The setting does not remove the ordinary user-group edit right. Any registered account that belongs to that group can continue to edit pages that are otherwise editable. Page-specific restrictions, namespace restrictions, or other group rules can still limit that account on particular content.
Reading is not disabled
Anonymous read access is a separate permission. This change is suitable when you want a public, readable wiki whose contributions require an account. It does not turn the wiki into a private site.
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Source visibility is not made private
Blocking the edit action does not guarantee that page source is hidden. The Preventing access manual warns that users may still be able to view source through Special:Export or other methods. If the content itself must be private, you need a separate read-access policy rather than relying on the editing restriction.
Do not disable the registered group by accident
A common mistake is to add a second rule that sets the user group’s edit permission to false. That changes the policy from “registered users may edit” to “registered users may not edit,” unless another group grants the right. Leave the registered group’s edit permission enabled when every registered account should be able to contribute.
| Configuration choice | Anonymous visitors | Regular registered users | Typical use |
|---|---|---|---|
Disable edit for * only |
Cannot edit | Can edit where no other restriction applies | Require sign-in before contributions |
Disable edit for * and user |
Cannot edit | Cannot edit unless another group grants the right | Reserve editing for a narrower group |
Leave * editing enabled |
Can edit where pages permit it | Can edit where pages permit it | Open, anonymous contribution model |
Use the second choice only when you have deliberately defined which other group is allowed to edit. It is not part of the normal registered-users-only setup.
Verify the result with two test accounts
Testing both sides of the policy catches most configuration errors without changing page content.
Test as an anonymous visitor
- Sign out, or use a browsing session that is not authenticated.
- Open a page that should normally be editable.
- Confirm that the edit action is unavailable to the anonymous session.
- Check a second ordinary page if the first page has its own protection, so you are testing the global rule rather than a page-specific exception.
Test as a registered user
- Sign in with a regular account in the
usergroup. - Open the same kind of page.
- Confirm that the edit action remains available.
- If appropriate, open the editor without saving and then cancel, so the test does not introduce an unwanted change.
Do not treat a single protected page as proof that the global policy works. A page can hide editing because of its own restriction even when the global permission is still open, and a globally blocked anonymous user will fail the test on every ordinary editable page.
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Choose a narrower restriction when the whole wiki is too broad
The global rule is the right answer when every anonymous visitor should be prevented from editing. MediaWiki also provides more selective controls when different parts of the site need different audiences.
Restrict an entire namespace
$wgNamespaceProtection can require a named right for a namespace. The required right can be autoconfirmed or a custom permission. This is useful when public discussion or documentation should remain editable by registered users, while a particular namespace is reserved for accounts that satisfy an additional trust requirement.
Namespace protection changes the scope from the entire wiki to one namespace. It does not replace the global anonymous-editing rule if anonymous editing must be blocked everywhere.
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Restrict individual pages
The Protect feature can apply restrictions to selected pages. Restriction levels can be customized with $wgRestrictionLevels. This approach is appropriate for a small number of high-risk or administrative pages while leaving the rest of the wiki under its normal policy.
Page protection is a content-level control. It is more targeted than changing a group permission, but it requires administrators to maintain the protected-page list as the site evolves.
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Make the wiki private
If visitors must not read the wiki at all, use a separate anonymous read policy. Disabling anonymous reading and disabling anonymous editing are distinct controls. A site can be public to readers but closed to anonymous contributors, or private to readers and editors alike.
| Requirement | Best-fit mechanism | Scope | What it does not decide |
|---|---|---|---|
| Require an account for every edit | Disable edit for * |
Whole wiki | Whether people can read pages |
| Limit one namespace to a stronger group | $wgNamespaceProtection |
One namespace | Permissions in other namespaces |
| Lock selected pages | Protect the pages and configure restriction levels if needed | Individual pages | Unprotected pages |
| Hide content from anonymous visitors | Change anonymous read access |
Reading policy for the wiki | Whether registered users may edit particular pages |
Troubleshoot when the behavior is wrong
Anonymous users can still edit
- Confirm that the directive is in the active
LocalSettings.php, not an unused copy or a backup file. - Check that the group is exactly
*and the permission is exactlyedit. - Verify that the saved configuration was deployed through the installation’s normal process.
- Test again while fully logged out. A browser session that still has an account cookie can make an anonymous test appear to succeed.
- Check whether the page’s behavior is being interpreted through a separate custom group or extension policy; the global setting only addresses the anonymous group.
Registered users cannot edit
- Look for an additional rule that sets
$wgGroupPermissions['user']['edit']tofalse. Remove that rule if ordinary registered users should edit. - Confirm that the test account is actually registered and belongs to the expected
usergroup. - Check for namespace or page protection. A global allowance for registered users does not override a more specific restriction.
- Test a normal, unprotected page to separate a group-permission issue from a page-level policy.
Reading stopped unexpectedly
The anonymous editing rule alone does not disable reading. If logged-out visitors can no longer view pages, inspect other configuration changes affecting the read permission or private-wiki policy. Keep the editing and reading decisions separate when diagnosing the change.
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That outcome is expected under an editing-only policy. The restriction removes the edit action; it does not promise that source cannot be obtained through Special:Export or another route. Apply a read-access policy if source confidentiality is a requirement.
Operational checklist
- Define the audience: anonymous visitors, all registered users, an autoconfirmed group, or a custom group.
- Choose the narrowest scope that matches the requirement: whole wiki, namespace, or individual page.
- For a whole-wiki sign-in requirement, disable only the
*group’seditright. - Keep the
usergroup’s edit right enabled when ordinary registered accounts should contribute. - Decide independently whether anonymous visitors may read.
- Do not promise source privacy when only editing has been restricted.
- Deploy the configuration through the installation’s normal process.
- Test once logged out and once with a regular registered account.
- Use an ordinary unprotected page for the verification, then test any namespace or page-specific exceptions separately.
Documentation basis
The policy follows MediaWiki’s official Manual:Preventing access and Manual:User rights. The former states that disabling anonymous editing requires a user to be registered before editing; the latter explains that all users, including anonymous users, are in the * group and registered users are in the user group. Together, those rules explain why disabling edit for * blocks anonymous contributions without removing the normal registered-user capability.
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