If you own the forum or run the forum, then you are probably a member of the Administrator usergroup. But are you a super administrator? Probably not! Want to find out how to set yourself up as a super administrator? Read on!
You need to be a super administrator to have control over other administrators and to change their permissions. For example, suppose that you have another administrator who is your 'second in command' and that you want to change this administrator's permissions on the forum. To do this you click on Usergroups in the left-hand menu and then click on Administrator Permissions. However, you come up against a message telling you that you don't have permission.
This message also tells you how to make the changes that will enable you to carry out this action. You do, however, require access to the server to carry out these changes.
To create a super administrator, you need to make a change to the includes/config.php file. The easiest way to edit this file is to download it using FTP and edit it locally.
Tip
Local edit versus server edit
Some web hosts might allow you to edit files through a built-in file manager application, but this isn't recommended. By downloading the file, you can keep an unchanged copy of it in case your edits go wrong.
Once you have downloaded the config.php file, you can open it. You may remember that you edited this file to provide vBulletin with the information needed to connect to the database when you first set up the discussion board.
Scroll down to the section market ****** SUPER ADMINISTRATORS ****** as shown below (line number 83).
You need to change this line of code:
$superadministrators = '';
To make an administrator into a super administrator, you add their user ID number inside the single quotes. As the holder of the first account in the vBulletin database, your user ID should be 1.
$superadministrators = '1';
If you want to add more than one super administrator, separate each user ID with a comma, like this:
$superadministrators = '1,2,42';
Finding the user ID of a member is easy. The AdminCP home page has a feature, called the Quick User Finder, that allows you to look up users' IDs.
Type the user name in here, and click Exact Match. This takes you to the User Manager page, and at the top of this screen, you will find the user ID for that user.
Finally, save the file and upload it back to the server (making sure it overwrites the old file). The change is instant, and you can now access the Administrator Permissions page.
