Impersonating a different user
Users with the Administrator privilege level can “impersonate” other users. Impersonation means signing-in to the system as a different user. This is useful, for example, when you are setting up the environment for different users and want to test the interface or actions as the other users.
Notes and limitations
- Impersonating other users with the Administrator privilege level is not possible.
- You cannot directly impersonate a different user while impersonating another user (you first need to cancel the impersonation).
- For sites created using the MVC development model, impersonation is only available for the Kentico administration interface (you cannot impersonate users on the live site).
- The system logs actions carried out while impersonating a user in the Event log under a composite user name in format <user name> (<original user name>), where the original user is the administrator using the impersonate function.
To impersonate a user:
- Open the User menu in the top-right corner of the interface.
- Click Impersonate. A Select user dialog opens.
- Click on the user that you want to impersonate.
- If impersonating an editor (a user with the Editor privilege level), you are redirected to the application dashboard in the administration interface.
- If impersonating a standard user of a Portal Engine website, you are redirected to the title page of the live site.
You can now perform actions as the user that you impersonated.
Cancelling impersonation
There are two ways in which you can cancel impersonation:
Cancelling impersonation of a user with access to the administration interface
- Open the User menu in the top-right corner of the interface.
- Click Cancel impersonation.
The system signs you in under the original administrator account.
Cancelling impersonation of a user without access to the administration interface
- Sign out of the live site.
- Manually sign in under your original administrator account.