User Admin
The User Admin page is the central hub for managing all user accounts on your QuickBox Pro server. From here you can view every user at a glance, create new accounts, modify roles and passwords, ban or delete users, and perform administrative actions like session revocation and user impersonation.
User Admin requires admin privileges. admin.users.read is needed to view the user list. Additional permissions are required for specific actions — admin.users.create to add users, admin.users.update to modify them, and admin.users.delete to remove them.
User list
The User Admin page displays all server users in a searchable, filterable table. Each row shows the user’s name, status, role, and key account details. You can filter by user status and search by username or email.
Click the expand arrow on any user row to reveal additional details including:
- Avatar and display information
- Email address
- Assigned role and group
- Disk usage breakdown
- Active session count
- Account creation date
- Media access — storage quota and media permissions (see below)
Creating users
Click the Create User button to open the new user dialog. You will need to provide:
- Username — must comply with the username policy set in Registration Settings (character rules, length limits)
- Password — must meet the password policy requirements
- Email — optional email address for the user
- Role — assign an initial role (determines dashboard permissions)
- Group — assign to a group (determines application access)
When a user is created through the dashboard, the system automatically provisions the Linux account, home directory, default applications, and all required system files on the server.
User actions
Each user in the list has a set of actions available through the action menu:
| Action | What it does | Permission required |
|---|---|---|
Edit role | Change the user's role (promote to admin or demote to standard user) | admin.users.update |
Change password | Reset the user's password. Updates both the dashboard login and the system account password | admin.users.update |
Ban user | Ban the user with an optional reason. Stops all their services, terminates active processes, blocks login, and revokes their OpenVPN certificate (if any) so their existing .ovpn profile stops connecting immediately | admin.users.update |
Unban user | Lift a ban and restore the user's access. Restarts their services and, for OpenVPN users, issues a fresh client profile (the old one stays permanently revoked — the user must re-download) | admin.users.update |
Delete user | Permanently remove the user account, home directory, all installed software, and system files. Revokes their OpenVPN certificate as part of cleanup. Requires confirmation | admin.users.delete |
Revoke sessions | Force logout by invalidating all of the user's active sessions | admin.sessions.revoke |
Impersonate | Log in as the user to see exactly what they see. Useful for troubleshooting permission or display issues | admin.users.impersonate |
Approve | Approve a pending registration (only visible when using admin approval activation mode) | admin.users.update |
When you delete a user, the system removes their Linux account, home directory, all per-user application data, and database records. This action cannot be undone. Always confirm you have backed up any important data before proceeding.
Media access
Each user’s expanded panel includes a Media access section with two cards:
Storage quota
Shows the user’s effective Asset Management Center storage quota, current usage, and where the quota comes from:
- Override — An explicit quota set for this user. A Reset button clears it, falling back to the inherited value
- Inherited — The default from one of the user’s groups (the group name is shown)
- Default — The instance-wide fallback
Enter a value in GB to set a per-user override. Overrides always win over group and instance defaults.
Media permissions
Lists the three media permissions — media.library.use, media.share.create, and media.share.email — with each one’s current state (Granted or Denied) and its source:
- Inherit — Follow the user’s group grants (or the default deny if no group grants it)
- Allow — Grant this user the permission regardless of group membership
- Deny — Block the permission even if a group grants it
Administrator-level accounts always have every media permission — their rows show a shield indicator and no controls, since overrides would have no effect.
Viewing media access requires admin.users.read; changing quotas or permission overrides requires admin.users.update.
User policy toggles
At the top of the User Admin page, quick-access toggles let you control system-wide user policies:
- Maintenance mode — When enabled, non-admin users see a maintenance notice instead of the dashboard
- Registration mode — Quick visibility into the current registration activation mode
These are shortcuts to settings that are also available in the General Settings and Registration Settings pages.
CLI equivalents
| Dashboard Action | CLI Command |
|---|---|
Create a user | qb user create -u <username> -p <password> |
Delete a user | qb user delete -u <username> |
Ban a user | qb user ban -u <username> |
Unban a user | qb user unban -u <username> |
Change password | qb user password -u <username> -p <password> |
Promote to admin | qb user promote -u <username> |
Demote from admin | qb user demote -u <username> |
Set disk quota | qb user quota -u <username> -o <size> |
Set shell access | qb user shell -u <username> -o <full|limited|sudo> |
The dashboard provides features not available via the CLI, including user impersonation, session revocation, inline user details, and integration with the full RBAC system. The CLI is best suited for scripting and automation.
Best practices
Do
- Assign the most restrictive role that meets each user's needs — use the User role for standard access and reserve admin roles for server operators
- Use groups to control application access rather than relying on roles alone — groups provide fine-grained control over which software categories each user can see
- Ban a user instead of deleting them if you may want to restore their access later — banning preserves the account and data while blocking all access
- Review the user list regularly for inactive or unused accounts and remove them to keep your server tidy
- Use impersonation to troubleshoot user-reported issues — you will see exactly what the user sees without needing their credentials
Don't
- Don't delete users without first confirming that their data is backed up — deletion removes the home directory, all application data, and system files permanently
- Don't give admin privileges to users who only need access to applications — use the standard User role with appropriate group membership instead
- Don't forget to revoke sessions when changing a user's role or permissions — existing sessions may still have the old permissions until they expire
FAQ
.ovpn stops connecting right away, enforced by the server's certificate revocation list, so a banned user cannot keep dialing in over the VPN. Their account data, home directory, and VPN membership are preserved, so you can unban them later..ovpn bundle from their download link before they can reconnect. Login, SSH, and services are otherwise restored as before.qb user promote command changes the user to admin level and adjusts their shell access. The dashboard provides the same capability plus full RBAC role assignment, allowing you to assign any custom role — not just the admin/user binary.qb user quota or the dashboard) limits the user's home directory on the server's filesystem — and because a managed user's Asset Management Center uploads live in their home (under ~/.QuickBox/storage/), those uploads count against this disk quota. The separate media storage quota applies to central assets that administrators upload to the shared dashboard area. They are managed in different places.Related pages
Manage groups that control application access for users
Define and assign roles with granular permissions
Configure activation modes, username policies, and password requirements
The media features that quotas and media permissions govern
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