Configure users, permissions, and default user settings.

User Management

Users can be managed through:

  • Web UI (User Management section)
  • CLI commands
  • API

Default User Settings

There’s two main areas that user settings are configured.

User Source configuration

Configure defaults applied to new users:

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server:
  sources:
    - path: "/data"
      config:
        defaultEnabled: true         # Give to all new users
        defaultUserScope: "/"         # Default access path
        createUserDir: false          # Auto-create user directories

User Defaults

User defaults are configured on the config.yaml and are the default initial values for users when they are created.

YAML 
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userDefaults:
  preview:
    highQuality: true
    image: true
    video: true
    motionVideoPreview: true
    office: true
    popup: true
    folder: true
  permissions:
    api: false
    admin: false
    modify: false
    share: false
    realtime: false
    delete: false
    create: false
    download: true
  disableOnlyOfficeExt: ".md .txt .pdf"   # list of file extensions to disable onlyoffice editor for

permissions are not editable by the user unless they are admin, but all other settings are modifyable in profile settings in the UI.

Creating Users

Via Web UI

  1. Log in as admin
  2. Go to User Management
  3. Click Create User
  4. Set username, password, permissions
  5. Assign sources and scopes

Via CLI

BASH 
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./filebrowser set -u username,password -c config.yaml

Create as admin:

BASH 
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./filebrowser set -u username,password -a -c config.yaml

User Permissions

Admin Permissions

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- Full system access
- User management
- Configuration access
- All file operations

Standard Permissions

Configure per user:

  • Create - Create files and folders
  • Rename - Rename files and folders
  • Modify - Edit and modify files
  • Delete - Delete files and folders
  • Share - Create share links
  • Download - Download files
  • API - Access REST API

User Scopes

Scopes define which sources and paths a user can access.

Assign Scope

In User Management:

  1. Edit user
  2. Select source
  3. Set scope path (e.g., /, /subfolder, /users/john)
  4. Save

Auto-Create User Directories

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server:
  sources:
    - path: "/home/users"
      config:
        defaultEnabled: true
        createUserDir: true
        defaultUserScope: "/"

This creates /home/users/username for each user.

User Groups

See Groups for group-based management.

Password Management

Set Password Requirements

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auth:
  methods:
    password:
      minLength: 12

Reset User Password

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./filebrowser set -u username,newpassword -c config.yaml

Two-Factor Authentication

Users can enable 2FA in their profile settings:

  1. Go to Profile → Security
  2. Click Enable 2FA
  3. Scan QR code
  4. Enter verification code

API Tokens

Users with API permission can create tokens:

  1. Go to Settings → API Management
  2. Click Create Token
  3. Copy and save securely

Next Steps