How to Create a Super Administrator User on Joomla?

From our experience, we know that there are some misconceptions about the Joomla Super Administrator user:

1. You can only have one Super Administrator user per Joomla website.
2. You can not delete the Super Administrator user that was originally created.
3. There is no interface for adding Super Administrators (this is a corollary to the point #1 above)

Now let us start debunking the above myths by saying that you can definitely have more than one Super Administrator on a Joomla website. In fact, you can have as many as you like. You can also delete the Super Administrator user that was created during the installation process by just logging as a Super Administrator, clicking on “User Manager” in the initial control panel, and then clicking on the checkbox next to the name of the administrator you wish to delete, and then clicking on “Delete” above. Note that you must have at least one Super Administrator left (after the deletion process) for the delete to work. So, if you have just one Super Administrator in your Joomla website, then you cannot delete it (Think about it – how will you be able to login as Super Administrator or create a Super Administrator if you have deleted them all?).

As for adding new Super Administrators, then here’s how you do it:

• Login to your Joomla website as a Super Administrator.
• Click on “User Manager” in the welcome screen.
• Click on “New” in the top right.
• Fill in the information, and choose Super Administrator as a Group.
• Click on Save in the top right.

You can also change an existing user to become a Super Administrator, just click on the name of the user when you are in the User Manager page, and then choose Super Administrator, and then click on Save in the top right.

Always remember that only Super Administrators can create Super Administrators.

If you need help doing the above, or if you want, for example, to allow users to have multiple roles on your website (such as Publishers on the public front-end and Administrators on the back-end) then feel free to contact us as we can definitely help you!

Note: This post was written based on Joomla 1.5’s interface. You can still do the above on Joomla 1.6/1.7, but the interface may slightly differ.