 | This is an information page. It is not a Wikipedia policy or guideline; rather, its purpose is to explain certain aspects of Wikipedia's norms or practices. It may reflect varying levels of consensus. |
While it is not necessary to log in to Wikipedia before viewing or editing pages, logging in does provide additional features and is generally recommended. If you choose not to log in, a temporary account will be created for you. If you do not wish for this to be the case, then you should log in or create an account.
How to create an account
To create an account, click on the Create account link at the top right of the page. You will need to provide a username and password, as well as answer a visual "CAPTCHA" test. Users with text, speech, or legacy browsers will be unable to create an account if they cannot view this CAPTCHA image. If you are unable to view CAPTCHA, you can request an account to be created for you at Wikipedia:Request an account.
You may also be unable to create an account if it contains certain symbols (particularly the '@' symbol, as well as certain non-Latin characters) or words, or if it is too similar to that of an existing user. In that case, you will also have to request an account. If your IP address has account creation blocked, you can either request to be unblocked or request an account.
How to log in
Click on the Log in link at the top-right corner of the page. You will be asked to enter your username and your password in the following screen. If you do not have an account, you will need to create one first. Once finished, click on the Log in button to finish logging in.
If you click on Keep me logged in (for up to one year), you will not have to give your password again when you access Wikipedia from the same computer. This feature will only work if your password was not automatically generated by the software.
Logging in and setting preferences were previously done separately on each wiki. Since May 2008 it has been possible to use the same username, password and email address across all Wikimedia wikis, without needing to register an account on each wiki. For more details, see m:Help:Unified login.
Login issues and problems
If you find yourself unable to log in, you may have one of the problems addressed in the following paragraphs. If none of them seem to apply, ask for help at the help desk.
The login link is obscured
- If you cannot click on the Log in link, for instance because it is obscured by other text, use this direct link to the login page. It may be helpful to add the page to your browser's bookmarks/favourites. (This problem may occur on certain browsers when using a large minimum font size.)
My username and password are refused
- Both usernames and passwords are case-sensitive on Wikipedia. Did you remember to type in the right capitalization? For example, if you registered under MyUserName, you will not be able to log in as Myusername (notice the subtle difference in spelling). The same goes for your password. The only exception is the first character of the username, which is capitalized by default. However, even if the information provided is correct, the system will sometimes falsely say that it is not, as further discussed below. You can try resetting your password: Help:Reset password. If you have entirely lost access to your account, you can try Help:Account recovery.
I get logged out just after logging in
- There are a few possible causes of this problem:
- If you appear to have logged in, but as soon as you try to look at a page after 'Log in successful', you appear logged out again, it is very likely to be a cookie problem. Make sure that your browser accepts cookies. Some browsers can accept or reject cookies from individual sites; users of these should configure the browser to accept cookies from each wiki you plan to edit, such as wikipedia.org. See this brief tutorial on how to enable cookies for your browser.
- Make sure your computer's date and time are set correctly; if they are not, cookies may expire before they are supposed to. Note that some firewall and ad-blocking software may interfere with the cookie that Wikipedia uses to keep a person logged in.
- Some ISPs use transparent proxies which cause problems logging in. This happens most often with some satellite ISPs (particularly HughesNet/DirecWay/DirecPC).
- Occasionally, a user may find themself "automatically" logged out between beginning an edit and saving it, or when switching between multiple wiki pages open in multiple windows or tabs. This can be a result of your browser's cookie, cache, or firewall settings, but sometimes, especially during heavy server load, the system can "glitch" and your login information will be lost, resulting in a logout.
I get a message that my IP address has been autoblocked
- Follow the instructions listed on screen on how to request an unblock or send an email to the unblock-en-i mailing list.
Other issues
- Logging in sometimes requires entering a verification code sent to your email address. Deleting the email address associated with your account can prevent this from being necessary.
- Under some circumstances, the system will refuse a login attempt and falsely state that the user provided incorrect input even if the account information provided was correct. When this happens, passing a "CAPTCHA" test is required together with another login attempt.
- If you are absolutely sure that the login information you have entered is correct, then someone else may have compromised your account. In this case, your account may not be recoverable unless you can prove that the account is yours. In rare cases, your account may have been renamed or usurped, especially if it has few or no edits. You can see if your account has been renamed by viewing the user rename log and searching for your username in the "Title" field.
Forgotten usernames and passwords
What if I forget my username?
If you have forgotten your username, these steps may help you recover it:
- Depending on your browser settings, you may find that the login page redisplays the last username that was used on that computer.
- If you have received any emails from Wikipedia, these will include the username.
- If you can remember the names of any of the Wikipedia pages that you edited while logged in, the username will be listed as part of the page history of those pages.
- If you can remember the first part of the name, this search page may help you remember the rest of it.
- If you previously entered an email address when signing up for the account or in your Preferences, and you still have access to that email account, and you did not tick the preference checkbox "Send password reset emails only when both email address and username are provided", then you can go to the login screen and click 'Reset your password'. Enter that email address on the next screen (Special:PasswordReset), and the system will send an email containing, among other things, a reminder of your user name.
If none of these steps are successful you will have to start again with a new account. Wikipedia administrators will not help you work out your username from your email address or your IP address.
What if I forget my password?
If you have forgotten your password, these steps may help you recover it:
- If you have asked your web browser or a password manager to remember the password, you may be able to recover it from there.
- If you previously entered an email address when signing up for the account or in your Preferences, and you still have access to that email account, then you can enter your username on the login screen and click 'Forgot your password?'. Enter your user name and that email address on the next screen (Special:PasswordReset), and the system will send a temporary password that will allow you to retrieve your account. You then have to change the password to one of your choice after you log in.
- You might be able to use the Special:AccountRecovery form to convince the WMF Trust and Safety team to re-grant you access to your account. See m:Help:Account recovery
- (Rare) If you have previously asked a Wikipedia tool such as AutoWikiBrowser to remember your password, and you still have access to the machine where the password is saved, then it may be possible to recover the saved password. Post at the tool's talk page for advice. Do not post the encrypted password.
Otherwise you will have to create a new account under a different username. After doing this, it is advisable to explain the situation on the user page of the new account, to avoid sockpuppetry concerns.
What if I forget my password and have no email address for password recovery?
Your best options are to try the suggestions for a forgotten password or to create a new account.
If you never provided an email address for password recovery, then there is no password recovery option.
If you no longer have access to the email address that you provided, then you will not be able to access recovery passwords sent to that email address.
Why log in?
You don't have to log in to read Wikipedia. You don't even have to log in to edit most of Wikipedia (although there are some exceptions).
However, logging in has several benefits:
- Other users will be able to recognise you by your username when you make changes to pages.
- You will be able to edit articles from IP addresses that are blocked from editing some or all Wikipedia articles.
- You will be able to keep track of changes to pages you are interested in using a watchlist.
- If you choose to give an email address, other users will be able to contact you by email. This feature is anonymous – the user who emails you will not be given your email address. You don't have to give your email address if you don't want to. Note that the Wikimedia Foundation Privacy Policy indicates that your email address and other personal information about you may be revealed to others for legal reasons, such as to comply with a court order.
- You will be able to rename pages.
- You will be able to set your own preferences, to change things such as the fonts, colours and layout of the site, by using different skins.
Logging out
On the website, you can log out at any time by clicking on the Log out link at the top right of the page. In the mobile version, click the menu icon at the top left and then the logout button to the right of your username. After you log out, your edits will be linked to a temporary account. To prevent the browser from remembering your username and suggesting it to the next user of the computer, remember to delete the Wikipedia cookies in your browser's privacy settings. If you are using a public computer, you may want to delete all of the browser's recent history (Ctrl+⇧ Shift+Del in Firefox).
Editing while logged out
Occasionally an established editor will edit while logged out. While not usually an egregious issue, there can be some concerns about attribution.
If you made an edit (or a series of edits) while logged out and you would like the edit(s) to be attributed to your registered account; make sure you are logged in, find the article, and then make a dummy edit where you claim ownership of the edit(s) made by the temporary account. This approach works best when you accidentally or infrequently edit while logged out.
Back when Wikipedia was young, database maintainers would as a courtesy reattribute logged-out edits to registered accounts. As of 2005[update], edits are no longer reattributed (see WP:CATT). However, you may still make a list of what temporary accounts (and prior to November 2025, IP edits) you have used, and post them on your registered account's user page, or a subpage of it.[a] You are never required to do this — to protect their privacy, editors editing from temporary accounts while logged out from their registered account are never required to connect their usernames to their temporary accounts on-wiki.
In Firefox (with the Greasemonkey add-on) or in Chrome, you can install a simple script that prevents editing while logged out on all Wikimedia Foundation sites. Once the script is installed and you click on Edit while logged out, a notice will pop up that you are not logged in and will not proceed. Note that it does not yet prevent editing by clicking on red links or by direct links to edit pages.
Keeping your account secure
Users, especially administrators, should keep their accounts secure. If someone accesses your account and causes malicious damage, your reputation could be in trouble. Below are some tips on keeping your account secure:
- Enable two-factor authentication.
- Never give your Wikipedia password to anyone, not even users claiming to be sysop and staff!
- Only enter your password on a Wikimedia site. Beware of fake sites. The domain name should end with wikipedia.org or wikimedia.org.
- If you decide to log on using a public computer, remember to log out when done.
- Your password should be easy to remember, but hard to guess.
- Consider committing to your identity by adding a cryptographic hash to your user page to prove that you are really the person behind your username.
Merging old accounts
User accounts created since May 2008 are "unified" (that is, accessible from all Wikimedia projects). An older, non-unified account can be unified at Special:MergeAccount; unified users can use that page to check the status of their unified account. Preferences are currently set independently on each wiki. See Unified login.
Notes
- ↑ While userboxes are available to declare alternative registered accounts, nothing similar exists for the purpose of connecting temporary accounts.
