Knowledge Base

How to fix "Username already taken" error
Article ID: 75
Written By: battye
Written On: Tue May 29, 2007 3:20 pm
Description: This article explains how to fix the "Sorry, that user name is already taken." upon registration.
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[kb=how-to-fix+quotusername-already-taken+quot-error]How to fix "Username already taken" error[/kb]
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[url=http://www.phpbb.com/kb/article/how-to-fix+quotusername-already-taken+quot-error/]Knowledge Base - How to fix "Username already taken" error[/url]

When your users are registering, they may be seeing an error such as "Sorry, that user name is already taken.", even before they get the chance to enter a username!

What? What's going on you might ask!?! A common cause of this is the guest user has been deleted in the SQL database. This could be from many things, but we won't go into details.

The good news is, it can be easily fixed.

1. Log into a Database admin tool. Most webhosts make available "phpMyAdmin", however yours may have a different tool for this use.

2. Go to the Database.

3. [phpMyAdmin] Click the SQL tab, so you can copy and paste the following code into the "execute command" box:

Code: Select all
INSERT INTO phpbb_users (user_id, user_active, username, user_password, user_session_time, user_session_page, user_lastvisit, user_regdate, user_level, user_posts, user_timezone, user_style, user_lang, user_dateformat, user_new_privmsg, user_unread_privmsg, user_last_privmsg, user_emailtime, user_viewemail, user_attachsig, user_allowhtml, user_allowbbcode, user_allowsmile, user_allowavatar, user_allow_pm, user_allow_viewonline, user_notify, user_notify_pm, user_popup_pm, user_rank, user_avatar, user_avatar_type, user_email, user_icq, user_website, user_from, user_sig, user_sig_bbcode_uid, user_aim, user_yim, user_msnm, user_occ, user_interests, user_actkey, user_newpasswd) VALUES('-1', '0', 'Anonymous', '', '0', '0', '0', '1082539867', '0', '0', '0.00', NULL, '', '', '0', '0', '0', NULL, '0', '0', '1', '1', '1', '1', '0', '1', '0', '1', '0', NULL, '', '0', '', '', '', '', '', NULL, '', '', '', '', '', '', '');


4. Click go, and it will attempt to execute the command.

If you get any errors at all, or if it does not cure the problem, please post in the 2.0.x support forum.

Happy Foruming :D


[edit:battye]070529 - Updated article[/edit]

- KB Article originally written by Anon.