Sub Site User with Super-Admin unable to View Network Dashboard

I was able to add the user from the sub site to the main site from user portal on the main site. I just added an existing user. I then changed the role to a new role created with the plugin User Role Editor (URE). I gave this new role very basic access such as General->Read, Multisite->Manage Network Themes, all the Themes, and Woocommerce->View Admin Dashboard. On the sub site, this user has more extensive roles as an Editor with a few other custom access rights. Now this user can log in via the sub site login and have access to network level theme editing. They can access the main site dashboard but there really isn’t anything available for them to see.

If I create a user in the other site, there doesn’t seem to be any way to allow this user to modify anything at the network level like add a new theme.

That’s because only SubperAdmins can perform network functions.

Even when I grant the user all rights as an admin and give it super-admin status. It would fail with “Sorry, you are not allowed to access this page” if I’m incognito and if I’m logged in regularly, it goes to the main page login.

How did you grant the SuperAdmin status?

It would seem that to do network “stuff”, the user needs to be registered in the main site. True/False?

False.

These “network stuff” require the SuperAdmin capabilities, and all that’s required is to make the user a SuperAdmin. But note that:

1) SuperAdmins automatically have access to ALL sites in the network, including the main site.
2) You can promote ANY user (irrespective of their current membership) to SuperAdmin status, and you can only do this from the user’s profile editing page in Network Admin i.e. MY SITES > NETWORK ADMIN > USERS, select user, and then check “Super Admin: Grant this user super admin privileges for the Network” box. See screenshot below:

I was able to add the user from the sub site to the main site from user portal on the main site.

If you’re using a plugin to grant a custom role with a limited set of SuperAdmin-level capabilities to a user, then you’re down to the features and limits of this plugin.

As a reference, find the individual capabilities of the built-in SuperAdmin role here: https://www.ads-software.com/documentation/article/roles-and-capabilities/#super-admin

If you need further help with this, please post in the User Role Editor plugin’s dedicated support forum the plugin’s author and user community can assist you: https://www.ads-software.com/support/plugin/user-role-editor/

Good luck!

Thank you for your reply. I have tested and verified the following:

1. To do network stuff, the user needs to be registered in the main site.? A user created in a sub site will not be able to do network stuff even if they are granted Super-Admin status at the network level.
2. This user does not need to be a super-admin to do network stuff. They just need to be registered in the main site and granted network permissions using a user role plugin such as Members or User Role Editor. I’m using URE.
3. A single user registered in both the main site and sub site can have different roles in each site. In the main site, they can have very limited roles to access network level functions like modifying themes. In the Sub site, they can have more control such as an editor or admin. This was useful to me as I hired a developer to work on a theme for a sub site and I didn’t want them messing around with the main site or any other network level functions (other than modifying themes).

This is what I have experienced. Multisites are pretty awesome but somewhat cumbersome if you have an older installation. Many things have not worked the way I have read. My sites are stores on Woocommerce so it might be different for others. My subsite uses a alias domain. I had to modify the database to include spam columns in order to register new users. And a few other weird quirky stuff. But after some fussing around, it is working and working well I think.

Everything I said was from the core WordPress perspective — the built-in Roles that come with WordPress.

As I mentioned in my post…

If you’re using a plugin to grant a custom role with a limited set of SuperAdmin-level capabilities to a user, then you’re down to the features and limits of this plugin.

Good luck!