Sunday, March 24, 2013

Sign in As different user in SharePoint 2013

In SharePoint 2010 we have "Sign in as different user" option.

But in SharePoint 2013 option removed by MicroSoft.

Now how to get back that option in SharePoint 2013.

Here the steps

1. Go to "C:\Program Files\Common Files\microsoft shared\Web Server Extensions\15\TEMPLATE\CONTROLTEMPLATES".

2. Find Welcome.aspx page and open it in notepad++.

Add the following tag after ID_PersonalInformation menu item template

"<SharePoint:MenuItemTemplate runat="server" ID="ID_LoginAsDifferentUser"
Text="<%$Resources:wss,personalactions_loginasdifferentuser%>"
Description="<%$Resources:wss,personalactions_loginasdifferentuserdescription%>"
MenuGroupId="100"
Sequence="100"
UseShortId="true"
/>"


3. Save the file and Now check for "Sign-in as different user" it should be there.


Reasons for Removing "Sign in as different user" are:
  • Documents opened in external applications are saved with an unexpected user account because the external application runs under the windows account logged in to the machine and not the account you have chosen in SharePoint.
  • Page content shows information from the previous user due to cached information.
  • Session variables contain information from previous user as the cookies are not cleared

The Sign in as Different User functionality is not meant to be used as a security feature!
This feature allows users which have more than one AD account to quickly login with a different account to SharePoint - but it does not guarantee that no artifacts from the previous user remain!

We can user the following method for "sing in as different user".

1. Access the SharePoint site by using the following URL:
http://<site url>/_layouts/closeConnection.aspx?loginasanotheruser=true