Setting Up Email-Based Self-Registration

Introduction

One user registration method you can use in Moodle is email-based self-registration. This option allows users to create their own accounts by clicking a ' Create a new account ' button on the main login page. Once they have completed the registration, the user then receives an email at the address they provided to confirm their account.

If you are going to be allowing email-based self-registration, we recommend using a service called reCAPTCHA for preventing fake accounts from being created by “spam bots”. To use reCAPTCHA, a person from your organization has to obtain a private and public key using his/her email address. Kindly follow the steps at: http://recaptcha.net/

Sections/Summary of the Steps

Before getting into the details of setting up email-based self-registration, please note the following sections/steps.

• Step 1: Enabling self-registration
• Step 2: Configuring the settings
• Step 3: Enabling email-based self-registration

Step 1: Enabling self-registration

Navigate to Administration block > Site administration > Plugins > Authentication > Manage Authentication

On the page that loads, make sure the enable setting for self-registration is on (open eye).

Step 2: Configuring the settings

Part 1: Enabling reCAPTCHA (recommended)

Enabling reCAPTCHA will prevent "spam bots" from creating fake accounts.

Click the settings link beside self-registration.

On the page that loads, under the subheading "Settings" select 'Yes' from the drop down menu for "Enable reCAPTCHA element".

Part 2: Lock user fields

On the Settings page, set options for the user fields (locked, unlocked if empty, or unlocked).

Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click "Save changes".

Step 3: Enabling email-based self-registration

Next, scroll down the page to the heading entitled "Common settings". From the drop down menu beside "Self registration" select "Email-based self-registration". (Note: In most cases you will also want to set "Guest login button" to Hide).

Further down on the page, if you are using reCAPTCHA enter the private and public key in the respective areas. Then click "Save changes at the bottom of the page.

Email-based self-registration will now be enabled for your Moodle site.

NOTE: if you are NOT using reCAPTCHA, switching it on under email based self-registration without all reCAPTCHA's settings (private and public key) filled out will cause the self-registration setup to possibly fail.