Trying to set a user to “manage collection” - error “User can only be an admin of one free organization.”

phppro · March 30, 2025, 8:39am

I need some help. I am trying to follow the instructions provided, but when I try and set my user as “manage collection” I get an error that says “User can only be an admin of one free organization.” I only have one collection. Can someone help me figure this out?

Nail1684 · March 30, 2025, 11:40am

@phppro Welcome to the forum!

I moved your post out of the thread Why am I suddenly unable to delete org entries through the browser extension? and made it into a separate topic, as your issue seems to be different from the mentioned thread (though, there might be a general overlap).

PS: I set the tags of this topic, as you can see, to server:default-cloud, app:web-vault, OS:all. Please correct me, if that’s wrong. (especially, if you’re self-hosting)

grb · March 30, 2025, 3:16pm

Are you a member of more than one organization? In the vaults filter in the Password Manager for your user account, how many organization vaults are shown besides your individual “My Vault”?

alknx · March 30, 2025, 6:12pm

I am having the same issue. Currently this issue means that organisation items can only be deleted via the admin console. Both users in my organisation, including myself, currently only have “Edit items” permissions. If I try to change this, I received the same error posted in this thread. I am “Owner” and the other user is “Admin”. I am not self-hosting.

grb · March 30, 2025, 6:55pm

@alknx Welcome to the forum!

When you say that you have the “same” issue, do you mean the same issue that being discussed in this thread, which is an error message that says “An error has occurred. User can only be an admin of one free organization”?

If so, can you please provide the information that I requested above?

alknx · March 30, 2025, 6:55pm

Just the one organisation. Apologies I wrote my post before yours, it was waiting for approval.

grb · March 30, 2025, 6:57pm

OK, thanks for the screenshot.

Would you mind also screenshotting the error message?

alknx · March 30, 2025, 6:58pm

Here you go.

phppro · March 30, 2025, 7:12pm

I only have one vault and one org

grb · March 30, 2025, 7:13pm

Thank you. It’s starting to look either like a bug, or misleading wording of the error message (e.g., perhaps the true restriction is that only one account can be an administrator in a free organization — looks like in both your case and in OP’s, the other member of the organization also has admin status).

If it’s a bug, it may be due to a logic error in this part of the code base:

github.com/bitwarden/server-1

src/Core/AdminConsole/Services/Implementations/OrganizationService.cs

8bf798a79


      
          var adminCount = await _organizationUserRepository.GetCountByFreeOrganizationAdminUserAsync(user.Id);
          if (adminCount > 0)
          {
              throw new BadRequestException("User can only be an admin of one free organization.");
          }

Perhaps the value returned by the method GetCountByFreeOrganizationAdminUserAsync() corresponds to the number of free organization collections for which a user has admin privileges, but it is being interpreted as the number of distinct free organizations in which a user is an admin.

In either case, I would recommend filing a bug report (“New Issue”) on GitHub.

alknx · March 30, 2025, 7:26pm

Thanks, I will submit a ticket. Would you suggest the bug is:

Unable to change the user permissions in the admin console.
Unable to delete organisation items outside of the admin console, which was my initial problem?

grb · March 30, 2025, 7:28pm

The first one is the bug. The second one is expected behavior (if you do not have “Can Manage” permissions). There is a subsection in the bug report forms were you can provide “additional context” — you could mention the issue with being unable to delete there.

A more precise title for the bug report would be something like “Unable to set ‘Can Manage’ access for both collections in a free organization”.

phppro · March 30, 2025, 7:37pm

FYI Trying to set a user to “manage collection” - error “User can only be an admin of one free organization.” · Issue #14056 · bitwarden/clients · GitHub

alknx · March 30, 2025, 7:42pm

Oops think I duplicated the issue: Unable to set ‘Manage Collection’ access for usere in a free organization · Issue #14057 · bitwarden/clients · GitHub

grb · March 30, 2025, 7:49pm

That’s fine, Bitwarden staff will close the duplicate issue. When (or before) they do, feel free to add any additional information to Issue #14056.