It is not necessary to log in to Wikipedia before viewing or editing pages. It does provide additional features, and is generally recommended. If you do not wish to have your IP address known, then you should log in or create an account. It is quick and simple to create a personal user account.

Creating a user account means that you supply a username (your real name or a nickname) and a password. The system will reject a username that is already in use. A user account is created only once. You are then "logged in". The next time you log in, you supply your username again and demonstrate with the password that you are the same person. (Do not share your password with other people; this can allow them to misuse your account, which could lead to it being blocked.)

Edits that you make are recorded under your username. If you are not logged in your edits are labelled in page history with your IP address.

User accounts created since May 2008 will be "unified" (that is, accessible from all Wikimedia projects). An older, non-unified account can be unified at Special:MergeAccount; unified users can use that page to check the status of their unified account. Preferences are currently set independently on each wiki. See m:Single login.

You don't have to log in to read Wikipedia. You don't even have to log in to edit most of Wikipedia (there are some exceptions).

However, it's still a good idea to log in, for these reasons:

• Other users will be able to recognise you by your username when you make changes to pages. As a "name" an IP address is somewhat clumsy. Also, if you use computers at different locations (home, office, internet cafe, etc.) you have a different IP-address in each case; even in the same location, depending on the Internet connection, the IP-address may be different each time. Therefore, a username is better to maintain an identity.
• You will have your own user page where you can write a bit about yourself, and a user talk page which you can use to communicate with other users.
• You will also be able to make user subpages, as an add-on to your user page.
• You will be able to mark an edit as minor, which avoids inconvenience for other users.
• You will be able to keep track of changes to pages you are interested in using a watchlist.
• If you choose to give an email address, other users will be able to contact you by email. This feature is anonymous — the user who emails you will not know your email address. You don't have to give your email address if you don't want to.
  • Check the privacy policy of the individual site you're visiting, if any (for example, Wikipedia's privacy policy)
• You will be able to rename pages.
• You will be able to set your own preferences, to change things such as:
  • The number of pages displayed in Recent changes
  • The fonts, colours and layout of the site, by using different skins.

To create an account, click on the Create account link at the top right of the page. You will need to provide a username and password, as well as answer a visual "captcha" test. Users with text, speech, or legacy browsers will be unable to create an account if they cannot view this captcha image. If you are unable to view captchas, you can request for an account to be created for you at Wikipedia:Request an account.

You may also be unable to create an account if it contains certain symbols (particularly the '@' symbol, as well as certain non-Latin characters) or words, or if it is too similar to that of an existing user. In that case, you will also have to request an account. If your IP address has account creation blocked, you can either request to be unblocked or request an account.

First, make sure that your browser accepts cookies. Some browsers can accept or reject cookies from individual sites; users of these should configure the browser to accept cookies from each wiki you plan to edit, such as wikipedia.org.

Click on the Log in link at the top-right corner of the page. You will be asked to enter your username and your password in the following screen. If you do not have an account, you will need to create one first. Once finished, click on the Log in button to finish logging in.

If you click on Keep me logged in (for up to one year), you will not have to give your password again when you access Wikipedia from the same computer. This feature will only work if your password was not automatically generated by the software.

Logging in and setting preferences were previously done separately on each wiki. Since May 2008 it has been possible to use the same username, password and email address across all Wikimedia wikis, without needing to register an account on each wiki. For more details, see m:Help:Unified login.

If you find yourself unable to log in, you may have one of the problems addressed in the following paragraphs. If none of them seem to apply, ask for help at the help desk.

The login link is obscured

If you cannot click on the login link, for instance because it is obscured by other text, use this direct link to the login page. It may be helpful to add the page to your browser's bookmarks/favourites. (This problem may occur on certain browsers when using a large minimum font size.)

My username and password are refused

Both usernames and passwords are case-sensitive on Wikipedia. Did you remember to type in the right capitalization? For example, if you registered under MyUserName, you will not be able to log in as Myusername (notice the subtle difference in spelling). The same goes for your password. The only exception is the first character of the username, which is capital by default.

I get logged out just after logging in

There are a few possible causes of this problem:

• If you appear to have logged in, but as soon as you try to look at a page after 'Log in successful', you appear logged out again, it is very likely to be a cookie problem. See this brief tutorial on how to enable cookies for your browser.
• Make sure your computer's date and time are set correctly; if they are not, cookies may expire before they are supposed to. Note that some firewall and ad-blocking software may interfere with the cookie that Wikipedia uses to keep a person logged in.
• Some ISPs use transparent proxies which cause problems logging in. This happens most often with some satellite ISPs (particularly HughesNet/DirecWay/DirecPC).
• Occasionally, a user may find themself "automatically" logged out between beginning an edit and saving it, or when switching between multiple wiki pages open in multiple windows or tabs. This can be a result of your browser's cookie, cache, or firewall settings, but sometimes, especially during heavy server load, the system can "glitch" and your login information will be lost, resulting in a logout.

Other causes

If you are absolutely sure that the login information you have entered is correct, then someone else may have compromised your account. In this case, your account may not be recoverable unless you can prove that the account is yours. In rare cases, your account may have been renamed or usurped, especially if it has few or no edits. You can see if your account has been renamed by viewing the user rename log and search for your username in the "Title" field.

I get a message that my IP address has been autoblocked

Follow the instructions listed on screen on how to request an unblock or send an email to the unblock-en-i mailing list.

If you have forgotten your username, these steps may help you recover it:

• Depending on your browser settings, you may find that the log in page redisplays the last username that was used on that computer.
• If you have received any emails from Wikipedia, these will include the username.
• If you can remember the names of any of Wikipedia pages that you edited while logged in, the username will be listed as part of the page history of those pages.
• If you can remember the first part of the name, this search page may help you remember the rest of it.
• If you previously entered an email address when signing up for the account or in your Preferences, and you still have access to that email account, and you did not tick the preference checkbox "Send password reset emails only when both email address and username are provided", then you can go to the login screen and click 'Reset your password'. Enter that email address on the next screen (Special:PasswordReset), and the system will send an email containing, among other things, a reminder of your user name.

If none of these steps are successful you will have to start again with a new account. Wikipedia administrators will not be able to help you work out your username from your email address or your IP address.

If you have forgotten your password, these steps may help you recover it:

• If you have asked your web browser or a password manager to remember the password, you may be able to recover it from there.
• If you previously entered an email address when signing up for the account or in your Preferences, and you still have access to that email account, then you can enter your username on the login screen and click 'Forgot your password?'. Enter your user name and that email address on the next screen (Special:PasswordReset), and the system will send a temporary password that will allow you to retrieve your account. You then have to change the password to one of your choice after you log in.
• (Rare) If you have previously asked a Wikipedia tool such as AutoWikiBrowser to remember your password, and you still have access to the machine where the password is saved, then it may be possible to recover the saved password. Post at the tool's talk page for advice. Do not post the encrypted password.
• (Rare) If you have a long-established account and have previously set up a "committed identity", and you still have the "secret string" (see Template:User committed identity for details), then it may be possible to recover the account. E-mail cawikimedia.org for advice. Do not publicly mention the secret string.

Otherwise you will have to create a new account under a different username. After doing this, it is advisable to explain the situation on the user page of the new account, to avoid sockpuppetry concerns.

Your best options are to try the suggestions for a forgotten password, or to create a new account.

If you never provided an email address for password recovery, then there is no password recovery option.

If you no longer have access to the email address which you provided, then you will not be able to access recovery passwords sent to that email address.

Click on the My preferences link at the top right of the page for various options, including:

• Changing your password.
• Changing the skin, which changes the way that the web pages look.

See Help:Preferences.

As a logged in user, you will be able to create your own user page and user talk page. When you are logged in, you will see your username displayed at the top right of the page. Click on this to get to your user page, which you can edit in the same way as any other wiki page.

Most users write a little bit about themselves and their interests on their user page.

You also have a User talk page. You can access this by clicking on the Talk link next to your username at the top right of the page. Other people may write messages in your user talk page by editing it, and you can respond. See Help:Talk page for more.

You can log out any time by clicking on the Log out link at the top right of the page. And after it, you will be using an IP to read Wikipedia. To prevent the browser from remembering your username and suggesting it to the next user of the computer, remember to delete the Wikipedia cookies in your browser's privacy settings. Especially if you are using a public computer, you may want to delete all of the browser's recent history (Ctrl+⇧ Shift+Del in Firefox).

In the mobile version, click the menu icon at the top left and then the logout button to the right of your username.

Occasionally an established editor will edit while logged out. While not usually an egregious issue, there can be some concerns about attribution and privacy.

• If you made an edit without logging in, you cannot go back and directly tie that edit to your account. If your desire to account for the edit overrides your desire for anonymity, you can log in, make a dummy edit, and add a note in the edit summary about the previous edit.
• If you make a comment on a talk page without logging in, then your signature will include your IP address. You can log in and edit the comment by replacing the signature; be aware that automated tools have used editing behavior like this to connect your username and IP address in public databases.
• If you feel that the connection between the IP address and your username is an issue, then you can request that the edit be removed; see Wikipedia:Oversight#Policy and Wikipedia:Requests for oversight.

In Firefox (with the Greasemonkey add-on) or in Chrome, you can install a simple script that prevents editing while logged out on all Wikimedia Foundation sites. Once the script is installed and you click on Edit while logged out, it pops up a notice that you are not logged in and does not proceed. Note that it does not yet prevent editing by clicking on red links or by direct links to edit pages.

Users, especially administrators, should keep their accounts secure. If someone accesses your account and causes malicious damage, your reputation could be in trouble! Below are some tips on keeping your account secure:

1. Never give your Wikipedia password to anyone, not even users claiming to be sysop and staff!
2. Only enter your password on a Wikimedia site. Beware of fake sites. The domain name should end with wikipedia.org or wikimedia.org.
3. Keep your computer up-to-date with the latest anti-virus and anti-spyware software.
4. Your password should be easy to remember, but hard to guess.
5. If you decide to log on using a public computer, remember to log out when done.
6. Be careful when running user scripts. Some scripts can be programmed to steal cookies and thus compromise accounts.
7. Consider committing to your identity by adding a cryptographic hash to your user page to prove that you are really the person behind your username.

• Wikipedia:User special pages
• Wikipedia:Unified login