Hi guys,

New here, and trying to get to know Minibb.

I am the new administrator of a miniBB forum. My predecessor's user account (with user_id=1) has to be downgraded to a regular user, and my own user account (which is currently a regular user) upgraded to administrator. Although creating an entirely new user account to be the administrator is also a possibility.

How can I best do this?

I bet it's not as simple as just change the value of $admin_usr and $admin_pwd in setup_options.php into my own username/pwd, since from what I read the administrator must have user_id=1.

Not possible to downgrade admin. The suggested and easiest way is just to continue as original admin.

I could take over the admin's user name, but it wouldn't make sense since it's his first name.
Can the user name be changed (into something less personal)?

It can be changed directly in database by running an SQL query plus checking some settings; it's a custom job and I recommend you to use Paul's custom support: Premium miniBB Customers Support to have it done quickly and professionally.

Ok, thanks for your help.

Besides of the options file, you just need to change previous admin's name in all topics, posts, PMs, polls tables etc.; for all cases the SQL command is similar and mentioned here.

Thanks Paul. Yes I figured that. But maybe I don't even have to change the previous admin's name in old topics etc. As long as new topics I post (as admin) will show the new name, it's fine with me.

Then in the users table, you just need to assign a non-existing user ID to the earlier admin's account, preferrably it should be the next ID in the auto-incremental order following the current max. ID. Otherwise, you must assign userID=1 to your current regular account. The SQL commands may look like these:

update minibbtable_users set user_id=... where user_id=1;
update minibbtable_users set user_id=1 where user_id=...;

Also change setup_options.php assigning the same admin's password as for your current regular account.

Done it.
I created an entirely new user account with a non-personal name to become the administrator. Then switched both user_id's directly in the database like you said and voila. Maybe in the future I will change all the rest (posts, PM's etc), but at the moment I can live with seeing old postings of the previous admin with the undertitle still saying 'Admin'.
I will use the admin account only for admin purposes. For the regular chatting etc. I keep using my regular account.
Thanks for your help.

You're welcome! Thanks for report. Glad it helped.