Sign in as Different User missing in SharePoint – Workarounds

SharePoint 2013 doesn’t offer the handy “Sign-in as different user” feature as in its previous versions under the welcome menu. Not very clear why Microsoft has removed this option, I guess might be due to security/caching problems!

Even in MOSS 2007, we had this functionality

But sometimes, you may have to log in as a different user who has different permission than the current user. Here are some possible workarounds to enable sign-in as a different user in SharePoint 2013 or in SharePoint 2016.

Option 1: Navigate to Close Connection Page

Navigate to the URL: http://Your-Site/_layouts/closeConnection.aspx?loginasanotheruser=true

BTW, The above URL is just copied from SharePoint 2010’s Sign-in as different user option, and it works for SharePoint 2013 as well! Replace “Your-Site” with the SharePoint 2013 site collection URL of your environment.Once you hit this URL, you will be prompted to enter your user name and password.

You can also bookmark it! Just drag and drop this to Favorites bar: Sign in as Different User

Option 2:  Run IE as different user / Open IE in private mode 

• Go to Start >> Internet Explorer >> Shift+ right click >> Choose “Run as Different User”
• Or, Go to Internet Explorer >> Tools >> Click on InPrivate Browsing 

These options brings the prompt to Enter your credentials.

Option 3: Edit “Welcome.ascx” file

Edit “Welcome.ascx” file, which is at “C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extension\15\TEMPLATE\CONTROLTEMPLATES” folder. (modifying files in the SharePoint file system is not a best practice, BTW!)

Open it in notepad, Add this new entry under the node: <SharePoint:FeatureMenuTemplate>

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

So the file should look like this:

Save the file (No need for IIS Reset!) That’s it! Refresh the page, you can see the “Sign in as different user” menu item now!

Option 4:  SharePoint 2013 Sign in as Different User Missing – Feature Based Solution

Sign-in as a different user in SharePoint 2016:

All the above methods including the welcome.ascx code edit is valid for SharePoint 2016 also. Only change if: The SharePoint hive moved to “16”. So, you’ll find welcome.ascx at 16 hive “C:\Program Files\Common Files\microsoft shared\Web Server Extensions\16\TEMPLATE\CONTROLTEMPLATES”

Microsoft KB addressing this issue: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2752600