Created on
01-21-2025
01:41 AM
Edited on
12-12-2025
08:56 AM
By
Stephen_G
Description
This article describes how to delete the users on FortiPAM and eradicate common errors such as 'Enabled User Number Exceeds Licensed'.
This error message is commonly seen in the case of license renewal with a FortiPAM license that allows only a smaller amount of FortiPAM users while having a larger than allowed amount of created FortiPAM users still in the system.
An example which could lead to such a scenario on a FortiPAM VM:
Scope
FortiPAM
Solution
To resolve this issue, excess users that violate the license need to be deleted from the FortiPAM via CLI access to the unit.
Step 1: To list the existing FortiPAM users, one of the below commands can be used, depending on the level of details needed:
show system admin
edit "admin"
set accprofile "super_admin"
.....
set password xxvvvtyzijkbcetgs
.....
edit "test"
set accprofile "Default Administrator"
get system admin | grep name
name: admin id: 50331649
name: test id: 50331650
This will list the users currently on the box, In this example, there are 2 users currently registered. When trying to delete a user directly, the following error is seen:
config system admin
(admin) # delete test
The entry is used by other 1 entries
Command fail. Return code -23
The reason this fails is that the secret is assigned to each user and is saved in associated folders. There might be other dependencies as well that might need to be resolved (group memberships, etc.), however, this is a simple example with an individual associated folder.
Step 2: Navigate to folders:
config secret folder
show
Lists the folders associated with the user:
edit 1
set name "admin"
....
edit 2
set name "test"
....
Step 3: Delete by entering the respective ID associated:
(admin)#delete
id Folder ID.
1 admin
2 test
(admin)#delete 2
This will now delete the secret folder.
Step 4: Delete the user by navigating to:
config system admin
delete test
By performing the actions as in this example, the user 'test' was deleted. This procedure would need to be followed for all users that need to be deleted from the FortiPAM.
To verify the procedure for registration, license download, and license renewal, as well as the considerations required when the FortiPAM license status is in evaluation mode, refer to the FortiPAM Administration Guide: Licensing.
The Fortinet Security Fabric brings together the concepts of convergence and consolidation to provide comprehensive cybersecurity protection for all users, devices, and applications and across all network edges.
Copyright 2025 Fortinet, Inc. All Rights Reserved.