Me, Myself & I - User Authentication Options in Laserfiche

By Kyle Knebel

March 2025 Consultants Corner

What's the reason to use Laserfiche Users, Windows Accounts and LDAP Accounts?

When it comes to signing into a Laserfiche repository, a user can be authenticated using three methods. For this article, “Authentication” is the process of verifying your login credentials when connecting to a Laserfiche repository or Laserfiche Web Application like Laserfiche Forms. Our user account is configured to use a particular method of authentication.

The three types of authentication we typically see are:

Laserfiche User (password) authentication
Windows authentication
LDAP authentication

And out of those, we rarely see LDAP authentication, which supports other “Lightweight Directory Access Protocol” systems that implement the X.500 telecommunications standard. Because LDAP protocols have not been widely adopted by the industry, one rarely sees LDAP implementations outside the network “firewall.”

This just means that we mainly see Windows Active Directory (AD) authentication (along with Single Sign-On) or Laserfiche Password authentication in most scenarios. If your organization uses Microsoft Active Directory, then Laserfiche Windows Users are preferred, as it enhances security and makes administration easier.

Many years ago, prior to the existence of Laserfiche Directory Server (LFDS), formerly known as “License Manager”, users were created for each unique repository. And these users would authenticate directly to the repository. You could create Laserfiche Repository Users or map a Windows account to have access to and authenticate to the repository. These users were also connected to Forms, for authentication purposes, but had to exist as users in the specified repository. Laserfiche Forms then was configured to authenticate users in a specified repository.

With the advent of several new products and newer licensing models, it became clear that a single, over-arching authentication system was needed. LFDS now provides user authentication across many Laserfiche applications.

Here is a summary of the key differences between the two common user types, “Laserfiche only user” and “Windows Active Directory user”.

For user authentication to a Laserfiche repository, you could accomplish this in two places. They could be set up in the Laserfiche Administration Console, or they could be set up in LFDS.

The advantage of using LFDS is that the user now could be given access to more than one repository and even access to other Laserfiche applications like Laserfiche Forms.

For example, in LFDS we can create a Laserfiche User or a Windows Active Directory user. For Windows users, LFDS can even synchronize with Active Directory to obtain new users when they are added to monitored AD Groups, although we will not cover this in this post. Note: LFDS also supports Single-Sign-on (SSO) with SAML authentication, which is not covered in this blog post.

Let’s look at a few different methods to set up user authentication in Laserfiche.

Adding a Windows User in LFDS

Navigate to the Accounts tab, then add a user.

A) Here we’ll begin by adding a Windows account, having chosen the “Windows Active Directory User” option as pictured above.

B) Search for Users or Groups in your Active Directory domain. If you search for an AD Group, you can add all those members, then selectively remove some of the members, if you won’t need all of them accessing Laserfiche, prior to finishing the process.

C) For Users or Groups, click on a single entry in the Search results pane to add it to the list of added users. Or search for all the required users and groups, and then press Add All. This will add that user or set of users to the Added Users list.

D) Press OK at the bottom when ready to add them to LFDS.

E) Note: Registering a user in Directory Server does not automatically add that account to your Laserfiche repository. If a Windows Active Directory user has been registered in a Directory Server licensing site (LFDS), but has not been granted access to the repository, they will not be able to sign in. You will also need to grant the user access to your Laserfiche repository(s) in each LF Admin Console to which the user will have access.

Adding a Windows User in the Laserfiche Administration Console or Web Management Console

A Windows User can be added to a single repository, regardless of whether they were added in LFDS, or not. However, if they WERE added in LFDS, and you DO want them to be able to authenticate in a repository, add them as a Windows Account using either the Windows Admin Console or Web Management Console.

In the Laserfiche Windows Administration Console, navigate to the “Users and Groups” node, then right-click on the “Windows Accounts” node to create a new Windows Account user.

Set the username, password and license type, then assign Feature Rights to the account in the “Rights” tab. End users will not need any “Assigned Privileges”, since these are advanced management capabilities best reserved for Laserfiche administrators.

Or, in the Web Management Console navigate to the Users tab and on the top-right corner press the “Add user” icon (plus symbol) to create a new Windows user.

In the pop-up dialog box, press the search magnifying glass icon to bring up the Windows Trustee search dialog box. Here you can scroll or search for the Windows Active Directory account you are looking to find.

Once added, now select the User from the list.

Then, on the right-side panel, set the General and Rights properties as desired.

Configuring a Laserfiche User in LFDS

In LFDS, a Laserfiche user can be created and assigned a username, password and license type. This user is a global Laserfiche user, meaning they can be set up to authenticate in multiple repositories and other Laserfiche applications like Forms.

Once you’ve created the Laserfiche user in LFDS, set their License type and add them to any LFDS groups needed for application access and security.

For example, if you need to add this new Laserfiche LFDS user to a repository, you can add them as a “Laserfiche Directory Account” using the Laserfiche Windows Administration Console or Web Management Console.

Configuring a Laserfiche LFDS User in the Laserfiche Administration Console or Web Management Console

In the Windows Admin Console, you can add the LFDS Laserfiche User in the following manner

In the first box, click the ellipsis button then query for the username you are adding.

Set their Authentication to “Trust”, then assign Rights as desired in the Rights tab.

In the Web Management Console, use the + symbol at the top-right corner and choose to add a “Laserfiche” user.

Press the magnifying glass icon to search for the LFDS account you want to add. You should find a list of one or more LFDS Laserfiche users available to choose from.

Once added, select the User from the list.

Then, on the right-side panel, set the General and Rights properties as desired.

Configuring a non- LFDS Laserfiche User in the Laserfiche Administration Console or Web Management Console

If you’re not using Laserfiche Directory Server (LFDS), but need to add non-windows users to a repository, follow the instructions below.

In the Laserfiche Windows Administration Console, navigate to the “Users and Groups” node, then right-click on the “Repository Users” node to create a New User…

Set the username, password and license type, then assign Feature Rights to the account in the “Rights” tab. End users will not need any “Assigned Privileges” since these are advanced management capabilities best reserved for Laserfiche administrators.

Or, in the Web Management Console navigate to the Users tab and on the top-right corner press the “Add user” icon to create a new Repository user.

Assign the username and all relevant properties, including Password settings. Do not assign a user without a password (unless the “User must change password at next sign-in” option is checked).

Once you have entered the basic user information, click OK, then select the new account to view its properties and modify the General and Rights settings in their respective tabs.

As we have seen, there are several methods available to set up User Authentication in Laserfiche. We hope you found it informative and useful!

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