# Inherited forum with old Discourse Connect Config and Looking for Some Guidance

**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/inherited-forum-with-old-discourse-connect-config-and-looking-for-some-guidance/399081
**Category:** Support
**Tags:** discourseconnect
**Created:** [23 maart 2026 om 18:12 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/inherited-forum-with-old-discourse-connect-config-and-looking-for-some-guidance/399081 "2026-03-23T18:12:47Z")
**Posts on this page:** 1
**Showing post:** 1

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### Author: ![bisley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b487fb/32.png) [@bisley](https://meta.discourse.org/u/bisley)
#### Post date: [23 maart 2026 om 18:12 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/inherited-forum-with-old-discourse-connect-config-and-looking-for-some-guidance/399081/1 "2026-03-23T18:12:47Z")

</div>

Hi all,

I’ve inherited hosting responsibility for our forum and it appears to have been previously configured with [Discourse Connect](https://meta.discourse.org/t/13045?silent=true). I don’t understand this configuration and reading what docs I could find has not enlightened me yet.

I’m unclear if it’s just vestigial configuration (if so I’d like to clean it up) or if somehow the forum is both a client and a server of [DiscourseConnect](https://meta.discourse.org/t/13045?silent=true)’s authentication? Until I understand it better I’m to spooked to change anything because I don’t want to loose access. The post [about DiscourseConnect](https://meta.discourse.org/t/setup-discourseconnect-official-single-sign-on-for-discourse-sso/13045) includes this titbit about transitioning from single sign on.

> [@Setup DiscourseConnect - Official Single-Sign-On for Discourse (sso)](https://meta.discourse.org/t/setup-discourseconnect-official-single-sign-on-for-discourse-sso/13045/1):
>
> ### Transitioning to and from single sign on.
> 
> As long as the `require_activation` parameter is not set to `true` in the request payload, the system will trusts emails provided by the single sign on endpoint. This means that if you had an existing account in the past on Discourse with [DiscourseConnect](https://meta.discourse.org/t/13045?silent=true) disabled, [DiscourseConnect](https://meta.discourse.org/t/13045?silent=true) will simply re-use it and avoid creating a new account.
> 
> If you ever turn off [DiscourseConnect](https://meta.discourse.org/t/13045?silent=true), users will be able to reset passwords and gain access back to their accounts.

If I’m reading this right then when I disable [DiscourseConnect](https://meta.discourse.org/t/13045?silent=true) I will be causing every user to have to reset their password?

* * *

I’m going to share as much of my configuration as I feel safe sharing to try and provide context. I think… that maybe [DiscourseConnect](https://meta.discourse.org/t/13045?silent=true) is somehow setup as both the provider and the client of the authentication flow and that’s confusing to me.

 ![image](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/meta/original/4X/8/3/1/831fbaa0a9e86ba0ba01e64fc380fb3a2ced1c29.png)

If anyone is willing/able to help me get to the bottom of this I’d really appreciate the help. I’m hesitant to dump a bunch of logs in a support post but can share more information (including logs) upon request.

* * *

### My goal is

- to gain more understanding of how our authentication is currently working
- make it easier for users to change emails and other account configuration as currently I have to direct them to just create a new account.
- open a path to switching the source of truth for our SSO

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_[View the full topic](https://meta.discourse.org/t/inherited-forum-with-old-discourse-connect-config-and-looking-for-some-guidance/399081)._