Self-enrolment not working

Self-enrolment not working

by Daniel Dee -
Number of replies: 4

I would like to enable self-enrollment for certain courses, but it simply refuses to work, and being a relative Moodle admin newcomer I'm not sure what else I can try.


What I've done: Admin > Site administration > Courses > Manage courses and categories > (Cogwheel for the respective course) > Participants > Enrolment methods > Add method > Self-enrolment (Student)

Self-enrollment is enabled, allowed, visible, etc. I tested it with a user who is not in the course yet, but it just doesn't show up; not the dashboard, not in any list of courses, not if you search for it directly.


What I've tried without success:

  • Activate course visibility (it was already activated anyway)
  • Activate category visibility (ditto)
  • Site home settings > Site home items when logged in > List of courses (ditto)
  • Disable guest access for the course (ditto)
  • Permissions > Self enrol in course > add other roles (currently "Authenticated user", also tried with "Student", "Guest", "Employee")


What am I missing? Thanks in advance for the help.



Moodle version: Moodle 4.2+ (Build: 20230504)

PHP Version 8.1.18

OS: Debian 11, Apache

Average of ratings: -
In reply to Daniel Dee

Re: Self-enrolment not working

by Mary Cooch -
Picture of Documentation writers Picture of Moodle HQ Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers Picture of Testers Picture of Translators
Hello and welcome smile Assuming by 'self enrolment' you understand that a user must first already have an account on the course, have you checked in the actual course (from Course navigation > Participants >dropdown box> Enrolment methods) that self enrolment is enabled there?
Have you checked the Self enrolment documentation and video?
In reply to Mary Cooch

Re: Self-enrolment not working

by Daniel Dee -
Yes, the user already has an account.

Yes, the enrolmet method is enabled and active for the course ("Self enrolment (Student)").

I've checked the video and from what I can tell I've followed the instructions there.
In reply to Daniel Dee

Re: Self-enrolment not working

by Mary Cooch -
Picture of Documentation writers Picture of Moodle HQ Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers Picture of Testers Picture of Translators
Does the user see it when they go to (yoursiteURL)/course/index.php ?
Average of ratings: Useful (1)
In reply to Mary Cooch

Re: Self-enrolment not working

by Daniel Dee -
I figured it out. We have a custom default group set for all new users and this group was no allowed to view course categories and courses within them. So self-enrolment or not, the courses wouldn't show up. Fixed.

Your question did lead me down the path to the solution, so thanks!