I tried this sequence already. Did it once more to check after your quick response to my post (thanks). Tried it again with python zpasswd.py inituser. Same problem. I've gone through every combination

Zope doesn't reread inituser once Zope started. But it rereads access.

of opening/closing/starting/stopping browser windows and zope in combination with rerunning zpasswd.py (inituser and access) that I can think of. Any other ideas?

Are you sure your Zope really reads that access file? May be you have two of them, and Zope reads wrong file? That was it! (sigh of great relief). One in /usr/share/zope/utilities and another in /var/zope. Why would a clean install create two copies? I see (from purusing the mail lists) that I now need to go in and create a superuser or somesuch. At least I'm a bit closer. Thanks so much for your help. Stuart --------------------------------------------- Stuart Quimby President, Design Science Toys Ltd. 1362 Rt.9 Tivoli, NY 12583 Tel: 914.756.4221 Fax: 914.756.4223 URL: http://www.dstoys.com