Runestone Issue: Cannot add users to course

[chaoaj]

Trying to add the user with the email duanzx@jmu.edu and shrestcx@jmu.edu to
jmucs149-common course, but they appear to be there already but not showing up in the list to make them instructor and also not showing in the list of students.

Also trying to add duanzx@jmu.edu to this course jmucs240_sp26_chao was part of it with wrong account.
Thanks
@chaoaj - @lvin Chao

[bnmnetp]

Once a user has been registered and is in our database they cannot be added again. They will need to add themselves to the course on the "Change Course" page by enrolling in whatever course you direct them to.

[chaoaj]

They’ve tried this but keep getting an error saying they are already in the database but I can’t see them in the course in the Admin section From: Bradley Miller ***@***.***> Date: Friday, January 16, 2026 at 11:56 AM To: RunestoneInteractive/rs ***@***.***> Cc: Alvin Chao ***@***.***>, Author ***@***.***> Subject: Re: [RunestoneInteractive/rs] Runestone Issue: Cannot add users to course (Issue #1123) [https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/51115?s=20&v=4]bnmnetp left a comment (RunestoneInteractive/rs#1123)<#1123 (comment)> Once a user has been registered and is in our database they cannot be added again. They will need to add themselves to the course on the "Change Course" page by enrolling in whatever course you direct them to. — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub<#1123 (comment)>, or unsubscribe<https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AAKVFX4GFFZD7AHWATVDYYT4HEJ2LAVCNFSM6AAAAACR53K4Z6VHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43OSLTON2WKQ3PNVWWK3TUHMZTONRQHE2DIOJXGA>. You are receiving this because you authored the thread.

[bnmnetp]

Have them change their email to something else like duanzx+foo@jmu.edu and then try to register manually. It seems they are already in the database with identical emails for different usernames. Probably due to CSV additions.

[chaoaj]

Do you mean in their current user profile or when they are enrolling in the new textbook? @lvin From: Bradley Miller ***@***.***> Date: Friday, January 16, 2026 at 5:56 PM To: RunestoneInteractive/rs ***@***.***> Cc: Alvin Chao ***@***.***>, Author ***@***.***> Subject: Re: [RunestoneInteractive/rs] Runestone Issue: Cannot add users to course (Issue #1123) [https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/51115?s=20&v=4]bnmnetp left a comment (RunestoneInteractive/rs#1123)<#1123 (comment)> Have them change their email to something else like ***@***.*** and then try to register manually. — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub<#1123 (comment)>, or unsubscribe<https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AAKVFX4JKWSY5KMCDL7STOT4HFUADAVCNFSM6AAAAACR53K4Z6VHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43OSLTON2WKQ3PNVWWK3TUHMZTONRSGE2DKMJUGE>. You are receiving this because you authored the thread.

[bnmnetp]

Each student should have a single runestone username. They can use that username for as many courses as they like.

The "normal" registration process (when a student registers themselves) is that they give themselves a username (must be unique across all of Runestone Academy) and use their email so that in the inevitable forgetting of the password we can send them a reset email. In that case we strictly enforce that the email must be unique as well.

When instructors choose to register students through CSV we relax the unique email constraint because some instructors want to create an anonymous set of users but will use their own email so that as an instructor they can get the password reset emails on behalf of their students.

The problem comes when one or more instructors use CSV to register a student and use the same email but a different username. When the student tries to add a class manually the profile editing code sees the duplicate email address and flags the error.

The workaround is for your student to use the "+" trick on their email address and then register for your course.