Your Jellyfin username is stored in the server settings, not in your browser or device

When you set up Jellyfin, you created at least one user account during the initial setup. That username lives on the Jellyfin server itself — the computer or device running Jellyfin — not on your phone, tablet, or the device you use to watch. If you have forgotten it, you can see all usernames by logging into the server's admin panel, or by checking the configuration files where Jellyfin stores user data.

The exact location depends on whether you remember your admin password and which operating system your Jellyfin server runs on. This guide covers the most direct routes: checking the admin panel if you can still log in, and finding the user data files if you cannot.

Key Takeaways

  • Your Jellyfin username is stored on the server itself, visible in the admin dashboard if you can log in as an administrator.
  • If you cannot remember any password, you can find usernames by opening the Jellyfin configuration folder on the server computer and looking inside the users.xml file.
  • The configuration folder location varies by operating system: Windows uses ProgramData, macOS uses .local/share, and Linux uses .config or /var/lib depending on how Jellyfin was installed.
  • You can reset a forgotten admin password by editing the configuration files directly, which then lets you access the admin panel to see all usernames.

Check the admin panel if you can still log in

Open Jellyfin in your web browser and log in with any account you remember. Once logged in, look for a settings icon or menu — this is usually a gear icon or three horizontal lines in the top right corner. Click it and look for "Administration" or "Admin Dashboard".

In the admin panel, find the "Users" or "Users and Permissions" section. This page lists every username on your Jellyfin server. If you see the username you were looking for, you are done. If you need to reset a password for any account, you can do that from this same page.

If you cannot remember any password at all, skip to the next section about finding the configuration files.

Find usernames in the configuration folder on Windows

On Windows, Jellyfin stores user data in a hidden folder. Open File Explorer and navigate to C:\ProgramData\Jellyfin\Jellyfin-Server. If you do not see ProgramData, you may need to show hidden files: click the "View" tab at the top, then check the box for "Hidden items".

Inside the Jellyfin-Server folder, look for a file called users.xml. Right-click it and open it with Notepad or any text editor. The file contains a list of all usernames in a format that looks like this: <User Name="username">. Each username appears on its own line. Write down the usernames you find.

Do not edit or delete this file unless you know what you are doing — changing it can break your Jellyfin installation. If you only need to read the usernames, opening it in Notepad is safe.

Find usernames in the configuration folder on macOS

On macOS, the Jellyfin configuration folder is hidden by default. Open Finder and press Command + Shift + Period (the period key). This shows hidden files and folders. Navigate to your home folder, then to .local/share/jellyfin.

Look for the users.xml file. Double-click it to open it in TextEdit or another text editor. The file shows all usernames in the format <User Name="username">. Each username is on a separate line. Note down the usernames you need.

After you have found the usernames, press Command + Shift + Period again to hide the hidden files, so your Finder window returns to normal.

Find usernames in the configuration folder on Linux

On Linux, the location depends on how Jellyfin was installed. If you installed it as a service using the package manager, the configuration folder is usually at /var/lib/jellyfin. If you installed it manually or in a container, it is usually at ~/.config/jellyfin (where ~ means your home directory).

Open a terminal and navigate to the correct folder. Type cat /var/lib/jellyfin/users.xml (or replace the path with your actual location). The terminal displays the contents of the users.xml file. Look for lines that contain Name="username" — each one is a user account on your server.

If you get a "permission denied" error, you may need to use sudo to read the file, or the folder location may be different on your system. Check your Jellyfin installation documentation to confirm the exact path.

Reset your admin password if you cannot log in at all

If you cannot remember any password and need to get back into the admin panel, you can reset the admin account by editing the configuration files. On any operating system, open the users.xml file (using the steps above for your OS) in a text editor.

Find the line that contains your admin account — it usually looks like <User Name="admin"> or similar. Look for a line inside that entry that says <Password> followed by a long string of characters. Delete everything between the <Password> and </Password> tags, leaving it empty like this: <Password></Password>.

Save the file and restart Jellyfin. You should now be able to log in with your admin username and no password. Once you are logged in, go to the admin panel and set a new password for that account. After that, you can see all other usernames in the Users section.

What to do if you still cannot find the configuration folder

If you installed Jellyfin in a Docker container, the configuration folder is inside the container, not on your host computer. You need to access the container's file system using Docker commands or by mounting the config folder when you created the container. Check your Docker setup to find where the Jellyfin config folder is mapped.

If you installed Jellyfin on a NAS (like Synology or QNAP), the configuration folder location varies by device. Log into your NAS admin panel, find the Jellyfin app settings, and look for a "Config" or "Data" folder path. You can then browse to that folder using the NAS file manager.

If none of these paths exist on your system, Jellyfin may be installed in a non-standard location. Check the Jellyfin documentation for your specific installation method, or look at the Jellyfin service properties (on Windows) or systemd status (on Linux) to see where the data folder is pointing.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I see other users' passwords in the users.xml file?

No. Jellyfin stores passwords as hashed values, not as readable text. Even if you open the users.xml file, you cannot see what anyone's actual password is. You can only reset a password by clearing the hash and restarting Jellyfin, which forces that user to set a new password on next login.

What if I see a username I do not recognize in the users.xml file?

It is likely a test account or a leftover from an earlier setup. You can delete it by removing the entire <User> block from the users.xml file and restarting Jellyfin. Make a backup of the file first in case something goes wrong.

Do I need to restart Jellyfin after editing the users.xml file?

Yes. Jellyfin loads user data when it starts, so any changes you make to users.xml only take effect after you restart the Jellyfin service or application. On Windows, restart the Jellyfin service in Services. On Linux, use sudo systemctl restart jellyfin. On macOS, quit and reopen the Jellyfin app.

Is there a way to see usernames without accessing the server computer?

Not directly. Jellyfin does not expose a list of usernames through the web interface unless you are already logged in as an admin. If you have physical access to the server computer, the users.xml file is your best option. If you do not have access to the server, you need to contact whoever set up Jellyfin.