Overview
The setup wizard appears automatically the first time an administrator visits wp-admin after activating AdminLocks. It walks you through three steps to configure the essentials: a policy template, display and retention settings, and an optional Cloud connection.
The wizard does not make any irreversible changes. Everything it configures can be modified afterward from the AdminLocks Settings page. The entire process takes approximately two minutes.
Only users with the manage_options capability (typically the Administrator role) can access and complete the setup wizard.
Step 1: Choose a Policy Template
The first step presents three pre-built policy templates designed for common use cases. Each template configures menu visibility rules, capability restrictions, and admin bar customizations.
Client Mode Basic
The most popular starting point for agencies. This template locks everything except content management for non-administrator users. It hides the Theme Editor, Plugin Editor, Tools, Settings submenus, and user creation. Clients retain full access to Posts, Pages, Media, and Comments -- ideal for handing a site over without risk of breaking anything.
Content Editor
A lighter-touch template for editorial teams. Users can manage posts, pages, and media freely. Only the most sensitive areas are restricted: theme and plugin editors, the Settings menu, and user management. Editors can preview the Customizer in read-only mode.
Marketing
Designed for marketing staff who need access to SEO plugins, analytics dashboards, and form builders, but should not modify themes, plugins, or core settings. This template automatically detects popular plugins like Yoast SEO, Rank Math, WPForms, and Gravity Forms, preserving access to their menu items while restricting everything else.
Selecting a template does not permanently lock you in. The template is applied as a standard policy that you can edit, duplicate, or delete at any time from AdminLocks → Policies.
Step 2: Configure Settings
The second step lets you enable or disable declutter features and set audit log retention.
Declutter Options
Toggle each of the following on or off to clean up the wp-admin interface for non-administrator users:
- Hide admin notices -- suppresses plugin and theme update nags, promotional banners, and other non-critical notices.
- Hide WordPress logo -- removes the WordPress logo and links from the admin bar.
- Hide Help tab -- removes the contextual Help tab that appears at the top-right of most admin screens.
- Hide Screen Options -- removes the Screen Options tab to prevent users from rearranging dashboard widgets or toggling column visibility.
- Hide footer text -- removes the "Thank you for creating with WordPress" credit in the admin footer.
Audit Log Retention
Choose how long audit log events are stored in the database before automatic pruning removes them:
- 30 days -- suitable for sites with high activity where storage is limited.
- 60 days -- a balanced default for most sites.
- 90 days -- recommended for compliance-sensitive environments.
- Unlimited -- events are never pruned. Use this if you have ample database storage or need a permanent record.
On a site with 5-10 active admin users, expect roughly 1-3 MB of audit data per month. Unlimited retention is fine for most sites, but monitor your database size if you have hundreds of users.
Step 3: Connect to Cloud
The final step offers an optional connection to AdminLocks Cloud. This is not required for the plugin to function -- all core features work entirely on the local WordPress installation.
If you have an AdminLocks Cloud account, enter your API key from cloud.adminlocks.com and click Validate & Connect. The plugin sends a verification request to the Cloud server, confirms the key is valid, and registers your site URL.
Cloud unlocks centralized management across multiple WordPress sites, including fleet policies, audit log aggregation, approval workflows, and reporting dashboards.
If you do not have a Cloud account yet, click Skip to finish the wizard. You can connect at any time from AdminLocks → Settings → Cloud. For a detailed walkthrough, see the Connecting to AdminLocks Cloud guide.
Skipping the Wizard
You can click Skip at any step. The wizard will advance to the next step, or if you skip the final step, it will close and take you to the AdminLocks dashboard. No policy will be applied, no declutter settings will be changed, and no Cloud connection will be made.
Everything the wizard configures is also available manually from AdminLocks → Settings and AdminLocks → Policies.
Re-running the Wizard
If you need to re-run the wizard after completing it -- for example, after a major configuration change or when onboarding a new team member -- navigate to AdminLocks → Settings → General and click Re-run Setup Wizard.
Re-running the wizard does not delete existing policies or audit data. It simply walks you through the configuration steps again, and any selections you make will overwrite the current settings.