No SMTP on Prem Control Room Set up

Hi ​@lukasz.grzejda,

Unfortunately, there is no supported way to bypass the security questions requirement in Automation Anywhere’s on‑prem Control Room when using local database authentication without SMTP. The platform enforces this step for account initialization, and without SMTP you cannot complete the user setup. The only viable workaround is to use an admin account to manually reset or configure the user, or temporarily enable SMTP (even with a dummy/local relay) to complete the process.

- Automation Anywhere requires new users to set three security questions before login. This is part of its least privilege and separation of duty security model.

- With local database authentication, the initial email is the only supported path for users to set their credentials and security questions. Without SMTP, the workflow breaks.

1. Use the default admin account

   - The Control Room installation creates a default admin user.

   - Log in with this account and manually reset the problematic user’s password/security questions.

   - In some versions, you can directly edit user properties in the Control Room UI.

2. Create a temporary SMTP relay

   - Even if you cannot request enterprise SMTP, you can spin up a lightweight local SMTP relay (e.g., Papercut SMTP, hMailServer, or a simple Postfix instance).

   - Point Control Room to this relay. The email doesn’t need to leave your environment—just capture it locally to complete the setup.

3. Switch to another authentication method (if possible later)

   - While you said SAML/SSO isn’t possible right now, note that Control Room supports switching to SAML or LDAP later.

   - This avoids the email dependency, but requires infrastructure changes.

4. Database‑level intervention (not recommended)

   - Some admins attempt to update user records directly in the Control Room database to mark security questions as set.

   - This is risky, unsupported, and may break upgrades or violate security compliance. Only consider this in a disposable PoC environment.

Additional Risks

- Unsupported hacks (like DB edits) may corrupt your Control Room or violate Automation Anywhere’s support agreements.

- SMTP relay workaround is the safest option for PoC—it satisfies the platform’s requirement without needing enterprise mail setup.

- Admin reset works only if your Control Room version allows editing security questions directly.

You cannot bypass the security questions requirement, but you can work around the SMTP dependency by either using the admin account to reset the user or setting up a temporary local SMTP relay to capture the initialization email.