As an admin, I do not have the ability to sudo as another user

Looker Q&A Looker
1

I have Looker core (both an embed and a standard instance).

When I open up the users on the admin page and click on the three dots to the right of any of the users (not me), I only have disable user and delete user. My understanding is that I should be able to sudo as user as well.

I do not have the “closed system” setting enabled. I have confirmed with my teammate, who is also an admin, that he cannot see it either. Our “admin” role has not been altered, and has all roles chosen.

I checked the “Roles” page in Admin, and I noticed that there are no permissions that say sudo, so it seems as if our instances are missing something overall. Can you please help?

2

Hi @lazarillo ,

You’re right — the “sudo as user” option should normally appear for admins, but a few things can block it:

  • In Looker (core), the sudo feature is only available in non-embed (standard) environments; it’s usually disabled in embed instances.

  • The feature can also be restricted by certain license settings or Looker-hosted deployment policies — it’s not controlled by a user-visible “sudo” permission.

I recommend opening a Looker Support ticket so they can check your instance configuration.