How to change the “Workflow User” in Tridion CMS

In Tridion CMS, the user that performs the “Automated Activity/Decision” tasks in a workflow process can be modified. These steps must be performed in order to successfully switch to a new user on SDL Tridion 2013 SP1:

1. Finish all your active Workflow processes (as we will update the process definition later on)
2. Create the new Tridion Workflow User (WorkflowUser) in the CMS, as an
   administrator. (make a note of the uri of this user)
3. Open the Tridion MMC Snapin, go to “Workflow Settings” and set the ID of WorkflowUser in the “Automatic Trustee ID”
4. Modify the Log On of the “Tridion Content Manager Workflow Agent” Windows service: set it to WorkflowUser
5. Grant (WF) User access to Tridion encryption key (to access DB settings in Tridion Config)
   • open command prompt in .NET install location on CMS server (usually “C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework64\v4.0.30319”): aspnet_regiis -pa "TridionRsaKeyContainer" "{DOMAIN}\WorkflowUser"
6. Save ALL your (existing) Workflow Process Definitions again to the CMS (or they will continue to assign automatic tasks to the old user)
7. Restart “Tridion Content Manager Workflow Agent” Windows service