A student cannot access a free course

The course is supposed to be open, and someone is being blocked.

What "free" means here

A course is open when none of the three requirements is set:

Open the course and check all three. A course that blocks people has at least one of them set, and it is usually the one nobody remembers configuring.

The order they are checked

1. Login requirement — a signed-out visitor is refused immediately.
2. Permission rule — if a rule is set, the rule alone decides.
3. Paid — the purchase check.
4. Otherwise, access is granted.

The second step causes the confusing cases. A course with a rule ignores everything else, so a rule left over from an earlier configuration blocks people no matter how free the rest of the settings look.

Symptom: signed-out visitors see a login form

The course requires login. Either that is intended — and the login message should say so — or turn To access this course, users must be logged in off.

Remember previews have their own setting, Preview lessons also require login, which can force sign-in for preview lessons even when the course is otherwise open.

Symptom: signed-in students see a no-access message

Something is refusing them. In order:

1. Is a permission rule set on the course? If so, the student does not match it. Open the rule and check what it requires — a role, a purchase, a subscription, a date window.
2. Is the paid flag on? A course marked paid needs a qualifying purchase, whatever else you intended.
3. Is a rule set on the lesson they were trying to open? A lesson-level rule replaces the course's rule for that lesson.

Symptom: it works for me but not for them

Almost always because you are an administrator. An administrator's role, orders and subscriptions satisfy rules that a student's do not.

Test properly: a private window, a real student account, no administrator session. See Test the course as a student.

Symptom: it worked yesterday

Something changed. Candidates:

• The rule was edited. Rules are shared across courses; a change made for one course affects every course using it.
• A time-based rule crossed its boundary. A rule requiring a purchase less than a month ago starts refusing people a month after they buy.
• A role was changed on the student's account, or on the site's roles.
• The course was edited by someone else. Check the revision history of the course content and ask.

Symptom: the outline is visible but lessons are disabled

That is the intended appearance for a student without access — the structure is shown, the content is not.

If the whole course should be open, the course-level configuration is the problem. If only some lessons are disabled, look for lesson-level permission rules.

Confirm the fix

1. Sign out. Open the course. Confirm what an anonymous visitor sees.
2. Sign in as a test student who should have access. Confirm the course opens.
3. Check My courses and confirm the access reason reads Free course.

If the access reason names a rule or a product, the course is not free — whatever the settings looked like.