Having found no back-end based method for clearing up the user_roles field in the options table, I dove into the db and weeded out what is no longer being used. Problem is that now I've some how really mucked things up.

When I saved my changes, I could no longer get into the site and only got the permissions error message. So I ran a search and found the following code to reset user_roles to a standard set of roles.

a:5:{
s:13:"administrator";a:2:{s:4:"name";s:23:"Administrator|User role";s:12:"capabilities";a:51:{s:13:"switch_themes";b:1;s:11:"edit_themes";b:1;s:16:"activate_plugins";b:1;s:12:"edit_plugins";b:1;s:10:"edit_users";b:1;s:10:"edit_files";b:1;s:14:"manage_options";b:1;s:17:"moderate_comments";b:1;s:17:"manage_categories";b:1;s:12:"manage_links";b:1;s:12:"upload_files";b:1;s:6:"import";b:1;s:15:"unfiltered_html";b:1;s:10:"edit_posts";b:1;s:17:"edit_others_posts";b:1;s:20:"edit_published_posts";b:1;s:13:"publish_posts";b:1;s:10:"edit_pages";b:1;s:4:"read";b:1;s:8:"level_10";b:1;s:7:"level_9";b:1;s:7:"level_8";b:1;s:7:"level_7";b:1;s:7:"level_6";b:1;s:7:"level_5";b:1;s:7:"level_4";b:1;s:7:"level_3";b:1;s:7:"level_2";b:1;s:7:"level_1";b:1;s:7:"level_0";b:1;s:17:"edit_others_pages";b:1;s:20:"edit_published_pages";b:1;s:13:"publish_pages";b:1;s:12:"delete_pages";b:1;s:19:"delete_others_pages";b:1;s:22:"delete_published_pages";b:1;s:12:"delete_posts";b:1;s:19:"delete_others_posts";b:1;s:22:"delete_published_posts";b:1;s:20:"delete_private_posts";b:1;s:18:"edit_private_posts";b:1;s:18:"read_private_posts";b:1;s:20:"delete_private_pages";b:1;s:18:"edit_private_pages";b:1;s:18:"read_private_pages";b:1;s:12:"delete_users";b:1;s:12:"create_users";b:1;s:17:"unfiltered_upload";b:1;s:14:"edit_dashboard";b:1;s:14:"update_plugins";b:1;s:14:"delete_plugins";b:1;}}
s:6:"editor";a:2:{s:4:"name";s:16:"Editor|User role";s:12:"capabilities";a:34:{s:17:"moderate_comments";b:1;s:17:"manage_categories";b:1;s:12:"manage_links";b:1;s:12:"upload_files";b:1;s:15:"unfiltered_html";b:1;s:10:"edit_posts";b:1;s:17:"edit_others_posts";b:1;s:20:"edit_published_posts";b:1;s:13:"publish_posts";b:1;s:10:"edit_pages";b:1;s:4:"read";b:1;s:7:"level_7";b:1;s:7:"level_6";b:1;s:7:"level_5";b:1;s:7:"level_4";b:1;s:7:"level_3";b:1;s:7:"level_2";b:1;s:7:"level_1";b:1;s:7:"level_0";b:1;s:17:"edit_others_pages";b:1;s:20:"edit_published_pages";b:1;s:13:"publish_pages";b:1;s:12:"delete_pages";b:1;s:19:"delete_others_pages";b:1;s:22:"delete_published_pages";b:1;s:12:"delete_posts";b:1;s:19:"delete_others_posts";b:1;s:22:"delete_published_posts";b:1;s:20:"delete_private_posts";b:1;s:18:"edit_private_posts";b:1;s:18:"read_private_posts";b:1;s:20:"delete_private_pages";b:1;s:18:"edit_private_pages";b:1;s:18:"read_private_pages";b:1;}}
s:6:"author";a:2:{s:4:"name";s:16:"Author|User role";s:12:"capabilities";a:10:{s:12:"upload_files";b:1;s:10:"edit_posts";b:1;s:20:"edit_published_posts";b:1;s:13:"publish_posts";b:1;s:4:"read";b:1;s:7:"level_2";b:1;s:7:"level_1";b:1;s:7:"level_0";b:1;s:12:"delete_posts";b:1;s:22:"delete_published_posts";b:1;}}
s:11:"contributor";a:2:{s:4:"name";s:21:"Contributor|User role";s:12:"capabilities";a:5:{s:10:"edit_posts";b:1;s:4:"read";b:1;s:7:"level_1";b:1;s:7:"level_0";b:1;s:12:"delete_posts";b:1;}}
s:10:"subscriber";a:2:{s:4:"name";s:20:"Subscriber|User role";s:12:"capabilities";a:2:{s:4:"read";b:1;s:7:"level_0";b:1;}}} 

That seemed to work just fine though I found I couldn't add plugins or themes, update the site or view users ... all super-admin functions. Delving into user_meta I saw that I'd been listed as a super-admin, probably by the "user-access-manager" plugin (didn't know that would work apart from enabling multisite). So I simply deleted my super-admin assignment in user_meta. But I still can't access the lost admin functions.

My questions:

  1. Can the super-admin capability be restored in the user_meta:capabilities and options:user_roles tables or does it even need to be restored?
  2. If not, what do I need to do to revert to a pre-super-admin setup?

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I'm also just curious to know how this serialized (is that the right word?) data is constructed and what it all represents. I've noticed differences between this installation and my others. Any suggested reading around the web? – Matt Edminster Oct 31 '11 at 18:50
Finally solved it! Check out the very helpful shinephp.com/how-to-change-wordpress-user-role-capabilities. In short, a: indicates the number of elements in the following array, s: indicates the number of characters in the following string, and b: is the Boolean element. So that means that for each additional capability I added to a role, I needed to update that role's a: number to reflect the new total number of elements. – Matt Edminster Oct 31 '11 at 20:50
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