For an upgraded site: Go to Site administration>Courses>Course requests and make sure that: enablecourserequest is off lockrequestcategory is on Enable course requests Go to "Site administration>Users>Define roles" and make sure that "Authenticated user" role has a 'moodle/course:request' cap Login as a regular user, go to the /course/ page and make sure you have a "Request a course" button there Freshly installed sites: Go to "Site administration>Courses>Course requests" and make sure that: enablecourserequest is on lockrequestcategory is off Go to "Site administration>Users>Define roles" and make sure that "Authenticated user" role does not have a 'moodle/course:request' cap Create a custom role (no archetype, assignable in course category context) with only one allowed capability 'moodle/course:request' Enable course requests (Site administration>Courses>Course requests) Assign two different users the new role in the different categories contexts, one of them for the "default course request category" (Miscellaneous) Enable setting lockrequestcategory For user who has capability in the Misc category - make sure he can requests courses in this category but no other - search for "Request a course" button in the category listing For another user make sure the button "Request a course" does not appear in any category Disable setting lockrequestcategory Make sure the first user still can request only in the Misc category Make sure the second user can request only in his other category Assign Manager role to the third user in a context of only of of these two categories Make sure he can approve courses only in the category where he is assigned a role (go to the category listing and there should be a button in the bottom of the page)