Why does Magento redirect back to the backend dashboard but not ask to login

Question

i've been noticing this for a while, if i have been sitting on the backend for a while and i go to a new section it redirects me back to the dashboard however if i was sitting on the backened and i deleted the magento install folder and copied it from our TFS stored copy when i go to load another section it asks for me to login

i am wondering, Why does Magento redirect back to the backend dashboard but not ask to login, is there some file in the cache which when my session expires just creates a new one from here (and thus if i deleted it i would be forced to log back in) or is there something else going on

Answer 1

This usually happens when you have a valid session but the secret key is not valid. This is how I was able to reproduce it.

1. Log in
2. Open a section in a different tab
3. Logout from the first tab
4. Log in using the first tab
5. Click on an other menu item in the second tab

Now the second tab should redirect to the dashboard (or any other page you set as being the startup page).

This does not reproduce if System->Configuration->Admin->Security->Add Secret Key to URLs is set to No.

Answer 2

Stored session value... try purging all your session data (by default in /var/session)