Lost WordPress Admin Password and Email? How to get back into your weblog…
October 19th, 2007
What should you do if you've forgotten or lost your WordPress Admin password?
Step one of course would be to fill in your username and your email into the lost password form.
But what if you don't know one of either your username or your email?
Are you out of luck?
Not if you have admin access to your server.
First things first.
- login to your server admin account (cPanel, Hsphere, Plesk, etc...)
- open up PHP MyAdmin (see your host's help file)
- open up your WordPress weblog database
- don't panic when you see the complicated screen
- click on wp_users in the left hand column
- choose browse from the top menu
- you will see all your users with usernames and passwords
- go back to the login screen
- request a new password
- if necessary modify the email to one which will come to you
If you want to make your life miserable you can replace the hash key instead and login directly. But why bother when you can just go back to using the standard interface.
I'm sure I've saved at least one person a call to his or her server admin with this info.
Enjoy posting in your newly recovered WordPress weblog!
By Alec
Tags: phpmyadmin, wordpress, wordpress admin, wordpress security
9 comments on “Lost WordPress Admin Password and Email? How to get back into your weblog…”
01
Thanks man you just helped me, btw i wondered why my wordpress doesnt want to send the password to my email and it send it to my gmail account ?
02
I guess that’s because you must have used Gmail id in your profile rather than your other email. Wordpress always sends to email mentioned in your profile.
03
Hi Alec,
I just tried above “steps”, but I could not make it work?!
I made it till step no. 7, but when I go back and request a new password it just sends the same password and activation key (which doesn’t work) to my email.
You can try it yourself if you want: http://www.bodyfitdk.dk/wp-login.php?action=rp&key=61e1b96b
Can I just edit the password for the user via the PHP MyAdmin?
Best regards
Claus
04
Thanks Rohit, you’re absolutely right.
Hello Claus,
Yes, you can edit the password for the user via PHP Admin but you have to edit it as a hash key. I’ve linked to instructions above.
Good luck!
PS. There seems to be something wrong with your Wordpress install as these instructions should work without having to edit the password directly.
05
Hi!
I hope your info will help.
I’m using WP, hosted on Godaddy.
If I understand correctly, I can log into my Godaddy account and fix this - correct?
Thanks,
Fred
06
Hi Fred,
If you have PHP MyAdmin over at GoDaddy, yes. I don’t have GoDaddy hosting and from my frustrating experiences administering domains at GoDaddy don’t plan to (ads and popups all over the place). It’s quite possible that you don’t have an easy way to administer your database at GoDaddy.
But I’m hoping for the best for you. Good luck.
07
I lost my Wordpress password and the email account I used no longer exists. I’d like to follow your instructions, but I don’t even understand step 1. What’s a server admin account? I never saw the names cPanel, Hsphere, Plesk… Sorry for being such a nongeek. Is there still hope?
08
Thanks mate your a life saver, well time saver.
Anyway your advice worked.
Cheers
09
Glad it helped Lawrie.
Odile, I’m sorry but this technique requires a basic knowledge of how to administer a web hosting account. If you are still having issues, you could send a link to this article to your server help desk and ask them to follow the steps for you.
Depending on your hosting company, they will do this for you or not. I recommend Cartika as they do help with admin when you need it.
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