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Lost WordPress Admin Password and Email? How to get back into your weblog…

/ / 122 Comments

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.

  1. login to your server admin account (cPanel, Hsphere, Plesk, etc…)
  2. open up PHP MyAdmin (see your host’s help file)
  3. open up your WordPress weblog database
  4. don’t panic when you see the complicated screen
  5. click on wp_users in the left hand column
  6. choose browse from the top menu
  7. you will see all your users with usernames and passwords
  8. go back to the login screen
  9. request a new password
  10. 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!

Alec Kinnear

Alec Kinnear

Alec has been helping businesses succeed online since 2000. Alec is an SEM expert with a background in advertising, as a former Head of Television for Grey Moscow and Senior Television Producer for Bates, Saatchi and Saatchi Russia.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Thanks man you just helped me, btw i wondered why my wordpress doesn’t want to send the password to my email and it send it to my gmail account ?

    Reply

  2. 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.

    Reply

  4. 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.

    Reply

  5. 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

    Reply

  6. 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.

    Reply

  7. 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?

    Reply

  9. 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.

    Reply

  14. Hello Doug,

    Replace the hash key and log in directly. Instructions linked above. I’d be surprised if your local weblog can’t mail but I suppose it depends on configuration.

    Reply

  17. Thanks for this! I was trying to get into a neglected site and for the life of me I couldn’t remember my username or password. Just opening PHP MyAdmin and seeing the username tripped the memory locks and I remembered the password!

    Reply

  19. hey man,….thanks for saving me another five hours of stress this afternoon….

    pages like this make me believe in the goodness of people…

    little bits of knowledge that help for free….

    t.

    Reply

  20. Help! I have followed the instructions above and changed the email address to another one in hopes of getting the password emailed to me. I went back requested a new password and waited. No email.

    I should mention that I can get the password reset emails from WordPress but when I clicked the link to reset the password, I am taken to the WordPress Log-in screen but a little red box appears and say “Sorry, that key does not appear to be valid”. So, I can’t reset the password. I have reset it successfully in the past. Any ideas for me?

    Reply

  21. Hello Elizabeth,

    That is very strange.

    If you ever figure out why you can’t login with the mailed out key, please let us know. It’s almost as if you have two versions of WordPress running mixed up (which use different key systems).

    Good luck!

    Reply

  22. Thanks. It’s really easy to use the lost password interface but my problem is the reset link can’t get though because it won’t recognize the key. I still can’t reset the password.

    Reply

  23. Thank you so much for writing this. I had this exact situation and was just about to uninstall wordpress and re-install it before I read this. You are a life saver!

    Erica

    Reply

  27. Didn’t work for me either. Installation on Ubuntu, no e-mail configured. Changing password in phpmyadmin didn’t work either. I guess a reinstall is required?

    The link above just goes to Main Page, am I missing something?

    Reply

  28. Hi JJ,

    Next time, include an email when setting up an admin account.

    For the reinstall just backup your WP Content first. You should be able to move everything except the users table across from your existing database.

    Sorry about the incorrect link in the Codex. I think it must have been changed.

    Let us know if you figure out what was wrong and are able to get back in.

    Reply

  29. thank you so much .. I set up a wordpress installation for someone else and didn’t change the password because I wanted to let the other person choose the password. You can imagine how stupid I felt when i couldn’t find the standart password anywhere ..

    you really helped me out.

    Reply

  30. Thank you very much for this, it saved me from trying to contact my webhost over Christmas!

    Anna, it seems the site in your URL field doesn’t even run WordPress.

    Happy New Year anyway.

    Alec

    Reply

  33. Thank you so much for posting this! You saved me from having to delete and reinstall my blog.

    Reply

  35. Hi Andrew,

    You can add a user. You won’t have the password though, so you’ll have to do a password reset from the login window using that user’s username and picking up the password from the email.

    Have fun!

    Reply

  37. Didn’t work for my wordpress account. I only see this as the only option. Wont send pw to my email. Confused and helpless.

    Can anyone help?

    Reply

  40. I just wanted to give you a huge thank you. I had someone else do an installation on one of my sites and could not for the life of me figure out what username they had used. Took a little snooping around but finally figured out thanks to you what username I needed to use. Great job!!!!

    Reply

  42. Hi,

    I didn’t changed my pasword and login. I don’t know why but I can not log in. I made all your steps. I can see my password, login, but I can’t log in…what is the problem and how I can fix it? Can I try to change my pasword, logn and email? Thank you for your answer!

    Reply

  44. Many thanks..after readomg your article i have found easy way to get my password back. I have read some articles to recover my password but they all are complited, using md5encryption. Thank a lot to give simple way.

    Reply

  45. hi…actulay i dnt remember my word press admin password…have no user access to my word pree…have tried cliking on lost your password bt on typing email address, i get the msg “The e-mail could not be sent. Possible reason: your host may have disabled the mail() function…” PLS HELP ME RECOVER MY PASSWORD

    Reply

  47. Thanks for sharing. It solved my problem to recover lost username and password and also edit my user name within the myPHP admin. I have godaddy hosting.

    Reply

  51. Thank you for the extremely simple instructions with php myadmin, and telling me not to panic. After I got to PHP MyAdmin and clicked on wp-users, I was able to see my ID, but not the password. I saw the edit that was on the same row as the user ID and password, and was able to update the e-mail address very easily using edit.

    Then I went back to the lost password on the WP log in screen, and it e-mailed me a link to change my password.

    I did the same for my blog on my sub-domain. Also, I think that was better if my hard drive ever crashes again. At least I know I will have the correct e-mail address for my wp account.

    I would have went nuts trying to follow the instructions on the wordpress forums even with the pictures.

    Live and learn, make a back up of everything including bookmarks and passwords.

    Reply

  52. Thank you so much for this. You’ve saved me such a lot of time and stress. Your help is greatly appreciated! Jo xx

    Reply

  53. I’ve got a really stupid question. I’m pretty sure I can remember my wp-org username and password, but I can’t for the life of me remember how to get to the screen where I have to input them!

    I’ve a self-hosted site that currently has just a holding page on it. [mydomain].com takes me to the site. how do I get to the login screen?

    Have tried [mydomain].com/admin, [mydomain.com/[myusername], and various other possibilities.

    Told you it was stupid.

    Reply

  54. Hi , I have found two more ways to recover your password.

    cPanel

    Start by Logging Into cPanel

    1. Go to cPanel homepage, then select the database of the site that site. Then locate the line wp_users file and edit it.
    2. This will open up a new window where you will find a list of usernames with passwords (encoded) On the line with the user name and password you lost, click and edit
    3. You will then get a screen with the data for this user including the encoded password. Delete the encoded password and enter an new password in ASCII format- Then go and click “GO”
    4. log to your WordPress site with new Username and Password

    FTP and PHP hard reset

    1. log to your FTP Details
    2. Go to Your Theme Folder
    3. put following Code on functions.php file
    
 ‘
  55. ’,
‘after_widget’ => ‘
    56. 
’,
‘before_title’ => ‘
    ’,
‘after_title’ => ‘
    
’,
));
?>

    in above code at Username put your Username same with Password .Now log to your site with this Username and Password.

    Reply

  59. This looks hopeful but no joy yet! can’t seem to log in to my wordpress site which I created 4 months ago..not even recognizing my email let alone user and password! got into cpanel of uk2 (host) and can find wp user but not users..have looked in all wordpress files I could find and couldn’t see passwords or usernames anywhere..can you help?

    Reply

  61. ‘Am more than happy to report that 5 years after your original post, you’re still saving people’s butt and stress levels. Mine included. Thanks Alec !

    Reply

  62. I have copied one site from a domain to another and then i could not log in in the new wp-admin. I tried all tricks you have provided above but none works.

    Sould the usersname and password stay the same as in the old location. I am really puzzled. :(

    Someone can help?

    Julie

    Reply

  63. Quickly i just wanna thank you Alec for this great post. A few years down the road and this post is very useful. I just followed what your instructions of this post today and it did work for me. Many thanks Alec.

    Reply

  67. Brilliant…

    This made it easy for me to recover the lost data and get access again. Turns out I’d deleted an email address that the reset password went to.

    All sorted now. Thanks very much! Cecilia :)

    Reply

  74. Yay! Thank you SO much. Years on and this still works. I was ready to delete and start again. Got a little stalled at step 7 because there were 3 wp choices for me. Hours of frustration and a very bad temper now cleared! Thanks again Alec!

    Reply

  76. hello..actually i have forgotten my admin password and username of my offline website that i am preparing for my final year project by using php wordpress..so please tell me the steps to find my admin password and username and also i am using eclipse platform.

    Reply

  77. Why always doing it difficut eh. As long ppl have access to their db through phpMyAdmin it is done in 10 seconds if you know how to.

    Access your db (phpMyAdmin). serach for wp_users (or the right prefix if you use another one (smart ppl would do)).

    Select the one with user ID 1. (if you went for admin)

    Click edit and change password in whatever.

    You see the column in front of it (function)? Select MD5

    Click Go

    DONE

    Not sure if I am right? Test if yourself.

    Reply

  78. Thanks lifesaver, you should have a donate button on this page – you potentially save us money from recovering and paying others to do this for us

    Reply

  82. Thanks Alec,

    obviously your method is of great benefit.

    I have a bit of an issue – I can’t see a “WordPress weblog database” tab once I have opened PHP My Admin ?

    I see a “Databases” Tab but that just lists the data bases for the WordPress installations,

    What have I missed,

    Cheers and Thanks,

    Mike FD

    Reply

  83. Sorted – found my way eventually – just changed user login from admin and changed user email (one that I could remember!) so that I could redo new password.

    Cheers,

    Mike FD

    Reply

  86. Thanks for the tip. This shall be very useful when ever I loose my password.

    What if you don’t have access to phpMyAdmin? My old host gave me access to a cPanel, but I never had access to phpMyAdmin.

    Reply

  87. Hi Anne-Marie,

    Via cPanel you should have access to phpMyAdmin unless your host has specifically disabled the module.

    Making the web work for you, Alec

    Reply

  91. I am having a problem. my self hosted wordpress refuse to log me in for two days now.I tried resetting my login details through “I LOST PASSWORD” after which they sent a resetting link to my email box,but it does not work. I also tried using PHPMYADMIN but i could not see wp-users. please what should i do again please?

    Reply

  92. I was able to get to the user/pass for the Users access to the website (contributors/editors etc) but not the Admin user/pass that one would enter at ‘website.com/wp-admin’. That info was not displayed in the wp-users I need the login I created at the time installing wordpress on the server. Please advise.

    Reply

  93. Hi Taylor,

    With my method you have to browse the phpMyAdmin table for users and reset your password for admin user. If you haven’t changed the admin username you can probably reset the password for that account and have it go to your original email. Or change that email.

    Making the web work for you, Alec

    Reply

  94. Hi Alec,

    Recently can not log in to my wordpress.com blog. Do you know how to fix this?

    I already use the password recovery function but nothing happens until now. Please help me.

    I try to find wordpress email contact, but I can not find it.

    Thank you for your help.

    Reply

  95. Hi Grace,

    My solution only works for self-hosted weblogs. You’ll have to contact WordPress.com (no they don’t make it easy). Hit them on Twitter?

    Reply

  96. Hello Alec,

    I recently launched a basic free wordpress page for a client of mine, not being hosted anywhere else, only on wordpress.com. I recently had my cache cleared out have no clue on what the activation email is and when I send an activation to recover/change password I am clueless as to where it is. What are my options?

    Reply

  97. My suggestions apply to self-hosted WordPress (.org). With WordPress.com you’ll have to find someone who will listen to your sad story and actually do something. We don’t do a lot with WordPress.com so I wouldn’t know the best way to approach WordPress.com as it’s almost all self-help. Maybe try to book a migration ($50 or so). Or throw yourself at the mercy of their Twitter.

    No fun.

    Reply

  98. You have saved me from stress and so much hair pulling. I could not figure which email i used to set up my wordpress website and had issues loggin in to finish the work. Thanks you for this piece. Please keep it on. its going to save lives for time coming!!

    Reply

  103. thanks much. i want to share what might be another idea for some people.

    i found the email address, as you suggested. but it wasn’t any good anymore. so i tried editing the database and putting in a new email address and saving my changes.

    then i tried to reset my password providing that new email address

    and it worked :)

    thanks very much

    Reply

  104. Hey — just wanted to take a minute and say THANK YOU — I knew there was a way to do this, but I didn’t know how. You showed me how. You helped a total stranger just to be kind, and I really appreciate that.

    This is what the internet COULD be!!!

    Reply

  105. I have no words to thank you Sir. I was facing a lot of problem to recover my password. Your post helped me and I recovered my password by following your instructions. Hats off to you man!!!! Thanks once again.

    Reply

  109. Great method sir. I did something different after step 7. I changed the function value of my user account to MD5 hash and entered the new password inside the value box. That changed the WordPress password.

    Reply

  111. Oh boy, this saved me. I backed up and migrated a site without copying the password. Ya, I know. Thanks!

    Reply

  113. Hi John and Leonard and Ellie and everyone! Thanks so much for your kind words. Believe it or not, last month I had to use my own instructions to break into one of our own sites where the admin email was no longer operational. I was happy to see the method really works and still works.

    Reply

  114. Brilliant I migrated my other website which had other login details and was almost pulling my hair out lol Thanks Alec your a star Cheers ;)

    Reply

  117. Good morning, I would like to close down a wordpress site that has incorrect information on it but the person who established the site is no longer part of my organisation. Are you able to advise on how I may be able to do this?

    Reply

  119. @Greg Thanks for your kind words. I’m glad this step by step helped you. We’ve used it ourselves over the years.

    @Wasim If you have access to phpMyAdmin you are in relatively good shape. You’ll have to hire a developer to dig in and help you though. Monkeying with phpMyAdmin is beyond a simple online tutorial. Many, many things could have gone wrong from database corruption, to security issues.

    @Jane To access and remove that WordPress site, you’d have to have access to either phpMyAdmin or one of the existing admin emails. The steps to get back in are covered in the blog post. Alternatively if you have reason to believe you can shut down the site for illegal activity, the simplest way would be to contact the web host with a cease and desist order. If the original webmaster has control of the domain, s/he can just move it somewhere else and you will be in a game of cat and mouse. A solicitor is what you’ll need in this case. Your best tack would be to confiscate the domain for illegal activity. Depending on the extension (if it’s your country’s local domain extension, i.e. co.uk or in any of the Five Eyes countries it’s relatively easy, if it’s an EU country it’s difficult, if it’s .ru good luck.

    Whatever you do, the original webmaster can repost the same material at another web address. If the content is hosted on a server your own organisation controls, the simplest way to get rid of the unwelcome WordPress site is simply to delete the content at server level or move the A or C record at DNS level.

    Reply

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