We get it, accidents happen and you may lose or forget the login to your WordPress Admin account. Typically you can use the WordPress password recovery feature to reset the password via e-mail, but if that method isn’t working, not to worry, this Knowledge Base article will help you out!
How to reset the WordPress Admin Password via Softaculous
Step 1: Log in to your cPanel. There’s a lot of ways to do this, but the sure-fire easiest way is to log in to your Client Area, then open your cPanel.
Step 2: Scroll down to the Software section and open the Softaculous Apps Installer.
Step 3: Once Softaculous is open, click the blue Installations button to list your WordPress installs:
You will see a list of your WordPress installations. Click on the WP Manager icon on the row adjacent to the WordPress site you need to access.
Not to worry, we’ve got you covered! Follow this KB article to import your WordPress site into Softaculous, then come back and complete the steps below.
Step 4: The Softaculous WordPress Management Tool will open. Click Change Password.
The Change Password modal will open. Enter the username assigned to the account for which you wish to change the password. Then enter your new password. Click Save to change the account’s password.
Congrats! Assuming the username you entered is the Admin account, then you’ve changed the Admin
How to reset the WordPress Admin Password via WP-CLI
The WordPress Command Line Interface, or WP-CLI, is an excellent tool that you can use to administer your WordPress site quickly. You can use this tool to change a user’s password. To do this, type the following command in your SSH session while connected to the server hosting your WordPress site; just replace the username with the WordPress username of the user for which you wish to change the password.
wp user update username --user_pass=password
When you change a password, WP-CLI sends a notification message to the e-mail address associated with the user account.
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How to reset the WordPress Admin Password via phpMyAdmin
This method is a bit trickier, and if you aren’t comfortable with phpMyAdmin, you should consider the first two options.
Before you go prodding around in your database, even with our guidance, it is best practice to take a backup of the database in case you accidentally fat-finger something. If you aren’t familiar with how to make a database backup in cPanel, click here to review our KB on the topic. It’s super easy and will only take a minute or two; totally worth it to save your bacon in the event of a disaster.
Step 1: Login to your cPanel. There’s a lot of ways to do this, but the sure-fire easiest way is to log in to your Client Area, then open your cPanel.
Step 2: Scroll down to the Databases section and click phpMyAdmin to open the tool.
Step 3: From the left-hand side of phpMyAdmin, click the database where your WordPress installation is installed.
Step 4: After opening the database, click the SQL button at the top of phpMyAdmin.
The page will load what looks like a Text Box. If you’ve ever used the Terminal, it’s very similar to this. Think of this text box as a prompt where you are going to issue commands via text.
Next, copy and paste the following code into your Notepad. Edit the fields new_password with your new password, and replace admin_username with the username of the WordPress Administrator user.
Make sure to replace the “wp_” prefix with the one in use for your website’s database.
UPDATE `wp_users` SET `user_pass` = MD5( 'new_password' ) WHERE `wp_users`.`user_login` = "admin_username";
That’s it! Now the password will be changed and you will be able to log in as that user!