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Forgot Password? How to Recover a Lost Password in WordPress

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Have you forgotten your WordPress password and now want to recover the lost password? Even the most tech savvy people forget their passwords now and then. That’s why WordPress makes it super easy to recover a lost password securely. In this article, we will show you how to easily recover your lost password in WordPress.

How to recover lost password in WordPress

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First, go to the login screen of your WordPress blog. The login page of your WordPress blog is located at

http://www.example.com/login/

Replace, www.example.com with your website address. Your WordPress login screen has a Lost your password? link just below the login form. See the screenshot below:

Lost your password link on WordPress login screen

Click on Lost your password? link. This will take you to another page where you will be asked to provide your WordPress username or email address.

WordPress password recovery screen

Enter the username you use to log into your WordPress blog. You can also provide the email address you have used during the installation or registration on your WordPress blog. After entering the username or email address, click the Get New Password button.

Once you have entered a valid username or email address, WordPress will send an email to the email address associated with that account. It will also show you “Check your e-mail for the confirmation link” notification on the login screen.

Password reset email sent

Check your email inbox, there will be an email with the subject [Your Blog Title] Password Reset. Wait for a few minutes if you do not immediately see the email in your inbox. If you still do not see an email, then check your Spam or Junk Mail folder.

When you get the email, it will have a message similar to the following:

Someone requested that the password be reset for the following account:

http://www.your-website-url.com/

Username: your-username

If this was a mistake, just ignore this email and nothing will happen.

To reset your password, visit the following address:

<http://www.your-website-url.com/wp-login.php?action=rp&key=xxxyyyzzz1112223&login=your-username>

Click on the second link to reset your password. This link will take you back to your website and will allow you to enter a new password for your WordPress account.

Enter a new password for your WordPress account

WordPress will automatically generate a strong password for you. You can change that to use your own strong password. The strength indicator bar will also let you know the strength of your password. WordPress will let you set a weak password, but it is recommended that you choose a strong password.

A strong password is more than 8 characters long, contains both upper and lower case letters, with numbers, and special characters like ! ” ? $ % ^ &.

Once you have entered a password, press the Reset password button. You will see a notification “Your password has been reset. Log in”.

Your password has been reset

Congratulations, you have successfully reset your WordPress password. Click on “Login” link to sign in to your WordPress blog using the new password.

Advanced level WordPress users can also reset WordPress password from phpMyAdmin.

Bonus #1: Ensure Deliverability of Password Reset Emails

Sometimes, WordPress may not send you an email even if you request for a password reset. This happens when your WordPress hosting server is not properly configured to use the PHP mail() function.

Even if your hosting is configured to use it, many email service providers, like Gmail and others, keep emails sent through WordPress sites from reaching your inbox.

The easiest way to ensure WordPress emails are properly sent is by using an SMTP plugin for WordPress like WP Mail SMTP.

WP Mail SMTP

Unlike the PHP mail() function, WP Mail SMTP uses proper authentication, which leads to high email deliverability.

Note: There is also a free version of WP Mail SMTP that you can use.

For more details, check out our guide on how to fix WordPress not sending email issue.

Bonus #2: Create a Strong and Memorizable WordPress Password

When you reset your password, WordPress automatically generates a strong password that is not easy to guess. You’re supposed to store this strong password with a password manager.

Otherwise, you’ll eventually forget it and have to reset the password again the next time you log into your site. Or you might need to use a weaker but memorizable password, which is not recommended for your WordPress website’s security.

This is why using IsItWP’s Free Strong Password Generator Tool is recommended. It helps you generate strong yet memorizable passwords. It’s a free online tool; no login or download is required.

Bonus #3: Keep WordPress From Forgetting ‘Remember Me’

Entering your password each time you log in to your WordPress blog can be bothersome.

However, if you always log in to your WordPress blog from your own devices using your home internet connection, then you can stop WordPress from forgetting you with Always Remember Me plugin.

This plugin will check the Remember Me box below your login screen. So, once you log in to your WordPress, you will remain logged in for a long time unless you clear your browser’s cookies.

We hope this tutorial helped you learn more about resetting your WordPress password. You may also want to see our guide on how to force strong passwords in WordPress or our expert picks on the best WordPress login page plugins.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

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Editorial Staff

Editorial Staff at WPBeginner is a team of WordPress experts led by Syed Balkhi with over 16 years of experience in WordPress, Web Hosting, eCommerce, SEO, and Marketing. Started in 2009, WPBeginner is now the largest free WordPress resource site in the industry and is often referred to as the Wikipedia for WordPress.

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Reader Interactions

38 CommentsLeave a Reply

  1. Syed Balkhi says

    Hey WPBeginner readers,
    Did you know you can win exciting prizes by commenting on WPBeginner?
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  2. Bilal says

    I am experiencing an issue on my WordPress website. The problem occurs when a regular user forgets their password and tries to reset it by clicking on the “Forgot Password” link.

    After entering their email address, the email they receive contains only a confirmation that the password was changed, without providing any link through which they can actually reset their password.

    • WPBeginner Support says

      If you have not done so already, please check your active plugins to see if any of your plugins modify how the forgot password link works.

      Admin

  3. brian says

    hello I have a problem, in the link that is sent to the email the https: // is repeated 2 times, I would like to know how can I solve this, please

    • WPBeginner Support says

      For that, you would want to ensure your domain is set properly in your WordPress settings and you don’t have a plugin that modified that email for the most common reasons.

      Admin

  4. Magda says

    Hi,

    I have a different problem – I click on the ‘Lost your password?’ link, but instead of displaying the WordPress page where I can enter my email address, I get redirected to my actual website instead (where the users of my website can retrieve the passwords to their accounts). After entering my email address there I get a message ‘Invalid username or email.’
    Is there a different way to get to the screen which you show on the second image?

    Many thanks!

  5. Bryan says

    I go through the process, get the email, select the link, go to the WP page with the suggested new password, however when I select the reset button, I get an error message that the passwords don’t match. There is only one place to provide the new password, so I don’t see how it can’t match anything.

  6. John Felageller says

    Hi,

    I had received an invite link for wordpress which was sent by my blog admin. The link had expired, and so I went through the whole process you described above, however when I got the email with the link to reset, I can’t click on it. I can cut and paste it but that essentially takes me back to the same page. Any ideas on how I can access that page/function, or should I just notify my admin and let them handle it?

    Thanks!

  7. Anita says

    hi

    I’ve done this – and my email is accepted – however no email with a confirmation link ever arrives. I’ve hit enter a few times over the last few weeks – and still no email

    Thanks for your advice

  8. Felix Ongoma says

    Thanks. Really helped. I had spent two days annoyed at WordPress for locking me out but it took few seconds after reading through your site.

  9. Sheraz Bukhari says

    I have no Cpanel and no Email address to reset my password. anyone give me a solution.

    but i ihave /wp-includes/ folder

  10. Amar says

    hi

    I am facing with below error when trying to recover my password.

    The email could not be sent.
    Possible reason: your host may have disabled the mail() function.

  11. Amar says

    Hi ,

    I am trying to reset my password but it is saying your mail() is

    The email could not be sent.
    Possible reason: your host may have disabled the mail() function.

  12. jai says

    I have get a email confirmation link. buy when I click on the password reset link it always takes me again to the username/email enter link. My password is not resetting and even I am not getting the problem solved by the wordpress confirmation links… Now what should I do??

  13. Fábio Tojal says

    I am having a problem in the “lost password” link! When I click on the lost password link nothing happen, I just stay in same page of login!

    The lost password link is working which is

    but, I don’t know what to do to put it working on the wp-login.php page!

    Thanks for your time!

  14. Govind Kumar says

    i want my wordpress site to reset user’s password using mobile number is there any way to do this ?
    waiting for you reply :)
    thanks

  15. John says

    I clicked on the link lost password, but haven’t received any emails from . And it’s not in my junk folder.

  16. Hellena says

    Hi, I forgot the password and the email that was used to register the website (the owner is unable to access it) How can I reset the password now that I cant use the email option? Its a company website and I really need to update it.

  17. Virginia says

    I’m very sad :(
    I just did change the facebook sharing in wordpress. Somehow my blog did close and worpress asked for the pasword but i didn’t remember it because it always remember me.
    I used the option to get an e mail and get a new password. But it did not send the e mail, it said that they send me a SMS, but I never put my celphone numbre in it.
    I don’t understand the “PhpMyAdmin mode”. My blog is a free wordpress. Like “.wordpress.com”
    Please help me I’m devastated :(

  18. Raghu says

    Hi Hello,

    I am recieving a mail for resetting the password when we clicked the forgot password, but that does not contain a link for resetting the password.

    Any one can help me in this please?

  19. Ravi Janardhan says

    Somehow it’s not accepting my username & pAssword. On top of that I am not getting mall for ‘forgot password’. No clue, what to do, now?

  20. Rod Salm says

    I’ve done this method several times, but then get an error message “You don’t have permissions to perform this function.” which forced me to try the complicated myphp admin route. Anyone know why an install of WordPress would offer up this error?

    ­Rod Salm

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