Resetting your WordPress password is usually a straightforward process. However, sometimes the standard methods don’t work, leaving you locked out of your website.
Some of our readers have encountered this issue and asked for our advice about the best way to access their accounts. Luckily, you can always use the phpMyAdmin tool in your hosting account’s control panel to directly reset your password from the WordPress database.
In this article, we will show you how to easily reset a WordPress password from phpMyAdmin. We’ll explain each step clearly, ensuring that even if you’re not familiar with databases, you can follow along safely.
Why Reset a WordPress Password From phpMyAdmin?
WordPress makes it super easy to recover a lost password.
You can simply go to the login screen of your WordPress website and click on the ‘Lost your password?’ link.
When you click on the link you are taken to the password reset page. Once you enter your username or email address, WordPress will send a password reset link to the associated email address.
However, if you don’t have access to that email address, or your WordPress site fails to send an email, then you will not be able to reset your password.
In such a situation, you will need to reset your WordPress password directly in the database. The easiest way to do that is by using phpMyAdmin.
Having said that, let’s see how you can easily reset a WordPress password from phpMyAdmin.
How to Reset a WordPress Password From phpMyAdmin
If you don’t want to watch the video tutorial, then you can continue reading the text version below.
First, you need to log in to the cPanel dashboard of your WordPress hosting account. Next, you need to navigate to the Databases section where you can click on the phpMyAdmin icon.
This will launch the phpMyAdmin app.
Here you need to select your WordPress database from the left pane.
You will now see the list of tables in your WordPress database.
You need to look for the wp_users table in this list and click on the ‘Browse’ link next to it.
Note: Table names in your WordPress database may have a different prefix than the one we are showing in our screenshot. Changing table prefixes can improve the security of your WordPress site.
You will now see the rows in your WordPress users table. Go ahead and click on the edit button next to the username whose password you wish to change.
PhpMyAdmin will show you a form with all the user information fields.
You will need to delete the value in the user_pass field and replace it with your new password. Under the function column, select MD5 from the drop-down menu and then click on the Go button at the bottom of the form.
Your password will be encrypted using the MD5 hash and then it will be stored in the database.
Congratulations! You have successfully changed your WordPress password using phpMyAdmin.
Some of you may be wondering why we selected the MD5 hash to encrypt the password. WordPress previously used MD5 hash to encrypt passwords, but since WordPress 2.5 it has been using stronger encryption technologies.
However, WordPress still recognizes MD5 to provide backward compatibility. As soon as you log in using a password string stored as an MD5 hash, WordPress will automatically change it to use the newer encryption algorithms.
Expert Guides on Passwords in WordPress
Now that you know how to reset a WordPress password from phpMyAdmin, you may wish to see some other articles related to passwords in WordPress.
- How to Change Your Password in WordPress (Beginner’s Guide)
- How to Reset Passwords for All Users in WordPress
- How to Customize the WordPress Reset Password Page
- How to Force Users to Change Passwords in WordPress – Expire Password
- Forgot Password? How to Recover a Lost Password in WordPress
- How to Force Strong Passwords on Users in WordPress
- How to Add Two-Factor Authentication in WordPress (Free Method)
- How to Allow Users to Hide/Show Passwords on WordPress Login Screen
- How to Easily and Securely Manage Passwords (Beginner’s Guide)
We hope this tutorial helped you learn how to reset a WordPress password from phpMyAdmin. You may also want to see our ultimate step-by-step WordPress security guide to keep your WordPress site safe or our expert pick of must-have 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.
Syed Balkhi
Hey WPBeginner readers,
Did you know you can win exciting prizes by commenting on WPBeginner?
Every month, our top blog commenters will win HUGE rewards, including premium WordPress plugin licenses and cash prizes.
You can get more details about the contest from here.
Start sharing your thoughts below to stand a chance to win!
gaj
This was very helpful, thank you
WPBeginner Support
You’re welcome
Admin
Jiří Vaněk
The method using PHPmyAdmin is great, and I use it when I have access to the database and don’t want to change the current user’s password. Personally, I have a slightly different approach: I first create a hash using an online tool and then change only the hash in the database to mine. The advantage is that after finishing the work, I can revert to the original hash, so I don’t have to change the current user’s password.
Prescott Chartier
I’ve tried this several times and each time it still says the password is incorrect, and yes I have the correct database.
WPBeginner Support
The next thing to check would be that the MD5 action is properly going through in your database or if it gives you an error.
Admin
Jiří Vaněk
Alternatively, there are also online hash generation tools. You enter your password in them and they generate a hash for you. Then just try replacing the original hash with the generated one and use the new password to log in. It should work (I’ve tried it this way).
Moinuddin Waheed
Changing password by clicking lost or forget password and then getting an email is an easy step.
Using phpmyadmin for changing password is a bit developer oriented.
I have used while developing sites from local host by flywheel but I fear doing for the live server.
Do we have the same encryption after changing password as it was before or it is simply the hard coded text that we typed in as password?
WPBeginner Support
If you are using the phpMyAdmin method you would want to put in your password normally and in the function dropdown you would set it to MD5 to have the password be the text you placed in the field.
Admin
Laxman
Thank You very much…
WPBeginner Support
You’re welcome
Admin
Branson
Hi,
I have just tried to reset my password with the MD5 method you suggested, but it didn’t work. I tried like 5 times and every time I tried to login into my website it would say incorrect password. What’s wrong?
Thanks in advance.
WPBeginner Support
If you have more than one WordPress installation on your hosting provider, ensure you are editing the correct database and ensure you apply the changes in the database for the most common reasons.
Admin
Stem
Hello,
I tried to reset my password using this method, but it’s showing this error “Error: The username user is not registered on this site. If you are unsure of your username, try your email address instead.”
WPBeginner Support
That would normally mean your username is not on the site, you would want to ensure are logging in with the correct username or email address. The steps in this article should not affect your username or email.
Admin
Brett
MD5 pushed it through. Thank you!
WPBeginner Support
You’re welcome! Glad our guide was helpful
Admin
blossominglotus
This method is not working for me. I even tried updating the password using raw SQL. It does change the password but I still cannot log in with the new password.
WPBeginner Support
If this method is not working then we would recommend reaching out to your hosting provider and/or checking that you are editing the correct database on your hosting provider if you have more than one database.
Admin
Guillaume Frasca
Hi, I followed your advice, but when I click on Go, I have the #1142 error message “UPDATE command denied to user ‘scienceisa431’@’@XX.XX.XX.X’ for table ‘mod597_users’
Is there a way around this?
WPBeginner Support
Your user may not have proper access on your hosting environment, if you reach out to your hosting provider they should be able to assist!
Admin
James Wallis
Saved my skin with this–thank you so much.
WPBeginner Support
Glad our guide was helpful!
Admin
Joseph
Thanks for the good job
I was able to locate and change my WordPress details with this tutorial
WPBeginner Support
Glad our guide could help!
Admin
Randy
I tried this and I got a white screen on my website. Please help
WPBeginner Support
Changing your password shouldn’t cause that specific issue, there is a good chance a plugin may have had a conflict. You would want to follow our guide below for how to fix the white screen error:
https://www.wpbeginner.com/wp-tutorials/how-to-fix-the-wordpress-white-screen-of-death/
Admin
Syed Waris
Thank you so much.
The article was very helpful for me.
WPBeginner Support
Glad our guide was helpful!
Admin
NS
Thanks! The “MD5” encryption step is what I was missing when I tried to reset. Then I came across your article and tried it and it worked! You just saved me hours and hours of time and a potentially angry client.
aisha
I tried this but didn’t work. Need help
WPBeginner Support
If your changes are not staying, you would likely want to check with your hosting provider to ensure you’re not running into a security tool blocking your change. Another common issue would be if you have a staging site or an old database for a previous site so you would want to ensure you are changing the information for your correct site.
Admin
Altuğ G.
This didn’t work for me
WPBeginner Support
It would depend on what part didn’t work. The most common reasons would be if you did not save your changes or did not convert to MD5
Admin
Pakodev
Thanks! It worked.
WPBeginner Support
Glad our guide was able to help
Admin
Arsène
It worked, thank you very much
WPBeginner Support
Glad our guide could help
Admin
Aikya Dasgupta
Thank you very much. This worked for me and I am now able to access my WordPress dashboard.
WPBeginner Support
Glad our guide was helpful
Admin
John
Perfect – saved me from a big issue.. thanks! Now, about getting those WP system emails working again…………….!
WPBeginner Support
If you’re not receiving the emails, we would recommend setting up SMTP on your site:
https://www.wpbeginner.com/plugins/how-to-send-email-in-wordpress-using-the-gmail-smtp-server/
Admin
Tayyab Shafique
it was really helpful.
Thanks
WPBeginner Support
You’re welcome
Admin
Saad
thanks a lot for saving my day …
WPBeginner Support
You’re welcome
Admin
Anita
Thank you, this saved me a headache
WPBeginner Support
Glad our guide was helpful
Admin
Elias
You’re a genius. Thank you
WPBeginner Support
You’re welcome
Admin
jackie
REALLY helpful. I’ve been struggling for weeks and now i can finally log in again! thanks a lot!
WPBeginner Support
You’re welcome, glad our guide was helpful
Admin
Robin B
So, so helpful. Thanks so much!
WPBeginner Support
You’re welcome
Admin
Chidi Ejikeugwu
why did you recommend to use MD5 when changing password?
WPBeginner Support
That is what WordPress uses for passwords by default
Admin
japsimran singh
Thank You Buddy.
It really helped.
WPBeginner Support
Glad our article could help
Admin
banson
Thank you problem Solved
WPBeginner Support
Glad our guide was helpful
Admin
Nthtuko Mbhele
Thank you so much, thank you, thank you
WPBeginner Support
You’re welcome, glad our guide was helpful
Admin
Premier
Thank you! Solved my problem!
WPBeginner Support
Glad our guide was able to help
Admin
Yann
Worked wonders, thanks!
WPBeginner Support
You’re welcome, glad our guide was able to help
Admin
Marco
thank you!!!!!!
WPBeginner Support
You’re welcome
Admin
Anand
Did not work for me.
WPBeginner Support
You may want to ensure you set the password to MD5 and that you are editing the correct user file if you have multiple WordPress sites or users
Admin
Pranoy
very very thank you
big headache solved
WPBeginner Support
Glad our guide could be helpful
Admin
Urs Keller
You did super great job. I could reset my pw. Thank you!
WPBeginner Support
You’re welcome, glad we could help
Admin
Taylor
I have followed these steps and the password was generated however, whenever I put in the password it still says it is incorrect.
Any help you can provide ?
WPBeginner Support
You would want to double-check that you encrypted the password using MD5 as the most common reason
Admin
Cattel
Direct explanation! Thanks!
WPBeginner Support
You’re welcome
Admin
Hazel Pan
Thank you for this noob-friendly guide! I was able to understand how to fix my issue right away. It also helped that I had awesome support from my hosting provider, Namecheap.
WPBeginner Support
Glad our guide could be helpful
Admin
Terry
Thank you so much for this article, it helped.
WPBeginner Support
Glad our article was helpful
Admin
Umar Gondal
May Allah bless you with eman. This article helped me to reset password of my website. Very informative article
WPBeginner Support
Glad our article could be helpful
Admin
Ajit Kumar
The email could not be sent. Possible reason: your host may have disabled the mail() function.
error shows
WPBeginner Support
If you have that error on your site, you would want to start by reaching out to your hosting provider.
Admin
George
Great article, I can see how this “can” work, but didn’t work for us either!!!!! We have access to the registrar, access to the domain and web hosting, full access to file manager, phpMyAdmin and the Installatron.
Followed your instructions to the T, didn’t work. We even changed the email in the email field. Its like the script didn’t update.
WPBeginner Support
If this method didn’t work then you likely need to reach out to your hosting provider and your host should be able to assist in fixing this issue.
Admin
Donny
Really helpful, thanks a lot.
WPBeginner Support
You’re welcome
Admin
zorax
Thank you, it was really helpful!
WPBeginner Support
You’re welcome
Admin
Van
This didn’t work for me. I’ve tried changing my password via my profile in WP Admin and using this technique; neither worked. WordPress 5 bug?
WPBeginner Support
You may want to clear your cache on your site and browser and check with your hosting provider that they are not preventing changes to your site’s database.
Admin
Ammar Falak
It didn’t work for us. I am still locked out of my WordPress Account. Please help!
WPBeginner Support
If this method does not work, if you reach out to your hosting provider they should be able to help you log back into your site.
Admin
Sanyukta Khot
Thank you for a very useful article! Saved me a lot of time!
WPBeginner Support
You’re welcome
Admin
Dee
Awesome!! Thanks so much for the valuable information.
Please continue to help us newbies…
WPBeginner Support
Glad our articles are helpful
Admin