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Cómo cambiar el prefijo de la base de datos de WordPress para mejorar la seguridad

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¿Te preguntas cómo cambiar el prefijo de la base de datos de WordPress para tu sitio web?

Cambiar el prefijo de la base de datos puede proteger los datos de su sitio web contra inyecciones SQL y otros ataques de piratas informáticos. Puede ser un paso importante para mejorar la seguridad de WordPress.

En este tutorial, le mostraremos cómo cambiar el prefijo de la base de datos de WordPress para mejorar la seguridad.

How to change the WordPress database prefix

¿Por qué debería cambiar el prefijo de la base de datos de WordPress?

La base de datos de WordPress es como un cerebro para todo su sitio web WordPress porque cada pieza de información y archivos se almacenan allí.

Esto convierte a la base de datos en el objetivo favorito de los hackers. Los spammers y hackers pueden ejecutar códigos automatizados para inyecciones SQL y entrar en tu base de datos de WordPress.

Desafortunadamente, muchas personas olvidan cambiar el prefijo de la base de datos mientras instalan WordPress. Esto hace que sea más fácil para los hackers planear un ataque masivo apuntando al prefijo por defecto wp_.

La forma más fácil de proteger su base de datos de WordPress es cambiando el prefijo de la base de datos, lo que es muy sencillo de hacer en un sitio que está estableciendo.

Se necesitan algunos pasos adicionales para cambiar el prefijo de la base de datos de WordPress correctamente para su sitio establecido sin desordenarlo por completo. Dicho esto, le mostraremos cómo cambiar el prefijo de la base de datos de WordPress y mejorar su seguridad.

Tutorial en vídeo

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Cómo cambiar el prefijo de la base de datos de WordPress

Le recomendamos que haga una copia de seguridad de su base de datos de WordPress antes de hacer nada de lo sugerido en este tutorial. También es importante mantener copias de seguridad diarias de su sitio web de WordPress utilizando un plugin como Duplicator.

También le recomendamos que redirija a sus visitantes a una página temporal de mantenimiento mientras cambia el prefijo de la base de datos. De lo contrario, podrías causar una mala experiencia de usuario a los visitantes de tu sitio web.

Cómo cambiar el prefijo de tabla en wp-config.php

En primer lugar, deberá conectarse a su sitio web mediante FTP o la aplicación Administrador de archivos de su cuenta de alojamiento de WordPress.

A continuación, debe abrir el archivo wp-config.php, que se encuentra en el directorio raíz de WordPress. Aquí, puede cambiar la línea de prefijo de tabla de wp_ a otra cosa como esta wp_a123456_

Así que la línea quedaría así:

$table_prefix  = 'wp_a123456_';

Nota: Solo puede cambiar el prefijo de la tabla utilizando números, letras y guiones bajos.

Cambiar todos los nombres de las tablas de la base de datos

A continuación, debe conectarse a la base de datos mediante la herramienta phpMyAdmin. Si su alojamiento utiliza el Escritorio de cPanel, entonces usted puede encontrar fácilmente phpMyAdmin allí.

Selecting phpMyAdmin on cPanel

Hay un total de 11 tablas por defecto en WordPress, por lo que cambiarlas manualmente sería un engorro.

En su lugar, debe hacer clic en la pestaña “SQL” de la parte superior.

SQL query in phpMyAdmin

A continuación, puede introducir la siguiente consulta SQL:

RENAME table `wp_commentmeta` TO `wp_a123456_commentmeta`;
RENAME table `wp_comments` TO `wp_a123456_comments`;
RENAME table `wp_links` TO `wp_a123456_links`;
RENAME table `wp_options` TO `wp_a123456_options`;
RENAME table `wp_postmeta` TO `wp_a123456_postmeta`;
RENAME table `wp_posts` TO `wp_a123456_posts`;
RENAME table `wp_terms` TO `wp_a123456_terms`;
RENAME table `wp_termmeta` TO `wp_a123456_termmeta`;
RENAME table `wp_term_relationships` TO `wp_a123456_term_relationships`;
RENAME table `wp_term_taxonomy` TO `wp_a123456_term_taxonomy`;
RENAME table `wp_usermeta` TO `wp_a123456_usermeta`;
RENAME table `wp_users` TO `wp_a123456_users`;

Recuerda cambiar el prefijo de la base de datos por el que elegiste al editar el archivo wp-config.php.

También puede que tengas que añadir líneas para otros plugins que añaden sus propias tablas en la base de datos de WordPress. La idea es que cambies todos los prefijos de las tablas por el que tú quieras.

Tabla de opciones

A continuación, tenemos que buscar en la tabla de opciones para cualquier otro campo que está utilizando wp_ como prefijo para que podamos reemplazarlos.

Para acelerar el proceso, puede utilizar esta consulta:

SELECT * FROM `wp_a123456_options` WHERE `option_name` LIKE '%wp_%'

Esto devolverá un montón de resultados, y usted necesita ir a través de ellos uno por uno para cambiar estas líneas y sus prefijos.

Tabla UserMeta

Siguiente, tenemos que buscar usermeta para todos los campos que están utilizando wp_ como prefijo, por lo que podemos reemplazarlo.

Para ello, puede utilizar esta consulta SQL:

SELECT * FROM `wp_a123456_usermeta` WHERE `meta_key` LIKE '%wp_%'

El número de entradas puede variar dependiendo del número de plugins de WordPress que esté utilizando en su sitio web. Simplemente cambia todo lo que tenga wp_ por el nuevo prefijo.

Ya está listo para probar su sitio. Si ha seguido los pasos anteriores, todo debería funcionar correctamente.

Le recomendamos que haga una nueva copia de seguridad de su base de datos para estar seguro.

Esperamos que este artículo te haya ayudado a aprender cómo cambiar el prefijo de la base de datos de WordPress. También te puede interesar nuestra guía sobre cómo optimizar tu base de datos de WordPress y nuestra selección de los mejores plugins para bases de datos de WordPress.

Descargo: Nuestro contenido está apoyado por los lectores. Esto significa que si hace clic en algunos de nuestros enlaces, podemos ganar una comisión. Vea cómo se financia WPBeginner , por qué es importante, y cómo puede apoyarnos. Aquí está nuestro proceso editorial .

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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

136 comentariosDeja una respuesta

  1. Syed Balkhi says

    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.
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  2. mohadese esmaeeli says

    Hello. Changing the prefix of WordPress tables is very, very important because this prefix is the default, and most people don’t change it, making it susceptible to testing by any hacker. So, it makes sense to alter it, and I recommend this to all my friends. If we change the prefix during the WordPress installation, it’s much better. However, even after installation, it is possible to change the table prefix.

  3. Ka Khaliq says

    Hi there,
    I’m referring to this article to update my WordPress website database prefix.
    I have a confusion about updating the Options and Usermeta tables. Upon running the respective SQL queries, the results obtained, also contains some rows something like transient_wp_cloudflare OR dismissed_wp_pointers OR tlwp_feedback_data OR wpseo_social etc.
    So do I need to update such rows too where wp_ is present in the middle/end OR do I just need to update rows that has the wp_ prefix at the start like wp_page_for_privacy_policy etc.
    I understand that by prefix means, something at the start but still want to solve this confusion.

    • WPBeginner Support says

      No, you would want to leave those tables as they are as those are used by plugins and other tools that are looking for those specific titles.

      Administrador

  4. Barry Richardson says

    A plugin developer told me that you cannot have a WordPress blog without a database prefix. This is very confusing because I have had an active WordPress blog for 5 years – and it has no database prefix. So, can you have a WordPress site without a database prefix?

    • WPBeginner Support says

      WordPress has a database prefix by default without you needing to make any changes, this is a way to customize the prefix.

      Administrador

  5. Emily says

    Hi there, I was following another tutorial to look at the database files and noticed mine have names like “wphy_users” … is this possibly an extension of the thing described here, just without the _ before?

    Look forward to your reply!

  6. Izzy says

    Hi, I changed my table prefix names ia while a go. I found out there where some new maps added with the old name + the main folder (database I think) also has the old name. Now I also found out my folders already HAD a different name than the standard “wp” prefix name, so the change wasn’t even needed in the first place. The only thing now is that half of the tables has 1 certain name and the other ones have another name. Because everything works fine now I don’t want to change things again, but my only question now is: is it a problem that the tables have different names? Do they all need to be named the same, or does it not matter?

    • WPBeginner Support says

      The extra tables may have been created by a plugin, we would recommend your site using the same prefix for all of your content.

      Administrador

  7. Akhilesh says

    I am multi domain hosting. at the time of installation of WP what have to put in table prefix (as wp_ written by default.)??

    Please suggest me as early as possible…

    • WPBeginner Support says

      You would choose what you want the prefix to be if you’re changing your site’s database prefix

      Administrador

  8. Mainak Ghosh says

    After changing database prefix i am getting “Sorry, you are not allowed to access this page” this error when i visit WordPress admin dashboard.

  9. Kid Max says

    Hi, I’m using wordpess multisite. I want to use home site’s database prefix and folder for media attachment for all of subsite including home site. Any idea?

    • WPBeginner Support says

      You could upload your images to the home site’s media library and embed the images on your subsites to do something like that.

      Administrador

      • Kid Max says

        I know about that, but featured images not support for that, so I want to use home site’s media database prefix for all site.

        • WPBeginner Support says

          Sadly, at the moment we don’t have a recommended method for that.

  10. Mike says

    I tried it and then I couldn’t login. Probably because I have a security plugin.

    If I disable and delete all my plugins and just leave my installation with the core WP, and then I make the change, would that probably eliminate the need to change anything in usermeta or the options tables? i.e. Would that probably be the safest way to make the table change and not break anything.

    Then, I’ll just re-install my plugins.

  11. Mishel says

    According to this article, Changing the WordPress table prefix does absolutely nothing to enhance the site security.
    Even if we have changed the table prefix, a hacker can find the table prefix by running this code:
    SELECT DISTINCT SUBSTRING(`TABLE_NAME` FROM 1 FOR ( LENGTH(`TABLE_NAME`)-8 ) )
    2
    FROM information_schema.TABLES WHERE
    3
    `TABLE_NAME` LIKE ‘%postmeta’;

    • WPBeginner Support says

      Hi Mishel,

      We don’t agree with that. Every security step that obscures something can be uncovered by a experienced hacker. These steps just add a difficulty layer to make your overall security harder to crack. Changing table prefix certainly has no downside to it and if it can block some automated and obvious hacking attempts, then its totally worth it.

      Administrador

  12. Mehdi says

    The queries in both wp_options and wp_usermeta return datas that is contained wp should I rename them too?
    ex: wpseo_title, _yoast_wpseo_

  13. rado says

    I made really silly mistake, in my wp-config file i assign the variable $table-prefix without the underscore at the end. Something like “wp_12345”, it should be “wp_12345_”.

  14. Molly says

    this broke my files, none of my files are accessible on the local or live sites, thankfully this is all learning and a test site, but what went wrong?

  15. Josch says

    Works fine, thank you very much! Except: I get the following warning in the backend after changing prefix. Tried it two times:

    Warning: Cannot modify header information – headers already sent by (output started at /myurl/wp-config.php:1) in /myurl/wp-includes/option.php on line 837

    Warning: Cannot modify header information – headers already sent by (output started at /myurl/wp-config.php:1) in /myurl/wp-includes/option.php on line 838

    Can you help me?

  16. Mehdi says

    Hi, thank you for your article. I have a question about that. If you have some plugins which are installed in your wordpress, is this method that you mentioned above the same? or maybe we need to other things to complete this step?
    I appreciate if you guide me about that because I have more than 20 install plugin in my wordpress sit.
    Thank you for your help

  17. Asterix says

    Won’t I have issues when updating plugins etc in the future?

    I tried to use iThemes Security built in advanced features for this, but got the error: An “invalid format” error prevented the request from completing as expected. The format of data returned could not be recognized. This could be due to a plugin/theme conflict or a server configuration issue.

    So I am not sure if I dare to do this manually either…

  18. Joe says

    Hello Team

    thanks for sharing this.

    All steps went well except for the last one: UserMeta Table.

    MySql doesn’t let me change the prefix for it.

    That’s the error message I get:

    #1054 – Unknown column ‘wp_new_usermeta.umeta_id’ in ‘where clause’

    Please, any advise?

    Many thanks,

    Joe

    • Vipul Parekh says

      There’s an option it asked to enter db prefix while installation. so you can give prefix whatever you wish to!!

  19. Tom B. says

    Is it necessary to still include the”wp_” as part of the new prefix I want to create? Can I just use any alpha numeric string to reduce the chance of any type of hack?

    Thanks,

    Tom

  20. Chad Mowery says

    Nice article. I think the query on the Options and UserMeta table will throw off less savvy individuals. Not sure how but it would help if you could provide more detail on those steps.

    I followed the guide and have successfully changed my DB table prefix!

  21. blade says

    This does not add really any kind of security.
    If I can inject SQL, I can query against information_schema.tables and get info about tables, whatever fancy prefix you put in front of names ;)

    • thomas says

      very true. a good htaaccess will block sql injections too. on top of that, my wordpress install only gives full database access to very select users by assigning those credentials based on certain things gathered long before a db connection. everybody else gets the very very basic access.

      i also stopped most hacking attempts cold by hiding the wpzlogin.php and further password protecting access to wp admin in cpanel. it takes a login just to get to the wp login page.

  22. shivi says

    Hi , Nice article ! Thought of simplifying replacing table prefix.

    In Phpmyadmin once u select the database, you can see the list of tables.
    1. Enable the checkbox check all

    2. select Replace table prefix in the dropdown ‘with selected’

    3. Enter the existing prefix in from option: ‘wp_’ as mentioned in the article.

    4. Enter the new prefix in to option: ‘wp_a123456_’ as mentioned in the article.

    5. Click submit

    This helps to change table prefix for all tables including that of the plugin.

    You can check these articles if you need support on dehack your site

  23. Fahim says

    Should i run Sql for every table? i mean i have 15 table. or only change two tables you described will fix the problem.

  24. Alph says

    Hi guys,

    Thanks for these instructions. They helped me resolve my uppercase issues.

    As a beginner, some guidance as to the how to change the table names manually would have been appreciated. I would have felt more comfortable doing it that way.

    Also, for a beginner like me, some instruction on how to make the changes in the Options and Usermeta tables would been helpful.

    Thanks again. Could not have done it without you!

  25. Chris A says

    Thanks for the instruction. I needed to remove an UPPER case letter from a prefix and this showed that exact records I needed to touch!

    TIP: with phpMyAdmin you can check all records at the bottom and select ‘replace table prefix’ this will bring up a standard replace box with ‘from’ and ‘to’ values.
    It will also save a lot of typing in step one – especially if it’s a large database.

  26. Igor says

    Hi guys,

    when I made these changes it don’t give me to sign in as current user but it tells me to install wordpress again…

    Igor

  27. Rick says

    My SQl DB have no table prefix so got error sometimes on wordpress Wpconfig.php without $table_prefix = ”;.
    how to add table prefix,
    when i try to add in config file and rename all table with same prefix
    and login in to wp got error “you don’t have permission to access”

  28. Dave van Hoorn says

    Update the SQL for renaming the prefixes please. WordPress adds the ‘wp_termmeta’ table now. It’s included in the SQL below.

    RENAME table `wp_commentmeta` TO `wp_yoursitename_commentmeta`;
    RENAME table `wp_comments` TO `wp_yoursitename_comments`;
    RENAME table `wp_links` TO `wp_yoursitename_links`;
    RENAME table `wp_options` TO `wp_yoursitename_options`;
    RENAME table `wp_postmeta` TO `wp_yoursitename_postmeta`;
    RENAME table `wp_posts` TO `wp_yoursitename_posts`;
    RENAME table `wp_termmeta` TO `wp_yoursitename_termmeta`;
    RENAME table `wp_terms` TO `wp_yoursitename_terms`;
    RENAME table `wp_term_relationships` TO `wp_yoursitename_term_relationships`;
    RENAME table `wp_term_taxonomy` TO `wp_yoursitename_term_taxonomy`;
    RENAME table `wp_usermeta` TO `wp_yoursitename_usermeta`;
    RENAME table `wp_users` TO `wp_yoursitename_users`;

  29. Prabhudatta Sahoo says

    When I am renaming my tables in the database all the images in the gallery are going away, I do not understand the reason. Could anyone please help me fixing this issue?

    • Terry Thorson says

      This issue will occur if you do not update the serialized data strings (used for your gallery images) correctly in the database. A good way to do this is to use the plugin WP Migrate DB. There is an excellent tutorial for this on Lynda.com (although be sure to use the same prefix for your target database as your source database).
      I learned this the hard way. Trying to start afresh, I discovered my backup was faulty as well. Luckily my webhost had an older backup I could use to restart my migration. WP Migrate DB did the trick.

  30. Cameron Jones says

    I can’t find any fields in the _usermeta or _options tables that would require updating. Unless they are specifically referencing a table, they shouldn’t need to be updated. It’s a table prefix, not a variable prefix.

    • Cameron Jones says

      Actually, I stand corrected. There are a couple that will be part of a default WordPress install:

      In prefix_options
      prefix_user_roles

      In prefix_usermeta
      prefix_capabilities
      prefix_user_level
      prefix_dashboard_quick_press_last_post_id
      prefix_user-settings
      prefix_user-settings-time

      You should be careful regarding updating any other fields. Plugins may either use the defined prefix or `wp_` as a prefix. Always make a backup and test on a dev or staging environment.

  31. kapil says

    hi,
    i have a query. assume that i have changed all my prefix from wp_something to some other name. these changes will be done to the existing fields in the database only. but wont the codes in my wordpress .php files remain the same??? so next time for any new user registration or some other registration, the entities will again be saved as wp_something as the main code in the .php files remains unchanged… ???

    thanks….

  32. tech says

    UPDATE `wp_a123456_options` SET `option_name`=REPLACE(`option_name`,’wp_’,’wp_a123456_’) WHERE `option_name` LIKE ‘%wp_%’;

    UPDATE `wp_a123456_usermeta` SET `meta_key`=REPLACE(`meta_key`,’wp_’,’wp_a123456_’) WHERE `meta_key` LIKE ‘%wp_%’;

    I do changes but after doing this i again run following query it shows prefix not changed
    SELECT * FROM `wp_a123456_options` WHERE `option_name` LIKE ‘%wp_%’

  33. Nathan WHite says

    This post and the responses to the comments leaves out a very important component. Does the table need to begin with wp_ ?

    Coming upon another discussion in wordpress.org indicated that it indeed did not need to. It would have helped me if this question was answered by the moderator.

    Also, dismissed_wp_pointers questions were not clearly answered. I changed mine.

  34. Clare Wood says

    Hi guys,

    I followed these steps, now when I try to see the back-end or front-end of my site I get this:

    ERROR: $table_prefix in wp-config.php can only contain numbers, letters, and underscores.

    I’m positive I only have lowercase letters and an underscore as my table prefix.

    Any ideas? The site is on localhost.

    Cheers.

  35. Thomas says

    Thanx a bunch! I tried to restore my old database, but to no avail. Then I figured out that my new database prefix was different from old. Made all that you recommended and vuala!

  36. Nikhil says

    I am getting this error…….”You do not have sufficient permissions to access this page” after implementing above procedure…..how to solve it?????

  37. savagemike says

    For the wp_options and wp_usermeta tables, why not dump the database and use sed to replace “wp_” with the new prefix? Example:

    sed -i ‘s/wp_/wp_1234/g’ > filename.sql

    Then, simply import the modified dump. Easier and faster than changing cells one-by-one.

  38. gcreator says

    Attacker can simple use ‘%wp_%’
    I mean that is not fully secure at all…
    because he knows the table names that wordpress generates he can simply use ‘_%users’ for wp_anything_users OR ‘_%posts’ for ‘wp_anything_posts’ ..etc…

    • Jim says

      gcreator…

      For 99% of the attacks against WP databases, the skiddies are using pre-built tools and default settings. This gets you out of their crosshairs.

      if you are under focused attack then yeah, simple obfuscation will only slow them down, not completely protect you.

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