Trusted WordPress tutorials, when you need them most.
Beginner’s Guide to WordPress
WPB Cup
25 Million+
Websites using our plugins
16+
Years of WordPress experience
3000+
WordPress tutorials
by experts

How to Add an Admin User to the WordPress Database via MySQL

Editorial Note: We earn a commission from partner links on WPBeginner. Commissions do not affect our editors' opinions or evaluations. Learn more about Editorial Process.

Have you been locked out of your WordPress website?

Sometimes, hackers will lock you out of your own website by deleting your admin account from the database.

In this article, we will show you how to add an admin user to the WordPress database via MySQL so you can get your access back.

How to Add an Admin User to the WordPress Database via MySQL

Why Add an Admin User to the WordPress Database via MySQL?

We once ran into an issue where a user’s site was hacked, and their admin account was deleted from the database. This locked them out of their WordPress website.

We were able to help them get access to their website by creating a new admin user directly to the WordPress website. We did that using phpMyAdmin, a web-based tool that allows you to manage MySQL databases using your web browser.

If you find yourself locked out of your WordPress admin area due to hackers or simply because you forgot your password, then you can do the same.

However, you should always make a backup of your database before performing any MySQL edits. Then, once you can log back into your website, you may need to follow our beginner’s guide to fixing your hacked WordPress site.

With that being said, let’s take a look at how to add an admin user to the WordPress database via MySQL.

Adding an Admin User to the WordPress Database With phpMyAdmin

phpMyAdmin comes pre-installed with most top WordPress hosting companies. You can find it in the Databases section of your hosting account’s cPanel dashboard.

Here is a screenshot from the Bluehost control panel:

Selecting phpMyAdmin on cPanel

Clicking on the icon will open the phpMyAdmin interface. You need to select your WordPress database from the left column.

After that, phpMyAdmin will display all tables in your WordPress database. You will be making changes to the wp_users and wp_usermeta tables.

You Will Be Making Changes to the wp_users and wp_usermeta Tables

Adding a User to the wp_users Table

First, you need to find the wp_users table and click it. This will show the users currently listed in the table.

Notice in the screenshot below that there are two user IDs in our demo website’s table, 1 and 2. When we create a new user for our demo site, this ID needs to be unique, so we’ll type the number 3.

You need to click the ‘Insert’ tab at the top of the screen so you can insert the information for a new admin user.

Click the Insert Tab

Add the following information to the fields on the Insert form:

  • ID: pick a unique number (in our example, we’ll use 3)
  • user_login: the username that will be used when logging in
  • user_pass: add a password, and make sure to select MD5 in the function menu (see the screenshot below)
  • user_nicename: the user’s full name or nickname
  • user_email: the user’s email address
  • user_url: your website address
  • user_registered: select the date and time the user was registered using the calendar
  • user_activation_key: leave blank
  • user_status: set this to 0
  • display_name: the user’s full name or display name
Fill In the Fields for the New User

Once you have finished, make sure you click on the ‘Go’ button to store the new user.

Adding a User to the wp_usermeta Table

Now, you need to find the wp_usermeta table and click it. After that, you should click on the ‘Insert’ tab as you did in the previous step.

Next, you need to add the following information to the Insert form:

  • unmeta_id: leave this blank (it will be auto-generated)
  • user_id: the user ID you used in the previous step
  • meta_key: this should be wp_capabilities
  • meta_value: insert this: a:1:{s:13:"administrator";s:1:"1";}
Fill In the Fields for the New User

After that, when you scroll down, you should find fields for a second row. You need to add the following information:

  • unmeta_id: leave this blank (it will be auto-generated)
  • user_id: the user ID you used in the previous steps
  • meta_key: you need to enter wp_user_level
  • meta_value: 10
Fill In the Fields for the New User

When you have finished entering the information into the fields, you need to click the ‘Go’ button. Congratulations, you have created a new admin username!

Now, you should be able to log in to your WordPress admin area using the username and password you specified for this user.

As soon as you log in, you need to navigate to Users » All Users, then click on the username you just created.

Navigate to Users » All Users and Edit the New User

Now, without changing anything, scroll to the bottom of the page and click the ‘Save’ button.

This will allow WordPress to clean up the user you just created and add some extra information that is needed.

Adding an Admin User to the WordPress Database Using a SQL Query

If you are a developer, then you can speed up the process using code.

Simply drop this SQL query into your database:

INSERT INTO `databasename`.`wp_users` (`ID`, `user_login`, `user_pass`, `user_nicename`, `user_email`, `user_url`, `user_registered`, `user_activation_key`, `user_status`, `display_name`) VALUES ('3', 'demo', MD5('demo'), 'Your Name', 'test@example.com', 'http://www.example.com/', '2022-09-01 00:00:00', '', '0', 'Your Name');
 
 
INSERT INTO `databasename`.`wp_usermeta` (`umeta_id`, `user_id`, `meta_key`, `meta_value`) VALUES (NULL, '3', 'wp_capabilities', 'a:1:{s:13:"administrator";s:1:"1";}');
 
 
INSERT INTO `databasename`.`wp_usermeta` (`umeta_id`, `user_id`, `meta_key`, `meta_value`) VALUES (NULL, '3', 'wp_user_level', '10');

Make sure you change ‘databasename’ to the database you are working with.

Also, don’t forget to change the other values to those you want for the new user, as we explained in the first method.

Drop This SQL Query Into Your Database

Expert Guides on What to Do When Locked Out of WordPress Admin

Now that you know how to add an admin user via MySQL, you may like to see some articles on how to fix your website when locked out of the WordPress admin area.

We hope this tutorial helped you learn how to add an admin user to the WordPress database via MySQL. You may also want to see our ultimate WordPress security guide or our list of common WordPress errors and how to fix them.

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.

Disclosure: Our content is reader-supported. This means if you click on some of our links, then we may earn a commission. See how WPBeginner is funded, why it matters, and how you can support us. Here's our editorial process.

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.

The Ultimate WordPress Toolkit

Get FREE access to our toolkit - a collection of WordPress related products and resources that every professional should have!

Reader Interactions

236 CommentsLeave a Reply

  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.
    You can get more details about the contest from here.
    Start sharing your thoughts below to stand a chance to win!

  2. Kris says

    I wanted to delete all spam emails registered in my site. I went to myPhpAdmin and deleted all including mine (without knowing). I searched the web ’til I landed at this page.

    Good Job! It worked!

  3. Donato says

    Not sure where I went wrong but I get this when trying to login: You do not have sufficient permissions to access this page.

    • redhad says

      Hello Donato,

      Change the “wp_” prefix of “wp_capabilities” and “wp_user_level” to whatever prefix you have set. Example, if you changed your wordpress prefix as “mysite_” then the insert command should be:

      INSERT INTO `databasename`.`mysite_usermeta` (`umeta_id`, `user_id`, `meta_key`, `meta_value`) VALUES (NULL, ‘4’, ‘mysite_capabilities’, ‘a:1:{s:13:”administrator”;s:1:”1″;}’);

      INSERT INTO `databasename`.`mysite_usermeta` (`umeta_id`, `user_id`, `meta_key`, `meta_value`) VALUES (NULL, ‘4’, ‘mysite_user_level’, ’10’);

  4. Rupert says

    Great post – quick not – wp_capabilities and wp_user_level need to match the prefix in the DB…

  5. Lou Storiale says

    Thank you for this… very easy to follow! I never would have intuitively thought I would have to add two record in the same table. Thank you again.

    WordPress add admin record… I never thought I would have gotten this done in 5 minutes.

  6. Allison Wong says

    Thank you! I love when things work! I went through the instructions as stated above and everything worked out. Just a tip – if you changed the prefix of your database tables from wp_ to something else, make sure to replace it in the code above.

  7. Houston says

    Thanks, Dasha! You’re a life saver! Was stumped until I saw I needed to also change the DB prefix for ‘wp_capabilities’ and ‘wp_user_level’!

  8. Ruben says

    Hi, thanks for the clear tips. It nearly worked – but had to change a:1:{s:13:”administrator”;s:1:”1″;} with a:1:{s:13:”administrator”;s:1:”1″;} – looks the same, just replace all the quotes (which are curly quotes) with normal quotes. Or don’t be lazy andwrite it instead of cut and paste. Otherwise the new user I created didn’t have admin access. Phew that was difficult,

  9. Reena says

    omg.. what a life saver. Just a tip you need to update the wp_capabilities meta_key value to ‘a:1:{s:13:”administrator”;b:1;}’. And for some reason it still didn’t allow me to login. So then I just typed in the new username I created and clicked on forgot password. WP sent me a password reset link and all was well.

  10. Jamie says

    I was able to gain access with the original process but now my dashboard is blank. Any ideas on what I need to do? thanks

  11. Nathan Swartz says

    As of today you also have to add another entry (and probably not the wp_user_level, not sure about that though), wp_capabilities with a value of a:1:{s:13:”administrator”;b:1;}

  12. Erik says

    You’ve got a small bug. you’ll need to update the wp_capabilities meta_key value to ‘a:1:{s:13:”administrator”;b:1;}’ for this to work correctly, otherwise great article

  13. Dasha says

    Thank you for the tutorial – very useful. However, it would be handy if there was a note that ‘wp_capabilities’ and ‘wp_user_level’ use default database prefix, i.e. ‘wp_’. If a site uses a custom DB prefix that it should be used in those strings instead.

  14. Juan says

    After finding your sollution i tweaked it a bit you can actually do everything in 2 queries without having to remember the id you create.

    Both queries have to be executed in the same action (so the same SQL input box).

    INSERT INTO `wp_users` (`ID`, `user_login`, `user_pass`, `user_nicename`, `user_email`, `user_url`, `user_registered`, `user_activation_key`, `user_status`, `display_name`)
    VALUES
    (NULL , ‘username’, MD5(‘password’), ‘User Name’, ’email@domain.ext’, ”, NOW(), ”, ‘0’, ‘User Name’);

    INSERT INTO `wp_usermeta` (`umeta_id`, `user_id`, `meta_key`, `meta_value`)
    VALUES
    (NULL, LAST_INSERT_ID(), ‘wp_capabilities’, ‘a:1:{s:13:”administrator”;s:1:”1″;}’),
    (NULL, LAST_INSERT_ID(), ‘wp_user_level’, ’10’);

  15. Jim says

    I followed the instructions but keep getting an “invalid username” error when trying to login.
    I’ve created 3 different users but still continue getting this error.

  16. Clare says

    So glad I found this. Worked like a dream once I got the correct brackets and the right code for the version of WP that was installed

  17. Abdul Aziz says

    not working , i don’t no what mistake i have made…

    it’s showing this error

    “”” You do not have sufficient permissions to access this page. “”

    • Steve Della-Valentina says

      It seems like the latest version of WordPress has tweaked their meta keys and values to:

      dqf_capabilities -> a:1:{s:13:”administrator”;b:1;}
      dqf_user_level -> 10

      I saw the insufficient permissions prompt before noticing this, then changing the keys and values fixed it!

      • Alvise says

        Hi tried but I always get the same warning : You don’t have permissions……

        What can I do??

        Thanks!

        • Andy says

          it’s the quotes. Curly quotes are not the same in your DB. Paste that line into your DB, then delete the quotes you pasted in and type new ones.

  18. Ginette says

    Was ok one day and then the next – lost my admin access. Thanks for this – saved me a heap of frustration. Plus I’ve learnt some sql to boot!

    Cheers!

  19. Raspal says

    Hello,

    I had a blog hosted at web host A and moved to another webhost recently. I don’t have the account with web host A any longer but have the full backup of the WP blog on my computer. I restored the backup to this new webhost B and the database as well. The blog is accessible fine. But I’m not able to login to wp-admin using any of the three admin user logins I have in the database. I checked the database from phymyadmin and all the three users are there fine.

    I also tried to change passwords of these users. I get the link to change the password, but when I try to login to wp-admin using the new password, even then I get the same WP login screen without any error shown.

    I also tried the method you gave above, to create a new user. I did as per all the steps and also tried what the commenters have suggested, but still I’m not able to login.

    I tried deleting all the tables for this blog and then again imported the database. Doing this and trying to logging in just gives a message that the database needs to be updated before I can login. So, clicking the yes, I again get the login screen and the above process repeats – getting the same WP login screen with no error.

    Note that I’m using the WP Better Security plugin and even tried deleting the plugin using FTP, but the same thing, still.

    Can you tell me what can be done in this situation and where am I going wrong? Please help.

    Thank you.

    Kind Regards,
    Raspal

    • WPBeginner Support says

      Please check your wp-config.php file make sure that it has your new database name, username, and host information. Delete .htaccess file from the root of your site. Rename plugins directory in your /wp-content/ folder. This will deactivate all your plugins. Lastly, in phpmyadmin go to wp_options table and look for homeurl and siteurl options make sure they are pointing to your domain name. Report back if none of these steps resolve your issue.

      Admin

      • Raspal says

        Thanks for the help. I re-checked everything you mentioned above and all those things were perfect. After 2 days of fiddling, it striked me that I hadn’t tried clearing Chrome’s cache and cookies, silly me! This simple thing solved the problems which wasted my two days’ time. Sorry to have wasted your and others’ time too who read this.

        Anyway, everyone make sure to clear your cookies and cache every few days, Cookies and cache are responsible for really wierd problems. I don’t know about others but I like to keep my cookies for ages because they contain passwords to many (not-so-important but regular) sites I visit. And I take it for granted that cookies aren’t the culprit. Turned out to be wrong! Now, I have sent myself a reminder which tells me to clear the cookies and cache from all my browsers.

        Thanks again for the help. At least the options you mentioned, I will surely remember if something like this happens again. And I also learnt how to use phpmyadmin to create and even edit WP users. :) And in the process, I saw a table called lockdowns. This is created by WP Better Security plugin and I now know that I can clear this table or change the values if I am locked out of the login screen for bad logins. Thanks Syed and editorial staff!

        Kind Regards,
        Raspal

  20. Colin Steinmann says

    There is a very slight (but critical) typo in your tutorial:

    a:1:{s:13:”administrator”;s:1:”1″;} <—-this is not correct by a single character

    a:1:{s:13:"administrator";s:1:"1";} <—-this is correct, the final ″ should be a "

    The two characters look almost exactly the same, but they are slightly different.

  21. Tiago says

    Nice, it works!
    Just chanced the a:1:{s:13:”administrator”;b:1;} for the equivalent already listed in wp-capabilities and worked fine to me.

  22. Lane says

    I’ve followed all these steps, but it doesn’t appear my new user I created has been given admin role. When I log in to WordPress with the username and password I just created all I am able to see is the “Profiles” tab of the dashboard. Obviously I am missing a step along the way, but I have created two new users following this and it’s happened both time. Does anyone know what I may be doing wrong?

  23. Hope Corizzo says

    Wow. Many thanks! php always freaks me out, and I was able to follow this very well. I appreciate it.

  24. alan says

    This don’t work tried loads of times and still cannot log in.

    (unmeta_id – leave this blank (it will be auto-generated)
    user_id – this will be the id of the user you created in the previous step. Remember we picked 4.
    meta_key – this should be wp_capabilities
    meta_value – insert this: a:1:{s:13:”administrator”;s:1:”1″;}

    Insert another row with the following information:

    unmeta_id – leave this blank (it will be auto-generated)
    user_id – this will be the id of the user you created in the previous step. Remember we picked 4.
    meta_key – this should be wp_user_level
    meta_value – 10 )
    this part is where i think i am going wrong , i can see user created but it does not log in

  25. Kristian Lander says

    a useful guide, to an issue i found of a hacker who deleted the admin alos. however upon inserting a new admin. i get the error message of INSERT command denied to user “database name” @hosting for table “wp_users”

    any ideas?

  26. Anthony says

    Thanks, this works a treat. I just copied your SQL and ping! I used MySQL Bench not phpmyadmin.

  27. Oscar Rottink says

    Maybe a weird question, but I followed the steps and can’t login. Also watched for the brackets etc.

    So I tried ‘forgot password’ and entered my e-mail which is also in the wp_users table. But it says no user is registered with that e-mail.

    Anyone a clue what I missed?

    • Oscar Rottink says

      OMG sorry. My fault. I didn’t changed the base URL in the database so my local copy (and login) were pointing at the original site. Feeling stupid.

  28. Adam says

    If you copied the code a:1:{s:13:”administrator”;b:1;} from this blog, it is possible that you got curly quotes instead of regular quotes, which will not work.

  29. Albert A. Ninyeh says

    There was a problem with the wp_capabilities valve you gave and the problem was with the quotes. the correct one is: wp_capabilities should be a:1:{s:13:”administrator”;s:1:”1″;}

    Anyone who wants to solve this problem should copy it exactly as it appears.

  30. George says

    I by accident logged in before adding the “usermeta” info. It of course read “You do not have sufficient permissions to access this page.” Even after I added the usermeta info I get the same thing.

    Any thoughts on this?

    • Editorial Staff says

      Check to see if the prefix is the same as your main database prefix. We are assuming that the user is using the default wp_ prefix. If your database prefix is something else, then it wouldn’t work.

      Admin

      • Nat says

        I’ve tried everything and I still keep getting “You do not have sufficient permissions to access this page.” Any ideas on why this might be happening? Thanks.

      • David Abramson says

        I was getting the same error message and I think the problem comes from the check box in the second row that says “ignore”. It was checked by default for me and I got it to work once I unchecked that box.

  31. JasonC says

    Thank you so much this finally allowed me to get into my site. I tried every possible option to reset the admin password but nothing would work. I created the new account and logged in as administrator and was then able to export my work. Thanks again!

  32. Vic Dinovici says

    Hi, great article, thanks! Have a different issue though, my entire wp_users table got deleted and I don’t know how to create a wp_users table using phpMyAdmin. Can anyone help? Thanks!

    • Editorial Staff says

      Did you try repairing your database using the WordPress repair tool? Maybe that adds it back. Otherwise, you are better off reinstalling WordPress. For future, keep good backups.

      Admin

      • Vic Dinovici says

        using the repairing DB WordPress tool won’t create the wp_users table. What I did is deleting the unused tables from the old one, lowering it’s size and uploading it again. It worked. Thanks.

  33. sibz says

    After attempting to log in it sais..

    You do not have sufficient permissions to access this page

    why did this happen?

    Thanks

    • Editorial Staff says

      This happens if your user permissions level aren’t correct. Can you make sure that the permission level is the same as the other admin user in your phpMyAdmin

      Admin

      • Sibz says

        I have applied same user level as 10.
        But still does not work :(
        Can my developer have any access to my
        Cpanel if she doesnt have my ftp or cpanel
        Log in details?
        I see in phpmyadmin she is listed as admin.
        Its all so confusing especially when im new to all
        Of this!

      • Chris Cox says

        Guide is out of date. The correct string for wp_capabilities is now:

        a:1:{s:13:”administrator”;s:1:”1″;}

  34. nimbleswitch says

    I echo Ravi’s suggestion to copy the meta value from another admin. In my case “wp_capabilities” was actually databaseName-“_capabilities” and my admin level looked like this:  a:2:{s:13:”administrator”;s:1:”1″;s:17:”gform_full_access”;s:1:”1″;}
     
    Thanks for the great article. Saved my day.
     

    • Iryna says

      Copying of the wp_capabiblities-value from another admin helped me to. In my case the value was a:1:{s:13:”administrator”;s:1:”1″;}. Until this change I had recieved: “You do not have sufficient permissions to access this page.”

  35. ravidreams says

    Thanks for the useful article.
     
    a:1:{s:13:”administrator”;b:1;} didn’t work for me. I had to copy the meta value from another admin user and then it worked.

  36. michoscopic says

    For those who encounter “You do not have sufficient permissions to access this page.”, replace “wp_capabilities” with your full wordpress table name, e.g. if your usermeta tables are called wp_yourtableusermeta (as opposed to wp_usermeta in this tutorial), then you need to use wp_yourtablecapabilities instead. Same goes for wp_user_level, change it to wp_yourtableuser_level. Hope this helps.

  37. mr.minhkhang says

    In my opinion tampering with MySQL should not be on wp’beginner’, messing around with the database is simply not a beginner thing.

    I don’t know when this was posted, but the time when WordPress used MD5 has long gone. This article should be updated to use wp_hash_password instead.

  38. annedreshfield says

    Hi guys, Anne here, community manager intern at Livefyre. Welcome! Just wanted to drop in and say that everyone here loves this blog; it’s full to the brim with fantastic information. Can’t wait to read more!

  39. blainesch says

    I was pretty sure the password was md5 but also using a salt stored in the config file it creates.

    • Kosta Welissariou says

      Hi,

      I hope to get some help here. My blog was hacked with some base64 stuff. I can solve 99% of all the problems but I have 2 Admins in my wp Backend that need to be removed from mysql table before I can take other actions

      Sorry, no clue how to track the adin in the table and remove them

      WP latest
      Access to the mysql database

      tks

      Kosta

    • phil says

      If it was salted, just follow the steps, add a real email and have it send you a password reset. Boom. :) hope that helped.

Leave a Reply to Punam Cancel reply

Thanks for choosing to leave a comment. Please keep in mind that all comments are moderated according to our comment policy, and your email address will NOT be published. Please Do NOT use keywords in the name field. Let's have a personal and meaningful conversation.