Recently, one of our users asked us how to reset WordPress admin password on localhost? If you are running WordPress on localhost and forget your password, then you can’t reset it by email. In this article, we will show you how to reset WordPress admin password on localhost.
Why Password Reset Doesn’t Work on Localhost?
The term localhost is used to describe a local server that is not available to the general public. For example: your personal computer.
Many WordPress users install WordPress on localhost (in their computer) to test changes, design websites, try out new plugins, and even learn WordPress.
If you haven’t tried it, then see our tutorial on how to install WordPress on your Windows computer using WAMP.
Mac users can follow instructions in our tutorial on how to install WordPress locally on Mac using MAMP.
Now here is the problem that some beginners may come across.
If you forget your WordPress admin password while working on localhost, then you will be NOT be able to reset it using the normal password reset option in WordPress.
The password reset option emails you a link to reset your WordPress password. In order to send emails, your server needs to enable the mail function.
This function is turned off by default on local servers which means WordPress will not be able to send the password reset email.
But don’t worry, there’s a way to reset your WordPress password on localhost.
Ready? Let’s get started.
Video Tutorial
If you don’t like the video or need more instructions, then continue reading.
Reset WordPress Admin Password on Localhost
We will be using phpMyAdmin to reset password on localhost. Simply visit phpMyAdmin control panel by typing this URL in your browser’s address bar:
http://localhost/phpmyadmin/
You will be asked to provide your MySQL username and password. Typically, the username is root with no password.
Once you are logged in, you need to select your WordPress database.
Once you select your database, you will see a list of tables in your WordPress database. Go ahead and click on the browse link next to WordPress users table.
You will now see the list of entries in your users table. The number of rows depend on how many users are registered on your WordPress site.
Next, you need to click on the Edit link next to the username of the admin user.
This will open up a form where you can edit the information stored in WordPress database for that user.
Scroll down to user_pass field and type a new password in the ‘value’ column. After that you need to select MD5 in the ‘function’ column.
Don’t forget to click on the Go button at the bottom to save your changes.
That’s all, you can now login to your WordPress site on localhost using the new password.
If for some reason you’re having a hard time following the phpMyAdmin method, then please look at our guide on how to create a WordPress admin user using your functions.php file. Simply open your theme’s functions.php file and paste the code in the article above, and you’ll be good to go.
We hope this article, helped you learn how to reset WordPress admin password on localhost. You may also want to see our guide on how to how to move WordPress from local server to live site.
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.
Nidhi Gupta says
it’s really helpful, thankyou so much
WPBeginner Support says
Glad our guide was helpful!
Admin
Habu says
Omg you save my life !!! THANK YOU VERY MUCHH !!!
Jahir says
I can not log in now same process…any updates?
WPBeginner Support says
The most common issue would be if you did not set the function to MD5 or click go to apply the changes, you would want to ensure you have done that correctly.
Admin
Kamondo says
Wonderful! problem solved. Very Simple steps but powerful.
WPBeginner Support says
Glad our guide was helpful
Admin
Joe says
I’m encoutering this problem now after installing the 2nd WordPress on MAMP. This article is very to the point and I’ll try it tomorrow!
WPBeginner Support says
We hope the guide helps
Admin
Gerron says
Solid solid info right here, thanks a lot, really helped, so simple
WPBeginner Support says
Glad our guide was helpful
Admin
Odineks says
Thank you so much. I always find solutions to every of my WP problems here.
I kept having problems with the login page on the frontend not recognizing my new password, I didn’t realize there is a function to pass that message to myPHPadmin.
WPBeginner Support says
Glad our guide was helpful
Admin
naved ahmed says
Thanks a lot. Finally problem solved within a minute.
WPBeginner Support says
Glad our guide was helpful
Admin
Mohsin says
I just love this
Love the way you write every thing
WPBeginner Support says
Thank you, glad you like our content
Admin
Jen says
I tried this and while I was in there also attempted to change my username, which I realize was probably my mistake… but now I can’t log in at all. Is there a way to undo what I’ve done?
WPBeginner Support says
You would need to follow the steps in the article and that would bring you back to where you could edit, you should also be able to use your email as an alternative
Admin
Justina says
Your Blog is always so full of rich articles. Thanks so much. was stuck for a while because I skip the MD5 option. You are a lifesaver.
WPBeginner Support says
Glad our guide could be helpful
Admin
Sarah says
Thank you SO MUCH for this! You saved me so many more hours of tinkering with trying to figure out how to log in!!
WPBeginner Support says
Glad we were able to help
Admin
David says
Thank you ever so much! Normally, I keep this stuff handy; but in this case, I did could not find where I wrote the information down.
You saved a total re-work of a site I was planning.
WPBeginner Support says
Glad our guide could be helpful
Admin
adeel kamran says
You saved me, I had a lot of work there.
WPBeginner Support says
Glad our guide could help
Admin
lokesh n says
thank you it’s really working thank you
WPBeginner Support says
You’re welcome glad our article was helpful
Admin
Vivek says
Hi,
When I reset My password through link then what fileds affected in Database and in which table.
Kindly share this information i am waiting for your response.
WPBeginner Support says
For understanding the database you would want to take a look at our article here: https://www.wpbeginner.com/beginners-guide/beginners-guide-to-wordpress-database-management-with-phpmyadmin/
Admin
Adnan Khan says
After half an hour of search i just found my help from this site, which solves my problem in no time,
thanks a lot
keep it up guys
WPBeginner Support says
You’re welcome, glad our guides can be helpful
Admin
Tenasu Mensah says
thanks a lot, kudos to you guys keep the good work doing,you guys are doing great job
WPBeginner Support says
Glad our guide could help
Admin
Anuj says
It work fine, Thanku so much,
Pádraig says
Really simple and great explanation.
Many thanks for sharing.
Saranya says
Works Good! Thanks a lot.
Patr says
Hello,
I type a new password , click continue and it does not keep the password, it shows a long string of numbers and letters. If I use this , still cannot log in. It looks simple on the video but does not work for me. Thank you.
I looked everywhere on the internet, no solution worling.
Jason says
Same problem here. Did you find a solution? Is there any chance of being hacked?
Christian Gochez says
when I click on the Go button this error appears:
#1881 – Operation not allowed when innodb_forced_recovery > 0
Edward says
Simple and neat! worked thanks
Handel says
I started to just reinstall wordpress, but then decided to do a google search, and there was GOOD OLD RELIABLE WpBeginner.com
Thanks a million!!
Sheriff says
very effective… kudos
Icholia says
Hello
THANKS, Wow there is no other place that you can get well explained information like this , i have been suffering but now i just followed your tutorial and it is a game changer i love you guys and i will always learn from you guys once again thanks
CJ says
Thank you! For those who can’t make it work, remember to use the “MD5” function when changing the password. I almost skipped that part and was stuck for a few minutes.
mohamad hossein says
so use full thank you so much
Janet says
I got completely lost on the video so I tried plugging in the URL. Doesn’t work. Still lost.
Ma says
Thanks so much, you saved me from what could have been a very embarrassing situation!
James says
I change the password, username, userlogin and nickname not I cant login. Any advice?
suganya says
i can’t able to login .because it’s shows me like email is not registered .so what can i do???
Jac says
Thanks so much for providing this info – I was really stuck!
Gerhard SCHNEIBEL says
Thanks a lot for your help. I am very happy with “wpbeginners”.
Renu says
it worked.. thanks a ton..
Anthony says
Hi…
I am so thankful for such great information you provide. I have bookmarked your site a while back.
I have been working on a site in wordpress using xampp on the Apache local server. Just recently, I am not able to login on the admin page. I have managed to create a user name and password that works on about 95% of all sites requiring me to register. I also created a file that lists all my login info for everywhere I need to login, including the WP admin login page, IF I ever forget that info.
I have read this page (https://www.wpbeginner.com/wp-tutorials/how-to-reset-wordpress-admin-password-on-localhost/) and watched the video, also. The only problem is that when I click on the wp_users in phpMyadmin, I get this error- ‘#1932 – Table ‘bitnami_wordpress.wp_users’ doesn’t exist in engine.’
Am I reduced to re-installing WordPress, or is there another way around it?
I have tried restoring my computer (using system restore) to various past restore points, but with no luck. Can you help me with this?
I would be so thankful!!! I have put months of work into designing a site to launch, and I HAVE exported everything to a file quite a few times using WordPress import plugin (something like that).
Could you provide a solution?
Thank you so much…
Anthony
WPBeginner Support says
Hi Anthony,
you can also add an admin user by adding code to your current WordPress theme’s admin file.
Admin
Kakaire Charles says
Extremely wonderful. Thank you for sharing.
Gaurav says
i tried this but not working
shaikh muneer says
super way to reset admin password thank you for share this