If you use WordPress on a daily basis, you must have faced the issue of losing your password required to login to a WordPress website or your account at some point in time. Well, we are here to guide you.
WordPress has been the most accessible, free-to-use, open source Content Management System (CMS). Not only is it a powerful blogging platform, but a robust website builder too. WordPress has an easy-to-use and flexible interface that makes it one of the most popular content management systems (CMS).
Losing a WordPress password can be irritating. You may start panicking after realizing that you have lost your password and thus, lost access to your website. However, forgetting a password is not a big deal, especially nowadays when we have so many passwords to remember at a time. It can happen with anyone even with tech-savvy people.
So, if you ever wonder how to find your WordPress login password in case you lose it or forget it, here are some possible solutions mentioned in this article that you can consider.
“Changing or Resetting”- Which One Will Help?
Changing or resetting a password leads to similar results; however, there is a difference in terms of their purpose. When it comes to changing a password, you will have to initiate it while resetting the password will be initiated by the system when you confirm that you have lost your password.
To change your password, you must be aware of the current password. Whereas resetting the password is done by the site admin and can be done for other users as well. Resetting the password is beneficial when the user doesn’t know the existing password.
How to Change or Reset WordPress Login Password
Losing access to our WordPress account is quite common and it mainly occurs when we either forget the password or a WordPress site fails to send emails correctly.
This article will guide you through a few simple methods to find your WordPress login password in different scenarios.
Method 1: Changing the Password in the Profile Screen
If you can access the WordPress website and wish to change the current password, you need to follow these steps:
Step 1: Go to your profile.
Step 2: Navigate to the Account Management section.
Step 3: Now select Generate Password. A new password should be created for you to copy. You can even modify it if you wish to.
Step 4: Next, click on the Update Profile button, and a new password will be saved.
Note: You will have to login again with the new password.
If you are worried about your account’s security, make sure you click on the Log Out Everywhere Else button to log out from all the devices.
Method 2: Use the Lost Password Link & Reset the Password
If you have lost the password of your WordPress account, you need to use the forgot password link to reset the password. Here’s the process you need to follow:
Step 1: Go to the WordPress login page. You will see the “Lost Your Password?” link at the bottom of the login page. Click on it.
Step 2: Enter the username or email address associated with your WordPress account.
Step 3: Now select Get New Password, and a link will be sent to your mail address linked with your account.
Step 4: Click on the link you received in your mail, which will redirect you to a screen that will guide you to reset the password.
Step 5: You need to enter a new password in the New password field and click on the Reset password button below to make sure that the password gets changed successfully.
Now you can log in to your account with the newly created password.
Method 3: Change or Reset the Password of Another User with the WordPress Admin
If you own the admin rights of a WordPress site, you can change or reset the password for other users.
Step 1: Go to WordPress admin and select Users. Search for the user whose password you wish to change. Click the Edit option under the user name.
Step 2: Navigate to the Account Management section and choose Generate Password under the editing screen of that user. A new password will be created automatically.
Step 3: click on the Update User button. The user will receive their new password in an email.
Note: If any of the users of your website forget their password, they can easily reset it on their own by clicking on the lost password link. You, being the site owner, will receive a notification on your mail when someone does so.
Method 4: Change WordPress Password through WP-CLI
If you own access to your WordPress site, you can change or reset a password by using WP-CLI.
Step 1: Begin by accessing the site through WP-CLI.
Step 2: Now, visit the root directory where you’ve installed WordPress. Find all the users by typing the following command – wp user list
Step 3: Search the user for which the password needs to be changed, and notice their user ID. If the user is the site’s admin, the user ID should include the number- 1.
Now, use this command – wp user update 1 –user_pass=password
However, you can also use this method to reset other users’ passwords. In that case, the user ID won’t be 1; and you need to replace “1” with the number you’re getting in the above command and then apply it.
Method 5: Change or Reset WordPress Passwords with phpMyAdmin
This solution works best when the user doesn’t have access to their email or WordPress isn’t sending an email with the reset password link. If you’ve installed WordPress locally, this method will work best for you.
Note: If you edit and manipulate tables directly from phpMyAdmin, your site might break if something goes wrong. So, you can hire a developer if you are not a pro at doing this.
Step 1: Log in to phpMyAdmin. The link for phpMyAdmin is usually found in the database if your web host uses cPanel.
Step 2: Select the database on the left and then choose the wp_users table.
Note: You might see a prefix added on some sites mainly due to security purposes. It will be named differently in such cases.
Step 3: Select Edit on the row near the admin’s username. Make sure you edit the right user’s WordPress site.
Step 4: Enter a fresh value for the password in the column user_pass. Select MD5 and then select Go.
Method 6: Reset or Change WordPress Password with SQL
Another way to change your password with the help of SQL is to run the following command –
UPDATE `wp_users` SET `user_pass` = MD5( ‘new_password’ ) WHERE `wp_users`.`user_login` = “admin_username”
You need to replace the ‘new password’ and ‘admin_username’ with your values.
Note: To access the SQL, you need to go to phpMyAdmin
Method 7: Change/Reset WordPress Passwords Through FTP
Step 1: Access your site with an FTP client or a code editor with FTP.
Step 2: Visit the root directory of the WordPress site.
Step 3: Now go to wp-content/themes and look for the folder with the active theme. You will find the functions.php file in the folder. Download the file to be able to edit it.
Note: Always make sure to create a duplicate of this file before making any changes
Step 4: In the first line after the opening <?php, add this command –
wp_set_password( ‘password’, 1 );
The first parameter is the newly created password, while the User ID is the second parameter. User ID 1 is the administrator.
Step 5: Upload the modified file to the site in the same location or simply save it. The admin password will be the password that is stored in the functions file. Now, the user can try to log in to the WordPress site and check whether they can access it or not.
Step 6: After logging in, get the functions.php file and remove the line of code. It’s an important step to complete, or else your password will reset every time the page is loaded.
Method 8: Change/Reset WordPress Password using cPanel
If the user installs the WordPress using cPanel and there is no email associated with the WordPress admin account, then the admin’s account password can be reset through cPanel. Passwords of other users can also be changed using this method.
Here are the steps involved in this method:
Step 1: Open your cPanel and go to WordPress Manager. Now look for Auto-installer or Softaculous, which mainly depends on your hosting provider. This will direct you to the installation for resetting the password.
Step 2: Select the Edit icon next to the installation for which you need to reset the password.
Step 3: At the Admin Account section, look for the Admin Password field. The new password can be set from here but make sure to use a strong password.
Step 4: Finally, go to your WordPress website and sign in with the new password.
Method 9: Change/Reset WordPress Password Via the Emergency Password Reset Script
If any of the above methods fail to reset or change your WordPress password and you still wonder how to find your WordPress login password, this is the last and final resort to your problem.
In this method, you must know the admin’s username as it sends the new password to the admin’s mailbox. Also, if you cannot access your email, this method can’t be used to reset the password.
Step 1: Create a file – emergency.php in the root directory where you installed WordPress. Copy the Emergency Password Script in your file.
Step 2: Go to your browser and open http://example.com/emergency.php. Example.com will be your site’s address.
Step 3: Type the admin’s username in the WordPress Administrator field, and enter the new password in the Password field. Now click on the Update Options button.
A message will be displayed notifying you about the password change.
Step 4: Now delete the emergency.php from the server once you are done. Make sure to never leave it on the server as it can be used by someone else to reset your password. You should be now able to login to your WordPress site using the new password.
Conclusion
We hope the above methods help you change or reset your WordPress login password and you can use it again. For further help, write to us your concern and get it addressed by our tech experts. Stay connected.
People are also reading:
