The WordPress password gives you access to manage your website. With a combination of username and password, you will be able to access your WP dashboard and make administrative changes and updates. This guide will show you how to change your WordPress password.
Passwords are a must for almost everything you do on the Internet. Thus, users must remember or store passwords that include letters, numbers, or symbols.
Since passwords are the main WordPress security tool, you cannot afford an easily guessed password. This can leave your site vulnerable to attacks.
However, since your password must be complex, it is easy to forget it and lock your account.
If you find yourself in any of these situations:
- Forgot your WordPress password.
- You need to change it from a weak password to a stronger one to keep your site secure and private.
- A hacker is blocking you from your site.
Then this article is for you. Learn the different ways to reset your WordPress password depending on the situation you find yourself in.
Ways to Change WordPress Passwords
Method 1
When logged in through the WordPress Admin Panel
This method is useful for changing your site’s WordPress password while you still have access to it. This can be done easily from your WordPress dashboard.
First, log into your WordPress admin panel and go to Users> all users .
On the All Users page , hover over the administrator profile and click Edit .
On your profile page, go to the Account Management section . Then click the Generate Password button .
WordPress will generate a series of characters including numbers and symbols as a password.
The password that WordPress generates is complex and difficult to guess. This is why you must use it! You can always use password management tools to save passwords and login.
Alternatively, you can create your own password.
Just enter your password in the new password area. Make sure the password is strong.
WordPress recognizes a password as strong depending on the number and combination of characters in it.
When you are satisfied with your new password, click the Update Profile button to save your new changes.
Update profile to change WordPress password
Method 2
Change WordPress password by email when your site is blocked
This method is useful if you have lost your WordPress site password and cannot access through the login screen.
If you try to access your WordPress site and you get an error that the password you entered is incorrect, you can use the “lost password” link on the login screen to reset your WordPress password. Click on any of the links as shown below.
Enter your username or email address associated with your WordPress site in the space provided. Click the Get New Password button .
You will receive an invitation to check your email for a confirmation link.
Go to your inbox and click on the reset link.
The link redirects to the WordPress login page. WordPress will create a password for you as shown below.
You can use the password it generates or enter a strong new password.
Then click the Reset Password button .
And that’s it, you’ve reset your WordPress password.
Method 3
Reset password via phpmyadmin in hosting control panel
This method is useful if you didn’t receive an email when you tried the reset option above, and if you have access to cPanel through WordPress hosting for your site.
To reset your WordPress password via phpMyAdmin, first log into your cPanel. Your host provider will provide you with the required details such as url, username and password to access cPanel.
We will make changes to the site database. Therefore, it is important to back up the database.
When the database backup is complete, you can proceed to reset your WordPress password for the site.
In cPanel, under Databases, click phpMyAdmin .
On the new screen, click the database link in the upper left corner. Make sure this is the database containing your WordPress site.
Find the user table on the screen and click on it.
Note that this table is usually prefixed with, for example, wp_users , or in our case prt_users . You can change the prefix using the security plugin .
The site administrator’s user list will be displayed along with usernames and email. Find the specific user for whom you want to change the password. Click the Change button.
Find user_pass on the page.
In the user_pass field, click the dropdown next to varchar (255) in the Function column and select MD5 .
Then, in the same field in the Null column, delete the old password and enter a new one. Then click the Go button.
You will see a success message. Your password has been updated.
Method 4
Resetting your password using an emergency password reset script
This is another method that you can use if resetting emails doesn’t work and if you don’t want to directly modify your database. Emergency Password Reset Script is a PHP script that gives you a password reset dialog box.
First, copy the emergency password script here. Then paste it into a file and save it as emergency.php .
The next thing you need to do is upload the emergency.php file to the root of your WordPress installation by logging into your site’s cPanel and going to File Manager> Public_html .
After downloading, follow these steps:
In your browser, enter http://yoursite.com/emergency.php (replace yoursite.com with your domain)
Enter your WordPress admin name
Then enter the new password
Then click the Update Options button.
Your password will be reset to the new one you entered.
Make sure you delete the emergency.php file from the server after the password reset is complete. Otherwise, any user can reset their password.
To remove a file still in your site’s cPanel, go to Public_html. Then select emergency.php and click the Delete button.
Click the Confirm button to complete the deletion.
