There are times when you lose a login to your WordPress. The usual response is to use the lost password link and reset the password.
But, what happens if you do not have, or have lost access to that email address?
If you can access the WordPress Database, usually via PHPMyAdmin, you can reset the user details so that you can log in.
Why Can’t I just change the password in the database?
For obvious security reasons, the passwords are encrypted, so simply changing that entry does not work. The simple thing is to use PHPMyAdmin to view the xxx_users table. Where xxx is the prefix database name your system allocated. (originally we used ‘wp_’)
You can change the email address of the user and save the record. That will then allow you to use the standard password reset procedure. You only
- You only need one admin login to work and you can reset any other usernames via the dashboard.
- If you need a lot of email addresses updated, then this method is better than using the dashboard which will want to send out emails and gain confirmations from each user.
