Craig Layne

You don’t know how often I hear people say, “I lost my WordPress password, what do I do now?”

Well, the first thing to do is use the automatic recovery found on the login page.

This will allow you to email a new password to yourself.

What’s that? You forgot your WordPress email address too? Don’t worry, you aren’t alone. Everyday I read on forums and stories about how people have lost both their password and email. By now many of them are thinking all is lost, but it’s ok, you’re not dead yet.

This is the ultimate fix. It will allow you to see your email and change your password. However, it involves editing your database.

I know, editing your db can be a scary thing, but this really isn’t hard. Simply follow these steps and you won’t have any problems. PS, you can click on the thumbnails to make them larger.

1. Backup your database. I know you are thinking about skipping this step but be sure you take the backup, no matter what. Nothing should go wrong but if it does you will be thankful you have the backup.
2. Log into phpMyAdmin. What, you don’t have that? I am 90% sure you do. It can be found within your hosting control panel, ie cPanel. You will often find this in your database manager. If you cant find it contact me and I will help you.
3. Navigate to the table wp-settings.
   
   
4. Next you will want to click on browse. This will list all of your users, and information.
   
5. Now select edit (the pencil) for the user you wish to change the password for.
   
6. Next look for the row labeled “User pass.” This is the row you want to edit. You will notice your old encrypted password in the value box. Sadly you won;t be able to decrypt this, but we will be able to overwrite it with the new one.
7. Once you found the row user_pass select md5 in the drop down box, and type your new password as the value. Click “Go” and it will automatically encrypt everything for you.
   

Congrats! Your password is now updated. Just go login, and make sure that everything works the way it should.