How to reset a WordPress password

I’ve found this method today, and it works very well. I’ve just used it to reset my admin access password to a localhost installation. In fact it’s impossible to recover a password by means of an email if your system cannot send emails. This method is also very easy, and without email delivery delays in between.

  1. Open phpMyAdmin (a different MySQL web access tool should be fine, too)
  2. You should see the welcome page. Find the Database selection box and select your WordPress database
  3. You should see a list of tables, many with a common prefix, organized as links on the left and as rows on the right. Click the link wp_users (instead of wp you’ll use the prefix you chose when installing WordPress, if different)
  4. You should see the wp_users table structure, but you’re looking for its contents, so find the Browse link and click it
  5. You shoud see the wp_users table contents, one row for each registered user. Select the one with the admin value under the user_login column header and click on the Change link (with a pen icon, right below the last row)
  6. You should see a classical data entry form. In the row which has the user_pass value under the Field column header, select the MD5 value from the selection box under the Function column header, and write your new password in the text field under the Value column header. Then click Go
  7. Close phpMyAdmin
  8. Done

13 Replies to “How to reset a WordPress password”

  1. This is really cool and simple way that worked for me and took just a few seconds for me. Thank you!

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