There are a few occassions when you will need to change your WordPress user password. This can normally be done using the the handy lost your password? link using built functionality of WordPress. Clicking on the link will initiate an email sent to your designated email address with a link to enable you to reset your password.
If you've tried clicking on the link to reset your password and the email never arrives, what do you do now?
There may be a strong possibility that your WordPress site has been hacked or what is most common the email address you used to set up your account, is no longer the email address you use or you've changed email addresses but forgotten to update your emaill address.
In this post we'll guide you through the process of reseting your user password using Control Panel and phpMyAdmin.
The majority of hosting providers use a Web Hosting Control Panel, CPanel, which to provide a graphical user interface and automation tools designed to simplify system administration processes. It is in all likelihood that your WordPress site is on a hosting plan that utilizes cPanel.
How to Log in to cPanel
You can navigate to your cPanel by simply using your adding /cpanel to your domain name
For example http://somewebsite.com/cpanel
You'll invariably be greeted by a screen that looks something similar too:.
Never use the same password and username for WordPress & Cpanel
If you have done this, then now is a good time to change your username and password combinations so they are both completely different
Hackers are continually scanning the internet for Username & Password combinations and will routinely try these out on all Website Logins Cpanel and WordPress login screens are their favourtie target due to their popularity.
Why do WordPress Sites get hacked
Open phpMyAdmin
Once you're logged and depending the version or theme your Hosting provider has configured with their CPanel you should see a screen similar to one of the below.
You should also be able to see a Database section with phpMyadmin
Open phpMyAdmin application and connect to your WordPress Database. This would be named to whatever you called it or some kind of default your Hosting provider defined during installation. If you expand all the tables, should be able to locate a table named something similar too,wp_users again some hosting providers may take some additional security procedures and try to obfuscate the name a little by appending characters are prefixes to it.
In the example screen shot the table is called wpem_users
On the right-hand side find the name of the user you would like to change the password too and click Edit and Edit Screen will open.
You can now change the value to whatever new password you want ensuring your select MD5 Function column and click Go
Once you click Go the query will be submitted and you will get a confirmation screen confirming the change has been made.
Conclusion
There are a number of different approaches to changing Passwords in WordPress so you should be able to get back up and running in no time
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