#25 - Forgot your Joomla super administrator password?

This happened to me quite a few times before I learnt to store my passwords in a safe place. However, if you do forget or lose your Joomla super administrator password, there is a very easy way to reset it to a default password (admin). Use the steps below to set the password to admin. 

Joomla 1.6 

 To reset the old password:

If the admin user is still defined, the simplest option is to change the password in the database to a known value. This requires that you have access to the MySQL database using phpMyAdmin.

1. Navigate to phpMyAdmin and select the database for the Joomla! site in the left-hand drop-down list box. This will show the database tables on the left side of the screen.
2. Click on the table "jos_users" in the list of tables.
3. Click on the "Browse" button in the top toolbar. This will show all of the users that are set up for this site.
4. Find the user whose password you want to change and press the Edit icon for this row.
5. A form will display that allows you to edit the password field. Copy the value
   d2064d358136996bd22421584a7cb33e:trd7TvKHx6dMeoMmBVxYmg0vuXEA4199
   into the password field and press the Go button. phpMyAdmin should display the message "Affected rows: 1". At this point, the password should be changed to "secret".
6. Log in with this user and password and change the password of this user to a secure value. Check all of the users using the User Manager to make sure they are legitimate. If you have been hacked, you may want to change all of the passwords on the site.

To create a new admin2 user: 

Open the database using phpMyAdmin or database explorer and select the table, jos_users . (replace jos_ with your own table prefix if this is different than the default).

Run the following SQL Code:

INSERT INTO `jos_users`(`id`, `name`, `username`, `email`, `password`, `usertype`, `block`, `sendEmail`,`registerDate`, `lastvisitDate`,`activation`,`params`)

VALUES ('40', 'Administrator2', 'admin2', ' This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it ','d2064d358136996bd22421584a7cb33e:trd7TvKHx6dMeoMmBVxYmg0vuXEA4199','Super Administrator', 0, 1, '0000-00-00 00:00:00', '0000-00-00 00:00:00',"",""); 

INSERT INTO `jos_user_usergroup_map` (`user_id`,`group_id`) VALUES (40, 8); 

Logon to the back end http://yoursitedomain.com/administrator  using the username admin2 and the password secret in the login box.

Select the user you have just logged in with using this password and username and change the password for the user to something else. This is extremely important otherwise your website might get hacked.

Check all is ok with Front-end access by opening your site http://yourdomainname.com and logging in using the username admin and the new password you have set it in the back end.

Joomla 1.5

21232f297a57a5a743894a0e4a801fc3

5. Logon to the back end http://yoursitedomain.com/administrator  using the username admin and the password admin in the login box.

6. Select the user you have just logged in with using this password and username and change the password for the user to something else. This is extremely important otherwise your website might get hacked.

7. Check all is ok with Front-end access by opening your site http://yourdomainname.com and logging in using the username admin and the new password you have set it in the back end.

Joomla 1.0 

You need access to your MySQL database, via phpmyadmin or otherwise. For Joomla version up to 1.0.12 you need to execute the following query. The strange password is actually the password "admin" encrypted with the encyption algorithm Joomla uses.

UPDATE `jos_users` SET `name` = 'admin', `password` = '21232f297a57a5a743894a0e4a801fc3' WHERE `id` =62 LIMIT 1 ;

For 1.0.13, you need to run a query with a different value for the password, which is below because the encryption algorithm has changed.

UPDATE `jos_users` SET `name` = 'admin', `password` = 'af9083d4b82dbc0745b124db3b3cf15d:M0WuLowO4rtRTddG' WHERE `id` =62 LIMIT 1 ;

Once you've run this query you need to logon to the administrator backed and set the password to something more complicated. Leaving the password as "admin" will result in a serious risk to your site!

If you're running an older version of Joomla or Mambo, you might need to change jos_users to mos_users.

Comments

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Komang  - Good Trik   |125.162.132.xxx |2008-02-18 07:30:30 that very usefull great tutorial. anyway thanks a lot of nolinkspls://zzz.reservationeasy.com

rohahn  - awesome work   |203.123.40.xxx |2008-07-01 19:11:29 thnx a lot mate... u saved me...

Gideon   |68.14.80.xxx |2008-07-10 21:48:27 I recently upgraded from 1.0.12 to 1.0.15 and somehow in the process, my super admin account disappeared. Fortunately, I had another account set up, but it's only set to normal administrator privileges. Is there a similar MySql method to restore/recreate a super admin account when the only access I have is admin? I think the old super admin account (record 62?) is gone because I don't see that account anymore from the Joomla backend Manage Users screen. Thanks!

Gideon   |68.14.80.xxx |2008-07-10 21:58:36 As an update to my last post: The record 62 WAS still in the MySql DB, I ran the query from the instructions above, and all is well again! I'm still a little confused why the super admin account disappeared on me in the Joomla backend admin when it was clearly still in the MySql DB though...

Ari  - Thanks!   |88.114.121.xxx |2008-08-19 06:08:38 Thanks mate, you saved my day with this good and clear post. It was easy and quick to reset the super admin password.

Sif  - Your are a god   |65.112.199.xxx |2008-08-29 00:50:51 Thanks a million this save my butt!

Corsulian  - Trouble Remains   |152.120.255.xxx |2008-09-04 00:01:02 I didn't forget my super admin password - Joomla just started giving me the "username & password don't match." Upon using a different account to look at the back-end, the super admin account was no longer visible. It's plainly there in phpMyAdmin and the IDs are correctly linked. I tried using the MD5-hashed version of "admin" to no avail: clicking Login has no effect at all. I've used an MD5 generator for other random words and the same thing happens. Now, in phpMyAdmin, the passwords appear to be significantly longer than any of the MD5 hashes--roughly twice as long with a colon in the middle. Any ideas?

bigmike  - ordinary bloke   |196.25.255.xxx |2008-09-17 11:04:19 Thanks mate - saved me a ton of grief!

mamah  - Thank-you, thank-you, thank-yo   |80.202.30.xxx |2008-10-07 21:27:01 Really grateful for this tip.

ram  - Need Some other way   |117.199.130.xxx |2008-10-18 11:04:58 hey i dont have phpmyadmin or else i dont have idea to take from database is there any other way to get my password and id back

pete  - Thank you...   |190.200.92.xxx |2008-10-19 18:45:21 very useful. I just did it...

Ignatius   |60.52.103.xxx |2008-10-27 03:13:03 Thanks mate... It works great 4 me Cheers!!!

Ignatius  - Ram try this step...   |60.52.103.xxx |2008-10-27 03:17:14 before i carry on... do u have your hosting ID and password??? Contact me via enascobiz(a)yahoo.com

Omar Abdulla  - How to login into super admin     |198.54.202.xxx |2009-02-27 18:38:27 Hello, my name is omar abdulla from footprints filmworks. i seem to have lost my joomla user details, how do i change my password and login details as i have been locked out of my administrator functions. Thanks Omar

DART  - Login super admin   |78.133.49.xxx |2009-02-27 19:38:35 If you have access to the database via phpmyadmin, you will find the name of the superadmin user as the record with id number 62 in the jos_users table. You can then reset the password using the above procedure.

JoomlaFun  - Awesome     |41.221.16.xxx |2009-03-15 00:25:06 easy steps and work fine for me .. Thanks for the TIP

Brook  - Thanks!     |75.107.254.xxx |2009-03-18 02:12:20 Easy enough to follow...as long as your remember the SQL password ;-) Thanks!

meldef  - Please help me     |122.52.38.xxx |2011-01-27 18:08:06 How im going to reset password of a joomla 1.0.10 website with no phpmyadmin. Im using a Linux server with no GUI. I will appreciate any help you can give me. Thanks in advance.

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