[How To] Reset the Joomla Admin Password if You Forgot It

Joomla reset admin password

Do you need to reset password or Super User login?

Forgot your Joomla password? Locked out of your administrator backend? Need to reset the J! credentials?

This happened to us quite a few times before we learned to store the passwords in a safe place. However, if you do forget or lose your super administrator login, there is a very easy way to reset the Joomla admin password (admin) without requiring any particular extensions.

We have the complete and easy steps Use the steps below to reset your Joomla login details. 

How to reset your Joomla password

You can reset the Joomla admin password if you have access to PHPMyAdmin. Browse to PHPMyAdmin using the credentials which you should have available as part of your web hosting details (such as our InMotion VPS). You will need to access the Users table in phpMyAdmin.

phpmyadmin

  1. On the left, you will see 2 links, click on your Database name 
    database name
  2. You will see all the table names are prefixed with some letters, e.g. adfa_ The table names are on the right of the Underscore.
  3. Scroll down to the table  xxxx_users, which is where the user credentials are stored and where we will reset the Joomla Administrator password
    users table
  4. Click on the ‘Browse‘ tab and find the admin user you want to change the password of
  5. Click on the ‘Pencil‘ to edit the Super Administrator user.
    edit the user
  6. Change the password drop down to ‘MD5′ as seen below.
  7. Enter your new login details in the text box beside it. Press Go to save.

change super administrator password fieldAfter following this procedure, your new credentials are in place.  You will see on the next screen that the password field changed to a bunch of letters and numbers that you didn’t enter.  That’s ok because that’s how MySQL stores your data.

You can go to your Administrator screen and try out the new login credentials you entered.

Do not delete or change any of the tables if you do not know what you are doing. You can potentially corrupt your database, lose information or delete your whole database.

Now that you've reset the credentials of the site, maybe you want to look at some excellent Joomla templates to take your site to the next level? Check out our list of best Joomla templates here: https://www.collectiveray.com/best-joomla-templates

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Is your Joomla website reaching its full potential? We install many of these extensions on almost ALL of our Joomla sites - why don't you check them out our list of Joomla Extensions and see whether you can take your site to the next level?

How to Create a new Joomla admin user

There could be many reasons why during some phase of your website design, you lose administrator access to your website. You might have forgotten the credentials of the administrator, or some other way got locked out of your backend. It is easy to create a new administrator user via PHPMyAdmin on the hosting service of your website.

The following is a command which will add a new user to the Users table in the database! 

The username is admin2 and the pass is "secret" (no quotes).

You simply need to enter the following command in the CPanel of your hosting company via PHPMyAdmin for your hosting database.

Once you enter the command below you can access the administrator backend. Don't forget to change the value from secret to something more secure to ensure your website doesn't get hacked!

INSERT INTO `jos_users`
   (`name`, `username`, `password`, `usertype`, `gid`, `params`)
VALUES ('Administrator2', 'admin2',
    'd2064d358136996bd22421584a7cb33e:trd7TvKHx6dMeoMmBVxYmg0vuXEA4199',
    'Super Administrator', 25, '');

INSERT INTO `jos_core_acl_aro`
  VALUES (NULL, 'users', LAST_INSERT_ID(), 0, 'Administrator2', 0);

INSERT INTO `jos_core_acl_groups_aro_map`
  VALUES (25, '', LAST_INSERT_ID());

How to Reset the User Credentials (the easy way)

The above procedure is typically necessary if you don't have access to the email address associated with the administrator user.

But if you do have access, there is a very easy way to reset the credentials of the administrator.

The Joomla backend login screen also has a "Forgot your Password?" function. This is not hidden, but we weren't aware of it, so we're throwing it out there, just in case you didn't know about it! 

Have a look at the screenshot below to see how to activate it.

Forgot password function on the backend login

 

Read More: 15+ Best FREE Logo Maker, Generators and Apps Online

Looking for the default login or password?

The default Joomla login is "admin", however, you're out of luck if you are looking for a default password - so you won't be able to use a single value to access any installation of the CMS.

However, if you have access to the hosting account (did you know that InMotion can reset your credentials if you forgot them?), the CPanel, or the PHPMyAdmin of the J! installation, you can easily set a "Joomla default password". Follow the steps below to get access to your administrator user if you have forgotten the login credentials. 

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J! 1.6 

 To reset the old user and pass: 

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 details 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, you have changed it to "secret".
  6. Log in to the backend with these new credentials, go to the Users screen, search for your admin user and change the credentials again to a more 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 credentials 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 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', 'your-email@yourdomain.com',
'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 https://yoursitedomain.com/administrator  using the credentials admin2/secret in the login box.

Select the user you have just logged in and change the pass 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 https://yourdomainname.com and logging in using the username admin and the new secret key you have set it on the back end.

Reset v1.5 password

The procedure to reset a 1.5 login is not very different from the rest of the versions as described above.

 
  1. Open the database using phpMyAdmin or database explorer and select the table, jos_users (replace jos_ with your table prefix if this is different than the default).
  2. Select the record for the administrator account - by default this is user 62.
  3. Copy and paste the following MD5 # and save the changes 21232f297a57a5a743894a0e4a801fc3
  4. Logon to the back end https://yoursitedomain.com/administrator using the credentials  "admin" and the pass "admin" in the login box.
  5. Select the user you have just logged in with and change the password for the user to something else. This is extremely important otherwise your website might get hacked.
  6. Check all is ok with Front-end access by opening your site https://yourdomainname.com and logging in using the credentials you have set in the back end.

Reset v1.0 admin login 

You need access to your MySQL database, via PHPMyAdmin or otherwise. For older J! versions up to 1.0.12 you need to execute the following query. The strange password is the encrypted version of the text "admin"  with the encryption algorithm the CMS 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 pass, 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 login to the administrator backend and set the password to something more complicated. Leaving it as "admin" will result in a serious risk to your site! 

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

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I reset my Joomla admin password?

To reset your Joomla admin password, go to the Administrator login screen and click on the ? right next to the Password field. You will then be taken to a screen that will help you reset the password. If you are unable to do this and have access to your website's hosting, you can reset the password by accessing the users table of the database of your site via PHPMyadmin. We have step by step instructions in this article.

How do I recover my admin password?

You cannot recover the Joomla admin password because Joomla uses a one-way hash to encrypt the password in the database. However, it is quite easy to reset the Joomla admin password by finding the user in the Joomla users database table via PHPMyAdmin, and creating a new password using the MD5 field. We have clear step by step instructions in this article.

What is the default password for admin?

Joomla does not have a default password for admin, because a different password is created for every installation. However, you can reset the password via PHPMyAdmin and your hosting using the instructions in this article.

These instructions are surely a great way to recover your Joomla password if you've forgotten it.

About the Author
David Attard
David has been working in or around the online and digital industry for the last 21 years. He has vast experience in the software and web design industries using WordPress, Joomla and niches surrounding them. He has worked with software development agencies, international software companies, local marketing agencies and now is Head of Marketing Operations at Aphex Media - an SEO agency. As a digital consultant, his focus is on helping businesses get a competitive advantage using a combination of their website and digital platforms available today. His blend of technology expertise combined with a strong business acumen brings a competitive edge to his writings.

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