There comes a time in every geek’s life when you need to recover the password that is so carefully encrypted in a WordPress database. Rather than trying to decode the password, I am going to teach you a simple trick that allows you to replace the password in the same encrypted form with whatever you like. You’re hitting two birds with one stone here: creating a new password that you can remember, and finally gaining access to your WordPress admin! Just follow the steps below:
1. Login to Database
Once you have access to phpMyAdmin, click on the appropriate database that your site is connected to.
2. Find Your Username
Find the wp_users table and click on it. This is the default table where users are stored. For a more secure WordPress this should be renamed to something else. But, we’ll save that for another tutorial.
The first ID, #1 is saved for the administrator. In most cases the username is admin. Again, this isn’t very secure and really should be something other than admin.
3. Find the Password
In the wp_users table, you will see a field called user_pass. Click on it. This is where you will find the MD5 encoded password. Click on the pencil icon to edit the password.
4. Generate New Password
For this next step you will need to find a MD5 Hash generator. I recommend the MD5 Generator because not only does it let you decode the current password, but you can also create a new encoded password from any string you choose. Cut and paste the new password into user_pass and click “Go” to save it.
That’s it! Visit your site and login with your new password.
Oh my God, this is pretty useful information. I forgot my wordpress password one time, and I really came close to trying this method when I found it on some other forum on the internet. Good thing I suddenly remembered my password. Anyway, it’s a pretty good piece of information to know.