If you have lost access to your WordPress admin account, you can reset the password directly in the site database using phpMyAdmin. This method is useful when the password-reset email is not arriving, when the mail service on the site is broken, or when you no longer have access to the admin email address the account was registered with.
Last reviewed: 27 July 2026, against WordPress 6.x (current stable series). This guide is written for Noiz hosting and is kept current against WordPress. It complements, and does not replace, the official WordPress documentation linked below.
Official Documentation Reference
- Resetting your password (includes the phpMyAdmin method)
- Editing wp-config.php (where to find your database name and table prefix)
Prerequisites
- Access to phpMyAdmin for the account that hosts the WordPress site. On Noiz hosting, open phpMyAdmin from your hosting control panel under Databases.
- The database name and table prefix used by the site. If you are unsure, both are listed in the site's
wp-config.phpfile (theDB_NAMEconstant and the$table_prefixvalue).
Reset a WordPress Admin Password
- Open phpMyAdmin.
- Select your WordPress database from the left-hand menu (for example wp_example). If several databases are listed and you are not sure which one belongs to the site, check the
DB_NAMEvalue inwp-config.php. - Select the wp_users table. If the site uses a custom database prefix, this table will be named yourprefix_users instead. Account for your custom prefix throughout this procedure.
- Locate the user whose password you want to reset and click Edit next to that row.
- Find the user_pass field and update it as follows:
- In the Function dropdown on the left, select MD5. Important: if this is not set to MD5, the value will be stored as plain text and the new password will not work.
- In the Value field, enter the new password in plain text. phpMyAdmin applies the MD5 hash for you when the row is saved.
- Click the Go button at the bottom of the page to save the change.
- A green success banner confirms the row was updated. If you get a red error instead, read the error message to identify and correct the issue.
You should now be able to log in to your WordPress site using the username and the new password you just set.
Why the MD5 Method Still Works on Modern WordPress
MD5 is an old hashing algorithm and is not the format WordPress uses for new passwords. Current WordPress releases hash new passwords with a stronger algorithm, but they still recognise the legacy MD5 format for backward compatibility. When the user next logs in successfully, WordPress verifies the MD5 hash, then transparently re-hashes the password to its modern default format and stores that instead. Setting MD5 through phpMyAdmin is therefore a safe, temporary bridge, not a permanent weakening of the account.
Troubleshooting
- The new password is rejected: confirm you selected MD5 in the Function dropdown before saving. If the field was saved as plain text, edit the row again and re-save it with MD5 selected.
- You edited the row but nothing changed: check that you updated the correct user row and that you are working in the correct database and table prefix. A site with several WordPress installs under one account can have more than one users table.
- Login still fails after a correct reset: a security or two-factor-authentication plugin may still be blocking the account, since this method only changes the password. It does not disable 2FA or clear an account lockout. A caching plugin or a login-page cache can also serve a stale form, so clear your browser cache and try an incognito window.
If you are still stuck, contact the Noiz support team and they can handle this for you. Please note that if you are not on a managed WordPress plan, this work may be billable.
