Learn How To Change WordPress Admin Username
Some people may just think that it’s not possible to change Username in self hosted WordPress blogs. But it’s not so. You can easily change Username in WordPress, even though the “Admin” interface doesn’t have any option to do this. For security reasons also, it’s better to change your default username, which is “admin” to something else. I think WordPress should really consider to include this option to change Username from it’s Admin interface in future releases. Well, till then, let’s learn how to change Username manually.
To change Username in WordPress, follow the below steps:
- Log on to your cPanel
- Browse to your phpMyAdmin
- Now in the left hand side, there should be your WordPress database’s name. Click on it.
- Now you will be able to see the tables. Navigate to wp_users table and then click on the Browse button. (“wp” is the WordPress database prefix, and it may be different in your case)
5. You will be able to see the record of this table. Click on the pen type icon to edit this record. Or see the below screenshot.
6. Now locate the user_login field, and change the value to your desired new username. So this is how you can change your username in self hosted wordpress blogs.
Note: Follow all these steps with utmost care and if incase of any confusion refer to the screenshots above.
Groove Soldier
Sep 24, 2011 @ 00:01:01
Thanks a bunch. You just saved me a BIG headache!
I was also wondering about changing the username_nicename as well?
I changed it and it seemed to work fine.
dblackherod
Sep 10, 2011 @ 20:42:55
Saqib is right… the tut works perfectly, even for new wordpress installations (v3.0+).
One common problem you might encounter with the steps in this tut is the absence of a first_users table in recent WP installations.
The solution is simple.
Saqib is probably using “first_” as a db table prefix hence the absence of that table in your installation so simply locate the _users table and then the user-login field and take the tut’s steps from thence.
Saqib
Sep 10, 2011 @ 21:16:49
dblackherod you are correct. I have changed this tutorial to reflect wp_users table. wp is the default database prefix for wordpress. Thanks for the clarification, really appreciate it.
doug_eike
Sep 02, 2011 @ 20:31:24
My web host is HostGator, and after I unsuccessfully attempted to change my username, they told me that it is impossible to do so–that the site would break if the username is changed. Fortunately, when I attempted to reset in cPanel, the change I tried to enter did not take, and the username blank reverted to the original one I used when I set up the site.
Saqib
Sep 04, 2011 @ 00:49:32
This method definitely works, and I hope you have followed this tutorial carefully. Make sure you are editing first_users table only.