How to Recover a Lost Joomla Username and Password

Joomla Training

We've had several people recently contact us after losing the login to their Joomla site. Often they can't remember or just don't know both the username and password. Here's how to recover if you've been locked out of your Joomla 1.5 site:

Step 1: You will need to find access to your Joomla database. Start by going to the control panel provided by your hosting company, where you set-up email acc

ounts and so-on. The most common way offered to access the database is called "phpMyAdmin". Look for a little sailing ship logo like the one on the right.

Step 2: Click to access your databases.

Step 3: You'll see a list of databases on the left-hand side. Hopefully you won't see more than one, but if you do see more, look for a database with a Joomla-sounding name such as jo_151. Click on that database.

Step 4: You'll now see a new list on the left-hand side with names such as jos_banner and jos_bannerclient. Scroll all the way to the bottom and click on jos_users.

Step 5: Look at the top of the page and click "Browse":

Step 6: You should a line right at the top looking like this. The number is probably going to be 62. Click on the pencil icon:

Step 7: Write down the username.

Step 8: Enter this into the password field: 21232f297a57a5a743894a0e4a801fc3

Step 9: Click "Go" to save your changes.

Step 10: You should now be able to login to your site using the username and the password "admin".

Step 11: Go to Site >> User Manager and change your password to something that is harder to guess.

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Comments

#5 Tim Snellings 2010-12-19 19:37

I had someone hack my Admin password and I couldn't login. I re-set it using this tool in phpmyadmin: http://kb.siteground.com/article/How_to_reset_my_Joomla_administrator_password.html

I then downloaded and installed jsecure plugin and that has helped too.

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#4 Mark L 2010-11-12 07:00

Not quite on topic, but related. I use this plugin to allow users to sign up and login with just an email address (easier for them to remember) and password (still resettable via normal Joomla method) Its certainly worth a look
www.lunarhotel.co.uk/joomla/emailasusername-joomla-1.5-plugin.html
;-)

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#3 Scott Wise 2010-11-05 06:39

notice I used the terms "most" and "generally" referring to the common mass of the general audience that may find themselves in a predicament where they just can't remember which one of their standard 3 to 4 login credentials they used.

But thank you for pointing this out because Bo, I guess I could have come across a little careless after rereading my reply. I am by no means suggesting in anyway that anyone should use the same passwords for their admin and database.

I employ a pretty random yet systematic approach to cryptic password generation for all my installs and would suggest any other professional admin to find a similar method. Here is a great article for employing strong password techniques: http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/how-to-create-strong-password-that-you-can-remember-easily/

Additionally, I just recently started using the portable version of RoboForm on a flash drive that I carry around with me and have found it to be very useful for generating strong passwords and keeping up with them on the go. http://www.roboform.com/download.html

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#2 Bo Astrup 2010-11-04 19:07

This is a very important tip. My right right eyebrow would get a few ticks discovering a site where the admin credentials have been used in multiple places for multiple purposes, but hey that's just me.

However I just had to help someone who had forgotten both admin name and password, - and domain for the email that was used for the admin account was no longer active, so only one way to gain access: phpMyadmin and using the above mentioned technique.

In the past I have used this tip to regain access to Joomla installs that unfortunately had been hacked.

IMO it should be in the bag of tricks of any Joomla admin.

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#1 Scott Wise 2010-11-04 10:01

I find it easier to just check the /configuration.php file if you have access to the control panel's file manager or FTP.

var $ftp_user = 'username';
var $ftp_pass = 'password';

These variables are usually what you set for the FTP upon installation and considering most people generally use the same passwords for their sites, this variables should serve as a good reminder of what your password might be.

You can also find the database server URL, the database name and passwords as well in this file which I tend to forget more so than I do my admin passwords.

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