Joomla - How to Reset Super Admin Password
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How to Reset Your Lost Joomla Password in 6 Easy Steps
Before we begin, you must have access to your database. If you don't, pass these instructions on to someone that does. It's also a good idea to backup your database before making changes, just in case something goes awry.
Finding the Password
- Log in to your Joomla database (via phpMyAdmin for example)
- Click to edit the _users database (will be preceded by your account name, for example: example_users
- Edit the entry for where usertype = "Super Administrator" (should be the first record)
Resetting the Password
In the password field you'll notice a string of characters. Joomla uses a one-way encoding method, which means you won't be able to retrieve your old password. However, you will be able to reset the password to a new one using mySQL's built in MD5 function:
UPDATE example_users SET password=MD5('yourpassword') WHERE usertype = "Super Administrator";
Voila - you just successfully reset your Joomla password 
Go to your joomla domain at example.com/administrator and try logging in with the new password. You should be logged in as Super Administrator.
Troubleshooting
If for some reason the above method does not work try encoding a password that contains only alphanumeric (a-z, 0-9) characters. This method may not work if your password contains special characters (@!#$).
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password lost
I have lost my super adminsitrator password in joomla. no i cant looge to my super administrator
so ineed to get my super adminsitrator password. IS THERE ANYWAY I CAN GET MY PASSWORD BACK
Lost password reset
Unfortunately because the system stores the password in a one-way hash there is no way that I know of to get it back. This article does describe, however, how to reset the password (so you can regain access as Super Admin). Please let me know if you need help with or more detail on a particular step.
Thanks sooo much
It works !!!!!
Thnks a million!
Thank you for the useful info. I regained my access to the admin section now!!!
May I add that once you get to see your password in the _users , you should again use MD5er.com to decode it, because it is encoded there.
Cheers,
Nik
www.hotparishilton.net
A different approach ...
By temporarily removing the authentication in PHP, you can let anyone login. So, in Joomla 1.5 RC, you can go to plugins/authentication/joomla.php and modify the line:
if ( $crypt == $testcrypt) {
so that it reads:
if ( true /* $crypt == $testcrypt */ ) {
Now everyone can login with any password. Change your password to something that you can remember. Do not forget to put the original authentication code back in.
Jack
www.jackbriner.com
Great
Many thanks Jack,
Saved me lot of trouble!
Regards,
Marcel
Thank you, JACK!
Thank you, JACK!
Great!
Helped me a lot.
Thanks.
ClickMedia.TV
Thanks!
Worked perfectly - I'll have to remember this method for next time...
i changed the password and my site is down
HI!
I folowed these steps and now my site is completely down. I cant login or do anything. help!
Restore database
You may have inadvertently edited the wrong fields in the database. That, or your host is having issues unrelated to your changes. Does the site not load at all? Or you simply can't log in? Either way I recommend restoring a backup of your DB.
lost username to Joomla
the site MD5er.com is inactive. i lost my username, not the password. the username is no longer admin. how do i proceed? why is it so challenging to get through this process. any other system has a simple "forgot username/password" button at the login stage...
MD5 Encryption
The solution: use Drupal instead
OR
We've updated the article with a mySQL UPDATE statement you can use to reset your password using mySQL's built-in MD5 function.
Lost Password
Thank you - worked a treat
Simple UPDATE ... SET
Simple UPDATE ... SET password=MD5('yourpassword') doesn't work ?
MySQL has MD5 built in function.
Thank you so much !
Hello,
Just thought I'd take the time to thank you profusely !
You've just saved me hours of pulling my hair out...
This does suck a bit security-wise though, no ?
Thanks again,
Sincerely,
Marie (Avignon, France)
If you have access to your
If you have access to your server, then it should be in configuration.php file.
Could be done much easier
Hi guy,
nice, but too complicated. MySQL and hence also phpmyadmin already offer the MD5 function. So you don't need a seperate website to create the MD5 hash.
Bests,
Daniel
Thanks Daniel
You're right - I've simply been to lazy to update the article until now. Thanks for the push!
Thank you
Thank you!
still wont login
Help! i've tried to change the password with MD5 encoding, but it still wont work.
the login page doesn't give any error message if i enter the right password, but it also wont login to the administrator page. it only take me back to the login page.
but if i entered the wrong password, it said "Username and password do not match"
anyone can help..?
i previously installed the same joomla 1.5RC but with different localhost/...... name and different db.
the old joomla cannot login, but the new joomla can...
Oh and the if ( true /* $crypt == $testcrypt */ ) wont work also
thx4 any help =)
same problem
mine does the same thing. It gives you a need to login and not a bad username or password in the address bar.
index.php?mosmsg=You%20need%20to%20login
Any help?
cannot login backend and no errors
this is most likely because you session directory is not writable. you need to check with your host to make this directory 755
if you have root access you can putty into server and change permissions your self
Password
This is great! Thanks a ton you just saved me a complete re-install. (blech!)
Unable to login from the front end
Hi there, I did a site "clone" installed joomla in a test server, when everything was ready ...moved it to prod..a sister domain on the same server, everything is working fine, but cannot login to the "members" area...
I have no prob. on the admin side.....any ideas...
Thanks Community
That was great to reset the password.
It's working, perfect.
Thanks
M. Javed Rahmani
still not working
I have tried all of this to no avail. I see my user name and MD5 password in phpMySQL. I've changed it, saved it, done everything. I go to login on my admin site and STILL get that my user name and password do not match! Any other trouble shooting tips??
Joomla Password Reset Not Working
I get the message "Invalid session." Any help?
Clear cache and sessions
It sounds like you might need to clear your cache and your sessions tables. You can try doing it via your browser, if that doesn't work you might need to truncate the database tables.
IT WORKS
Thanks for the UPDATE string, it works a teat.
James.
Thanks my friend
Thank you so much. Worked like a charm.
Database error: can't access Joomla site
Please, for god's sake help me.
I don't really know what really happened. I was using myPhpAdmin. I went in the jos_users Database. Clicked SQL. And ran the following query, exactly like that:
UPDATE example_users SET password=MD5('admin') WHERE usertype = "Super Administrator";
Now my site just busted down completely !
When I try to access it, it says: Database Error: Unable to connect to the database:Could not connect to MySQL
Please give me a light !
Restore Joomla backup
Hi there,
First I would simply recommend loading a backup of your Joomla database. Also, I'm assuming you updated "example_users" to reflect your user name? If not, you may want to rerun the SQL statement with your user name inserted.