Getting locked out of your local WordPress site can stop your work in its tracks. We’ve had this happen while testing themes or setting up client projects on the Local environment.
The frustrating part is that password reset emails don’t work on localhost setups. So even if you click “Lost your password?”, nothing shows up in your inbox.
Thankfully, there are easy ways to reset your WordPress admin password without needing email access. We’ve used these methods countless times to get back into our local sites.
In this tutorial, we’ll show you how to reset your WordPress admin password on localhost using phpMyAdmin or WP-CLI — whichever one feels more comfortable to you.
Why Resetting the Password Doesn’t Work on Localhost
When we say “localhost,” we’re talking about a local server — usually your computer. It’s a private space where you can build and test a WordPress site before going live.
We often use localhost to experiment with new plugins, design changes, or just learn how WordPress works. It’s a safe way to break things without worrying.
If you haven’t tried it yet, these guides can help you get started:
Now here’s the part that can be confusing for beginners. If you forget your admin password on a local site, the regular “Lost your password?” link won’t help.
That’s because WordPress normally sends a password reset email, but localhost setups can’t send emails unless you’ve set that up manually. And by default, most people haven’t.
Luckily, you don’t need an email to get back in. We’ll show you two easy ways to reset your password on localhost, even if you’re completely locked out.
Method 1: Reset WordPress Admin Password on Localhost Using phpMyAdmin
If you’re using tools like XAMPP, WAMP, or MAMP, then phpMyAdmin should already be installed. We’ve used it many times to tweak things directly in the database — including resetting passwords.
phpMyAdmin gives you a visual interface to manage your WordPress database. It sounds complicated, but once you get the hang of it, it’s pretty straightforward.
Note: If you’re using LocalWP, you’ll see a tool called Adminer instead. It works just like phpMyAdmin, so you can still follow these steps easily.
To begin, open your browser and go to this address:
http://localhost/phpmyadmin/
You might be asked to log in. In most setups, the username is root and the password field is left empty.
Once you’re inside phpMyAdmin, look for your WordPress database name in the sidebar and click it.
You’ll see a list of tables inside that database. Find the one that ends in _users and click the Browse link next to it.
Note: Most WordPress sites use wp_ as the prefix, but it could be different if you changed it during setup.
You’ll now see a list of users on your site. Find the row with the admin username and click the Edit link next to it.
This opens a form showing all the user data stored in the database. Scroll down until you find the user_pass field.
In the Value column, type your new password. Then in the Function column, select MD5 from the dropdown.
This step is important — WordPress stores passwords using encryption, and MD5 helps it recognize the format.
Click the Go button at the bottom to save your changes.
That’s it! You can now log in to your local WordPress site using the new password you just set.
Method 2: Resetting the Password via the Functions.php File
If you don’t have access to phpMyAdmin or prefer a different approach, you can reset your WordPress admin password by editing the functions.php file of your theme. This method is straightforward and can be done quickly.
Step 1: Access Your Theme’s Functions.php File
First, you’ll need to locate the functions.php file for your active theme. To do this, navigate to the root directory of your WordPress installation on your localhost.
Depending on which software you are using, the location of the root directory may differ. For instance, if you are using Local, then your site will be located at:
C:\Users\yourusername\Local Sites\yoursitename\app\public\
Next, go to the /wp-content/themes/ folder. Inside, you’ll find a folder named after your active theme.
Inside your active theme folder, look for a file named functions.php and open it in a text editor like Notepad or TextEdit.
Step 2: Add the Code to Reset the Password
At the bottom of the functions.php file, you need to paste the following code:
function reset_admin_password() {
$user_id = 1; // ID of the admin user
$new_password = 'newpassword123'; // Your new password
wp_set_password($new_password, $user_id);
}
add_action('init', 'reset_admin_password');
Don’t forget to replace ‘newpassword123’ with a stronger password you want to use.
This code sets a new password for the admin user with the ID of 1. However, If you don’t know the user ID but know the admin email address, you can use this code snippet instead:
function reset_admin_password_by_email() {
$user_email = 'admin@example.com'; // Admin user's email address
$user = get_user_by('email', $user_email);
if ($user) {
$new_password = 'newpassword123'; // Your new password
wp_set_password($new_password, $user->ID);
}
}
add_action('init', 'reset_admin_password_by_email');
This code sets a new password (newpassword123) for the admin user associated with the specified email address.
After adding the code, save the functions.php file and refresh your localhost WordPress site in your browser. You should now be able to log in using the new password.
Step 4: Remove the Code
Once you’ve successfully logged in, it’s important to remove the code snippet from the functions.php file to avoid potential security risks.
Simply open the functions.php file and delete the code you added earlier. Don’t forget to save your changes.
Bonus Resources:
The following are additional tips and tutorials on managing passwords and admin accounts in WordPress:
- How to Add an Admin User to the WordPress Database via MySQL
- How to Add an Admin User in WordPress Using FTP (Easy Tutorial)
- Beginner’s guide to receiving WordPress Emails from Localhost with SMTP
- How to Easily and Securely Manage Passwords (Beginner’s Guide)
- How to Password Protect Your WordPress Admin (wp-admin) Directory
We hope this article helped you reset your WordPress admin password on a local server. You may also want to see our tutorial on creating a temporary login for WordPress or take a look at our guide on how to add one-click Google login in WordPress.
If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.
Ezichukwu
thank you admin, the second method worked for me
WPBeginner Support
Glad to hear it worked for you
Admin
meli
thank you sooooo much! I was panicking and I was working on my final project.
Hafiz Muhammad Ansar
Very nice blog for WordPress help. I recommend for beginners to use this platform. Thankful!
WPBeginner Support
Glad you found our article helpful!
Admin
Abdullah
Amazing, it worked
WPBeginner Support
Glad our guide was helpful!
Admin
Nidhi Gupta
it’s really helpful, thankyou so much
WPBeginner Support
Glad our guide was helpful!
Admin
Habu
Omg you save my life !!! THANK YOU VERY MUCHH !!!
Jahir
I can not log in now same process…any updates?
WPBeginner Support
The most common issue would be if you did not set the function to MD5 or click go to apply the changes, you would want to ensure you have done that correctly.
Admin
Kamondo
Wonderful! problem solved. Very Simple steps but powerful.
WPBeginner Support
Glad our guide was helpful
Admin
Joe
I’m encoutering this problem now after installing the 2nd WordPress on MAMP. This article is very to the point and I’ll try it tomorrow!
WPBeginner Support
We hope the guide helps
Admin
Gerron
Solid solid info right here, thanks a lot, really helped, so simple
WPBeginner Support
Glad our guide was helpful
Admin
Odineks
Thank you so much. I always find solutions to every of my WP problems here.
I kept having problems with the login page on the frontend not recognizing my new password, I didn’t realize there is a function to pass that message to myPHPadmin.
WPBeginner Support
Glad our guide was helpful
Admin
naved ahmed
Thanks a lot. Finally problem solved within a minute.
WPBeginner Support
Glad our guide was helpful
Admin
Mohsin
I just love this
Love the way you write every thing
WPBeginner Support
Thank you, glad you like our content
Admin
Jen
I tried this and while I was in there also attempted to change my username, which I realize was probably my mistake… but now I can’t log in at all. Is there a way to undo what I’ve done?
WPBeginner Support
You would need to follow the steps in the article and that would bring you back to where you could edit, you should also be able to use your email as an alternative
Admin
Justina
Your Blog is always so full of rich articles. Thanks so much. was stuck for a while because I skip the MD5 option. You are a lifesaver.
WPBeginner Support
Glad our guide could be helpful
Admin
Sarah
Thank you SO MUCH for this! You saved me so many more hours of tinkering with trying to figure out how to log in!!
WPBeginner Support
Glad we were able to help
Admin
David
Thank you ever so much! Normally, I keep this stuff handy; but in this case, I did could not find where I wrote the information down.
You saved a total re-work of a site I was planning.
WPBeginner Support
Glad our guide could be helpful
Admin
adeel kamran
You saved me, I had a lot of work there.
WPBeginner Support
Glad our guide could help
Admin
lokesh n
thank you it’s really working thank you
WPBeginner Support
You’re welcome glad our article was helpful
Admin
Vivek
Hi,
When I reset My password through link then what fileds affected in Database and in which table.
Kindly share this information i am waiting for your response.
WPBeginner Support
For understanding the database you would want to take a look at our article here: https://www.wpbeginner.com/beginners-guide/beginners-guide-to-wordpress-database-management-with-phpmyadmin/
Admin
Adnan Khan
After half an hour of search i just found my help from this site, which solves my problem in no time,
thanks a lot
keep it up guys
WPBeginner Support
You’re welcome, glad our guides can be helpful
Admin
Tenasu Mensah
thanks a lot, kudos to you guys keep the good work doing,you guys are doing great job
WPBeginner Support
Glad our guide could help
Admin
Anuj
It work fine, Thanku so much,
Pádraig
Really simple and great explanation.
Many thanks for sharing.
Saranya
Works Good! Thanks a lot.
Patr
Hello,
I type a new password , click continue and it does not keep the password, it shows a long string of numbers and letters. If I use this , still cannot log in. It looks simple on the video but does not work for me. Thank you.
I looked everywhere on the internet, no solution worling.
Jason
Same problem here. Did you find a solution? Is there any chance of being hacked?
Christian Gochez
when I click on the Go button this error appears:
#1881 – Operation not allowed when innodb_forced_recovery > 0
Edward
Simple and neat! worked thanks
Handel
I started to just reinstall wordpress, but then decided to do a google search, and there was GOOD OLD RELIABLE WpBeginner.com
Thanks a million!!
Sheriff
very effective… kudos
Icholia
Hello
THANKS, Wow there is no other place that you can get well explained information like this , i have been suffering but now i just followed your tutorial and it is a game changer i love you guys and i will always learn from you guys once again thanks
CJ
Thank you! For those who can’t make it work, remember to use the “MD5” function when changing the password. I almost skipped that part and was stuck for a few minutes.
mohamad hossein
so use full thank you so much
Janet
I got completely lost on the video so I tried plugging in the URL. Doesn’t work. Still lost.
Ma
Thanks so much, you saved me from what could have been a very embarrassing situation!
James
I change the password, username, userlogin and nickname not I cant login. Any advice?
suganya
i can’t able to login .because it’s shows me like email is not registered .so what can i do???
Jac
Thanks so much for providing this info – I was really stuck!
Gerhard SCHNEIBEL
Thanks a lot for your help. I am very happy with “wpbeginners”.
Renu
it worked.. thanks a ton..
Anthony
Hi…
I am so thankful for such great information you provide. I have bookmarked your site a while back.
I have been working on a site in wordpress using xampp on the Apache local server. Just recently, I am not able to login on the admin page. I have managed to create a user name and password that works on about 95% of all sites requiring me to register. I also created a file that lists all my login info for everywhere I need to login, including the WP admin login page, IF I ever forget that info.
I have read this page (https://www.wpbeginner.com/wp-tutorials/how-to-reset-wordpress-admin-password-on-localhost/) and watched the video, also. The only problem is that when I click on the wp_users in phpMyadmin, I get this error- ‘#1932 – Table ‘bitnami_wordpress.wp_users’ doesn’t exist in engine.’
Am I reduced to re-installing WordPress, or is there another way around it?
I have tried restoring my computer (using system restore) to various past restore points, but with no luck. Can you help me with this?
I would be so thankful!!! I have put months of work into designing a site to launch, and I HAVE exported everything to a file quite a few times using WordPress import plugin (something like that).
Could you provide a solution?
Thank you so much…
Anthony
WPBeginner Support
Hi Anthony,
you can also add an admin user by adding code to your current WordPress theme’s admin file.
Admin
Kakaire Charles
Extremely wonderful. Thank you for sharing.
Gaurav
i tried this but not working
shaikh muneer
super way to reset admin password thank you for share this