5 min Read

Change WordPress Admin Username And The Role Of User

change wordpress admin username

The main purposes to change WordPress admin username is to protect the website from the hacker. Hacker uses a lot of software and trick to hack your website password. If they know your admin username then half of the work is done. 

New admin in wordpress
New Admin

So protection of  your username is more important than to protect your password from the hacker.

As a part of the WordPress security series, In my previous article, I explained how you can reduce the hack attempt and save your site from brute force attack.

There are 3 ways you can do to change WordPress admin username:

  1. Change it manually (by creating a new admin to replace the default one);
  2. Touch the phpMyAdmin and;
  3. Use plugin,

Personally, I prefer the first method that is to do it manually and doesn’t recommend the complex and way more ‘adventurous’ phpMyAdmin editing But in same case you have to touch your phpMyAdmin, so I will explain all three the methods.

Manually Change WordPress Admin Username

This Process is very easy and anyone can do it right away to have a more secure admin username for WordPress site. The main logic is to add a new user and assign administrator role, delete the default admin and attribute all content of the old admin to the newly added one.

  • Log into your Dashboard. On the left-hand menu, hover to Users and choose Add New.
  • Fill in all required information. You should give it a harder-to-remember username (that’s our purpose).
  • In theRole drop-down menu, choose Administrator so that this new user has the right as an admin. Then hit Add New User.
New user information box in wordpress
New User Information
  • Now Logout Your Website and Sign with new username and password
  • Click on User and delete old username.

To save all the contents you have previously created with the old admin account, tick on Attribute all content to. And from the drop-down menu choose the new admin username.

Delete old user name conformation
Delete Old User

Finally, Confirm Deletion.

Setting After Change WordPress Admin Username

  • Click on Your Profile and fill contact information like email for notification, email, facebook and twitter Profile
contact information of new user
Contact Information
  • Add Author information you can use starBox plugin to do this.
Add Author Box information
Author Box

Change WordPress Admin Username Using phpMyAdmin

This method is a little bit complicated as it requires making direct changes to your WordPress database. We usually don’t recommend users to make direct changes to their WordPress database Because if you delete an important file or change the setting then your website is down. However, in some cases, you may not have any other option.

For example, if you have forgotten your WordPress username and email address, then you will not be able to access the admin dashboard to change username. Using this method, you can find your username and you will also be able to change it.

  • The first thing you need to do is login to your C-Panel.
  • Scroll down to the databases section and click on phpMyAdmin.
Database Section in phpmyadmin
Database Section
  • Next, you need to select the database that your blog is hosted in.
Wordpress Database section
WordPress Database
  • You will see your WordPress database tables. By default, WordPress database tables use wp_ as a prefix before each table’s name.
  • It is possible that you may have been using some other prefix.
Edit Username in phpmyadmin
Edit Username
  • Click on the table wp_users on the left-hand side. Then click edit on the username that you want to edit.
  • Change the user_login value to whatever you want. For example, you can replace ‘admin’ to ‘wrongadmin’
Change User Login in phpmyadmin
Change User Login
  • Click the Go button and you are done.

Change WordPress Admin Username Using Plugin

Another simple way to change your WordPress username is by using a plugin. If you are one of those users who doesn’t want to install a plugin for every little thing, then let us assure you that you can safely delete the plugin once you have changed your WordPress username.

  • The first thing you need to do is install and activate the Username Changer plugin.
  • Upon activation, simply go to Users » Username Changer page.
Change user name plugin
Plugin
  • Add the old username and add the new username to replace the existing Username.
Change Name In Plugin
Change Name In Plugin

Recommended Post

Conclusion

Changing your WordPress Admin Username is an important factor in increasing your WordPress built-in site security, and there are three methods to change it: from WP Admin Area by adding a new administrator account, using Username Changer Plugin, or from cPanel using phpMyAdmin

Remember to share this post with anyone who might benefit from this information, including your Facebook friends, Twitter followers and members of your Google+ group! And also Support Us By Liking Our FacebookTwitter, and Google+ Page.

If you have any suggestion or problem about change WordPress admin username please feel free to comment below.

Picture of Fawad Yousuf

Fawad Yousuf

I'm Professional Blogger, SEO, and Digital marketing expert. I started my blog in 2016 with the aim to share my knowledge and experiences for the people associated with my field as well as for the general public.