How To Change Your Admin Username In WordPress

When WordPress is installed it sets your login name to “admin” by default. If you want to change it you will usually need to manually edit the WordPress database, which might seem a bit intimidating for people not familiar with MySQL/phpMyAdmin. That’s why I created a small plugin that will let you easily edit your username from within WordPress.

How It Works

The plugin adds a new menu item called “Change Username” to the “Users” menu on the Dashboard. Clicking it will display a form where you can enter your new login name. All you need to do is enter the desired username in the form and click “Save Changes”. The plugin will then automatically perform the required database operations and let you log in with your new username right away.

Download Plugin

change-admin-username.zip (3 KB)
I’ve only tested the plugin on WP 2.6 but it should be compatible with most older versions, too - all the way down to 2.0.x. If you find any bugs feel free to leave a comment below.

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This entry was posted on Thursday, July 24th, 2008 at 1:54 pm and is filed under Applications, Blogging. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

8 Responses to “How To Change Your Admin Username In WordPress”

  1. 1
    Mr Moo Says:
    July 25th, 2008 at 5:33 pm

    I’ve been manually changing the username on all of my sites with phpMyAdmin, so this should save me some effort, thanks :)

    Reply - Quote
  2. 2
    White Shadow Says:
    July 25th, 2008 at 5:44 pm

    Yay :)

    Reply - Quote
  3. 3
    Dunn Says:
    August 4th, 2008 at 5:51 pm

    After we change the username, is it okay to delete or remove the plugin since we are not gonna use it anymore?

    Reply - Quote
  4. 4
    White Shadow Says:
    August 4th, 2008 at 6:03 pm

    @Dunn - Yes, you can delete the plugin then.

    Reply - Quote
  5. 5
    Britt Malkas edb-blog » Blog Archive » Brug ikke “admin” som admin på din blog Says:
    September 10th, 2008 at 1:36 am

    [...] I så fald skal du ind i databasen og ændre det eller bruge det plugin, der findes til at ændre brugernavnet. [...]

    Reply - Quote
  6. 6
    Affiliate Manifest Says:
    October 2nd, 2008 at 8:44 pm

    The plugin worked perfectly.
    Thanks for the plugin.

    Reply - Quote
  7. 7
    migthegreek.com - Scraps - Change Your WordPress Admin Login Says:
    October 8th, 2008 at 3:04 am

    [...] Change Admin Username Plugin Tags: WordPress Share: digg_skin = ‘compact’; [...]

    Reply - Quote
  8. 8
    Dr Bikash Says:
    November 18th, 2008 at 4:36 am

    Hello White Shadow
    Thanks for the great plug-in.
    I have made an article about it. I have gave you back links to your site. I have also sent you a track back. But I am quite new to the arena. So please dont mind if I have made a mistake.
    To be on safer side I am giving a back link to the exact article that I wrote.

    http://www.drbikash.com/2008/11/17/how-to-change-the-default-admin-username-in-word-press-blog/

    Thanks again for the great plug-in.
    Dr Bikash

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