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 tested the plugin on WP 2.6 – 2.8.3 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.
Subscribe via RSS
Get Updates by Email
I’ve been manually changing the username on all of my sites with phpMyAdmin, so this should save me some effort, thanks 🙂
Yay 🙂
After we change the username, is it okay to delete or remove the plugin since we are not gonna use it anymore?
@Dunn – Yes, you can delete the plugin then.
[…] I så fald skal du ind i databasen og ændre det eller bruge det plugin, der findes til at ændre brugernavnet. […]
The plugin worked perfectly.
Thanks for the plugin.
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
Great work man, Thanks a lot for the plug-in.
Keep working , keep rocking… 🙂
Just out of curiosity, couldn’t you just create a new user in WordPress and set their permissions to Administer and then delete the Admin?
Yes, that would work, but it would be inconvenient if you’ve already made a number of posts as admin.
Hi White Shadow. There is a way to do it like Theresa says and attribute all the posts once assigned to admin over to the new user.
1. Create a new user as an administer.
2. Log out and log back in with the new administer login (i.e. your new username)
3. Delete the admin user.
4. WordPress will ask what you want to do with all the posts attributed to admin. Tell it to link them to your newly created Administer user.
Hmm, okay then 🙂 Though I still suspect it could cause problems with some plugins and their user-specific records.
I’d be interested to know if it does. If you find out, please comment back again. I’ll stay subscribed to this thread. Thanks White Shadow.
Does this plugin work okay with WP 2.7?
Thanks
Steve
Well, I just answered my own question above and your plugin works great with WP 2.7. Thanks so much for creating such an awesome little plugin!
Hi Steve. As I’m sure you know, security-wise it’s best to delete unused plugins which makes this a nice plugin to use. Install it, change your username, then delete the plugin.
Question – will you keep it updated in case newer versions of WordPress deem it incompatible? If so, I’ll be sure to refer people to your plugin.
Thanks
[…] and at least down to 2.5 I believe. I have no affiliation with the developer but here is the link: How To Change Your Admin Username In WordPress | W-Shadow.com Steve P.S. For obvious security reasons, they recommend you uninstall the plugin after using […]
@ John : Yeah, I’d probably* keep it updated. 🙂
* May require reminding as I’m sometimes too lazy to test all my plugins with each new version of WP.
Thanks for a handy and convenient plugin! Much appreciated.
Thank you !
Good luck !