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.
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What happens to the owner on the server after changing the username? Currently, the owner of all files on my wordpress sites are either “the-actual-username” or “nobody”. So, changing the username, does that also change the owner in the cases where the file/folder was owned by the old username?
Jeff
The file owner should stay unchanged. The user accounts used by WordPress and other server software are usually distinct, even if they might be initially set to the same username for convenience.
Very good, It is work good. Thanks for this plugin.
Very Nice
Was skeptical on trying it since you stated – “I’ve only tested the plugin on WP 2.6”
So for those still looking – It Works Just Fine on WordPress Version 2.7.1
Appreciate It White Shadow
THANK YOU!!!
I stupidly just picked something DUMB as my user name thinking “oh well, my display name will be what everyone will see” – then I realized that may not work (maybe it would have) – but I got all stressed out about having to delete my new blog and start all over again! A quick google search for help and I found your post!
Worked perfectly! Thank you again!
[…] install terlebih dahulu plugin Change Admin Username, dan jangan lupa diaktifkan. Dari admin area silakan klik menu Users dan pilih menu Change […]
This works fine!!!!!!!!!!!!1
That worked beautifully, thank you. 🙂
works perfect, fast, simply…what more we want ?
i have to say thank you White Shadow
adeux!
[…] Change Admin Username […]
Hi w-shadow,
If I remove the admin-only restriction for the “Change Username” page, would anyone be allowed to change their username?
Also does your plugin do checks to see if a username is already taken? I’m guessing probably not.
Thanks for reading!
You are correct – removing the restriction would allow anyone to change their username. And no, it doesn’t check for duplicate username.
[…] 4. Change Admin Username […]
It works well with WP 2.8.2 as well, tks!
Hi White Shadow,
I just wanted to say a very big ´Thank You´for creating this plugin…I´ve spent the last 2 weeks trying figure out how to change my ´admin´ username using phpMyAdmin and just as I was about to give up and pay someone to make the changes for me…I found this post! What luck! It took me 2 minutes to do what I´ve been trying to do for 2 weeks!
…and just so you know, I´m using the plugin on WP v 2.8.3 and had absolutely no problems installing, activating it and making my changes…I´ll let you know if any problems arise in the future.
Thanks again for all your hard work..stay blessed 🙂
Tunde x
[…] به آسانی شرح داده است. همچنین دو افزونه WPVN – Username Changer و Change Admin Username برای این کار وجود […]
Please contact me, I have a cool feature idea for this plugin that you might find handy as well.
[…] מעניינים, אחד מהתוספים שנתקלתי בהם הוא התוסף הבא שנקרא change admin username מבית היוצר של W-Shadow.com. האמת שלדעתי הרבה משתמשים יאהבו […]
thx, i will try it
Hi shadow…
I read with intersest about the plug in….I just installed WP and didn’t have a clue about using a different username, so I would like to change the admin name.(used fantistico)….Anyway, I Dl’d the folder, unzipped it, got it into the files on my server….but they are not showing up in the DB….
thanks
harry