How To Change The Admin Username In WordPress

The default WordPress username admin poses a security risk to your WordPress site. Learn how to change the admin username in WordPress for improved security …

WP For BeginnersFor online security purposes, avoid setting up a WordPress site using the username “admin”.

This is the default installation username for WordPress and one of the first things hackers look for when attempting to break into WordPress web sites.

How To Change Your WP User Name From Admin To Another Username

In this tutorial, we’ll show you how to change your WordPress admin username from ‘admin’ to a more secure user name.

Changing Your WordPress User Name From Admin To Another User Name

Generally, in all new WordPress sites, the first user is also the administrator.

The default WordPress username admin is not recommended, as it creates a security risk to your WordPress site …

Changing Your WordPress Username From Admin To A Different Username

Let’s change your admin user name in WordPress to a more secure username.

There are several ways to view your username details inside your backend admin area:

Click on the Users > All Users screen in the main menu …

Changing Your WordPress Admin User Name To A Different Username

Click on your user name, or the Edit link when hovering over the username with your mouse …

How To Change Your Admin User Name In WordPress

Or, select Edit My Profile from the “Howdy, User” menu near the top-right hand corner of your screen …

Changing Your WordPress Admin Username

You can also access your “Profile” page by selecting Users > Your Profile from your main menu.

What you will see when you get into your Profile area, however, is that user names can’t be changed inside the Dashboard …

Changing Your Admin Username In WordPress

So, how can you change a admin username?

Change Admin Username By Creating A New Admin User

If your WordPress username is “admin,” here’s the easiest way to change your username without accessing your server and altering your server files or WordPress database:

Click Add New to create a new user …

How To Change Your WordPress Admin Username To A Different User Name

Next, create a different username, and assign the new user account the role of “Administrator”. Remember to save your changes in order to update your settings …

Changing Your WordPress Admin Username

You have now created a new admin user …

How To Change Your WP Admin Username

Log out of your WordPress admin area …

How To Change Your Admin Username In WordPress To A Different User Name

Log in with the new admin details for the user you have just created …

Changing Your Admin Username In WordPress

You should see your new username details displayed in the “Howdy, User” screen …

Changing Your WordPress Username From Admin To A More Secure User Name

Click on Users > All Users in the main menu …

Changing Your WP Admin Username To A Different Username

You can now delete your old administrator account …

Changing Your Admin Username In WordPress To A More Secure Username

Choose the option to attribute all content owned by the old admin account and reassigned it to your new user, then confirm the deletion of the old account …

How To Change Your Admin Username In WordPress

You are now left with only the new Admin account, effectively changing your WordPress admin username …

Changing Your WP Admin User Name

Change Admin Username Using A WordPress Plugin

Another easy way to change the username is to use a plugin like the one shown below.

Username Changer

Username changer

(Username changer)

Username Changer is a free WordPress plugin that lets you easily change your admin username (and allow other users to change their usernames too!)

Installing The Plugin

To install the plugin from your WordPress dashboard, go to Plugins > Add Plugins and type in “username” into the Keyword search field (if you need help see our tutorial on installing WordPress plugins).

There are several plugins you can use to perform a similar function. Locate the Username Changer plugin and click on ‘Install Now’ …

Install the plugin

(Install the plugin)

After installing the plugin, click the ‘Activate’ button …

Activate the plugin

(Activate the plugin)

Configuring The Plugin

After installing and activating the plugin, go to Settings > Username Changer

Settings - Username Changer menu

(Settings – Username Changer menu)

This brings you to the ‘Settings’ screen.

Here, you can allow other user roles to change their usernames too (be careful about doing this!) …

Username Changer Settings - Allowed Roles

(Username Changer Settings – Allowed Roles)

You can also configure email notifications (if you choose to allow users to change their usernames) …

Username Changer Settings - Email notifications

(Username Changer Settings – Email notifications)

Using The Plugin

To change your username, go to Users > Your Profile

Users - Your Profile menu

(Users – Your Profile menu)

Scroll down to the ‘Name’ section and you will see a ‘Change Username’ link next to the grayed out username field. Click on this link to change your username …

Click on 'Change Username' link

(Click on ‘Change Username’ link)

The ‘Username’ field will become editable. Change your username and click the ‘Save Username’ button …

Save your new username

(Save your new username)

Changing your username will log you out of your WordPress admin area. You will need to log back into your WordPress site.

Click on the link to log back in …

Click on the link to log back in

(Click on the link to log back in)

Log back into your site with your new username (note: your password should remain the same) …

Log back in with your new username

(Log back in with your new username)

Note: If you don’t click on the link to log back in you will find yourself logged out of your site …

Changing your username will expire your session

(Changing your username will expire your session)

After logging back into your site, go to your User Profile section and you will see that your username has been changed.

Username changed

(Username changed)

To learn more about this plugin, go here: Username Changer

Important

Although this tutorial is mostly intended for non-technical WordPress users, let’s go one step further and show you how to change a WordPress username inside the WordPress database.

All you need is admin access to your server’s control panel.

Tip

To learn how to search and replace content in your WordPress database without touching code or editing WordPress database tables, see the tutorial below:

Changing A User Name Inside The WordPress Database

In this example, we’ll be working with cPanel …

How To Change Your Admin Username In WordPress To Another Username

cPanel

Log into your server control panel …

How To Change Your WordPress Admin User Name To A More Secure Username

cPanel administration area

Find the “Databases” section and click on phpMyAdmin

How To Change Your WordPress User Name From Admin To Another Username

phpMyAdmin

Click on your WP database.

Note: If you have a number of databases set up on your domain, make sure that you select the correct one …

How To Change Your WordPress Username From Admin To A Different Username

phpMyAdmin databases

Don’t worry about the complicated-looking information on your screen screen.

Click on wp_users in the “Table” column on the left-hand side …

Changing Your WordPress Admin Username To A More Secure Username

The username is located in the “user login” column. To edit the field simply double-click on the text you want to change …

How To Change Your WordPress Username From Admin To A Different User Name

Type in the new username and click outside the edit box to update the field with a new username …

How To Change Your WordPress Admin Username To A Different Username

Log out of your server if you’re finished and reopen the browser to your WordPress site. You will probably find that your session has expired. Log in again with your new Admin details …

Changing Your Admin Username In WordPress

You should see that your user name is now updated. However, your site will probably still display the old “nickname” …

Changing Your WP Admin User Name

To choose a new “nickname”, visit your Users section and click on the Edit link below the user name …

Changing Your WordPress User Name From Admin To A Different Username

You can also access the Profile section by clicking on the Edit My Profile link in the “Howdy, User” section …

How To Change Your WordPress User Name From Admin To Another Username

Choose a new name to display publicly from the dropdown menu …

Changing Your WordPress Admin Username To A More Secure User Name

Useful Tip

Note: You can also create a new Nickname in the Nickname field and it will then be available for selection in the Display name publicly as dropdown menu …

How To Change Your WordPress Admin User Name To A Different Username

Click Update Profile to save your new settings …

Changing Your Admin Username In WordPress

You admin area is now updated with a new user name and nickname …

Changing Your Admin User Name In WordPress To A Different Username

Congratulations! Now you know how to change the WordPress admin username on your website.

How To Change Your WP Admin User Name To A More Secure Username

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"This is an awesome training series. I have a pretty good understanding of WordPress already, but this is helping me to move somewhere from intermediate to advanced user!" - Kim Lednum