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 TutorialFor security purposes, do not set up a WordPress site with the username “admin”.

This is the default installation user name for WordPress and one of the leading causes of brute force attacks on WordPress sites.

Changing Your Admin Username In WordPress To A Different Username

In this step-by-step tutorial, you will learn how to change the WordPress admin username to a more secure username.

Changing Your Admin User Name In WordPress To Another User Name

Generally, on all new WordPress sites, the first user is usually the admin of the website or blog.

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

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

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

There are a number of ways to view your username details inside your WP Dasboard area:

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

Changing Your WordPress Admin Username

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

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

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

Changing Your WP User Name From Admin To A Different Username

You can also visit your “Profile” section by selecting Users > Your Profile from the Dashboard side menu.

What you will discover when you get into your Profile area, however, is that your username cannot be changed from the administration section …

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

So, how can you edit your user name?

Change Admin Username By Creating A New Admin User

If your username is “admin,” here’s the easiest way to change your user name without going into your server and editing your server files or your WordPress database:

Click Add New to add a new user …

Changing Your WP Admin Username To A More Secure Username

Next, create a different user name, and assign this new user the role of “Administrator”. Save your changes to update your settings …

Changing Your Admin Username In WordPress To A More Secure Username

A new admin user should now display in the Users screen …

How To Change Your Admin User Name In WordPress

Log out of your WordPress admin area …

How To Change Your WordPress Admin User Name

Log in with your new admin details …

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

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

Changing Your Admin Username In WordPress

Select Users > All Users in the main menu …

How To Change Your WordPress Admin Username

Delete the old administrator account …

How To Change Your WP Admin User Name

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

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

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

Changing Your Admin Username In WordPress To A More Secure 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

Info

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.

Useful 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:

How To Change Your Username Inside The WordPress Database

For this example, the server uses cPanel …

Changing Your Admin User Name In WordPress To Another User Name

cPanel

Log into your server admin area …

Changing Your WP User Name From Admin To A Different User Name

cPanel administration area

Navigate to the “Databases” section and click on phpMyAdmin

Changing Your WP Admin User Name

phpMyAdmin

Open up your WordPress database.

Note: If you have multiple databases set up on your domain, make sure that you select the right one …

Changing Your WP Admin Username

phpMyAdmin databases

Don’t worry about the technical-looking nature of the information on your screen.

Click on wp_users in the left-hand column …

Changing Your WordPress User Name From Admin To A Different Username

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

How To Change Your WP Username From Admin To Another Username

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

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

Log out of your server when you’re finished and return to your WordPress site. You will probably find that your session is expired. Log in again with your new Admin user name and password …

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

You will see that the username has been updated. However, it will probably still display the previous “nickname” …

How To Change Your WP Admin Username To Another User Name

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

Changing Your WordPress Admin Username

You can also reach your Profile section if you click on the Edit My Profile link in the “Howdy, User” box …

How To Change Your Admin Username In WordPress

Choose a new name to display publicly from the drop-down menu …

How To Change Your WP Admin Username To Another Username

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 drop down menu …

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

Click Update Profile to save your new settings …

Changing Your WP Username From Admin To Another User Name

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

Changing Your Admin User Name In WordPress

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

How To Change Your WP Username From Admin To Another Username

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