For improved web security, you should not set up WordPress sites with the user name “admin”.
This is the default installation username for WordPress and one of the leading causes of brute force attacks on a WordPress site.
In this step-by-step tutorial, you will learn how to change the admin username in WordPress to a more secure user name.
Changing Your WordPress Admin User Name To A Different Username
Generally, with a new WordPress installation, the first user is the admin.
Having the default WordPress username admin is not recommended, as it puts your WordPress site at risk …
Let’s change the WordPress admin user name to a more secure user name.
There are a number of ways to access your “Profile” section and view your user name details inside your WP Dasboard area:
Click on the Users > All Users section in the main menu …
Click either on the user name, or click on the Edit link when hovering over the username with your mouse …
Or, select Edit My Profile from the “Howdy, User” dropdown menu near the top-right hand corner of your screen …
You can also access your “Profile” screen by selecting Users > Your Profile from your main menu.
You will see when you get into the Profile page that your user name can’t be changed from the backend admin section …
So, how can you change a WordPress admin user name?
Change Admin Username By Creating A New Admin User
If your WordPress username is “admin,” here’s the easiest way to change this without going into your server and doing technical changes to your WordPress database:
First, create a new user …
Next, create a new username, and assign your new user account the role of “Administrator”. Remember to save your changes to update your settings …
You have now created a new user with admin privileges …
Log out of your WordPress admin area …
Log in with your new admin details …
You should see your new username details displayed in the “Howdy, User” panel …
Select Users > All Users in your main menu …
Delete your old administrator account …
Choose the option to assign all content owned by the old user account and reassigned it to the new admin, then confirm the deletion of the old account …
You are now left with only the new Admin account, effectively changing your WordPress admin username …
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 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)
After installing the plugin, click the ‘Activate’ button …
(Activate the plugin)
Configuring The Plugin
After installing and activating the plugin, go to Settings > Username Changer …
(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)
You can also configure email notifications (if you choose to allow users to change their usernames) …
(Username Changer Settings – Email notifications)
Using The Plugin
To change your username, go to Users > Your Profile …
(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)
The ‘Username’ field will become editable. Change your username and click the ‘Save Username’ button …
(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)
Log back into your site with your new username (note: your password should remain the same) …
(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)
After logging back into your site, go to your User Profile section and you will see that your username has been changed.
(Username changed)
To learn more about this plugin, go here: Username Changer
Although this tutorial is really designed for non-technical WordPress users, let’s go one step further and show you how to change a username inside the WordPress database.
All you need is access to your server.
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 Username Inside The WordPress Database
For this example, the server is using cPanel …
cPanel
Log into your server admin area …
cPanel administration area
Find the “Databases” section and click on phpMyAdmin …
phpMyAdmin
Click on your WordPress database.
Note: If you have multiple databases set up on your domain, make sure that you choose the correct one …
phpMyAdmin databases
Don’t be concerned about the complicated-looking information on your screen screen.
Click on wp_users …
The username is located in the “user login” column. To edit the field simply double-click on this text you want to change …
Type in the new username and click outside the edit box to update the field with a new user name …
Log out of your server when you’re done and reopen the browser to your WordPress site. You may find that your session is expired. Log in again with your new administration login details …
You will see that the user name is now updated. However, your admin details will probably still display the previous “nickname” …
To edit the “nickname”, go to your Users screen and click on the Edit link below your username …
You can also access the Profile section by clicking on the Edit My Profile link in the “Howdy, User” panel …
Choose a new name to display publicly from the drop down menu …
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 …
Click Update Profile to save your new settings …
You admin area is now updated with a new username and nickname …
Congratulations! Now you know how to change your WordPress admin username on your website or blog.
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