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 …

Learn To Use WPFor improved WordPress security, you should never create sites using the username “admin”.

This is the default installation username for WordPress and one of the leading causes of brute force attacks and security threats on WordPress web sites.

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

In this tutorial for non-technical WordPress users, we’ll show you how to change your admin user name in WordPress to a more secure user name.

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

Normally, on a new WordPress site, the first registered user is the administrator.

The default WordPress username admin is not recommended, as it puts your website or blog at risk of being attacked by hackers or botnets …

Changing Your WP Username From Admin To Another User Name

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

There are several ways to access your “Profile” section and view your username details inside your Dashboard area:

Select the Users > All Users screen in the main menu …

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

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

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

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

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

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

What you will see when you get into the Profile page, however, is that you can’t change usernames from your backend admin section …

Changing Your Admin Username In WordPress To Another User Name

So, how do you edit the WordPress admin username?

Change Admin Username By Creating A New Admin User

If your admin login is “admin,” here’s the easiest way to change the user name without accessing your server:

Click Add New to add a new user …

Changing Your WordPress Username From Admin To Another Username

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

Changing Your WordPress Admin User Name To A Different User Name

A new admin user should now be displaying …

Changing Your WP Admin Username To A Different Username

Log out of your WordPress admin area …

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

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

How To Change Your Admin User Name In WordPress

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

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

Select Users > All Users in your main menu …

How To Change Your WordPress Username From Admin To Another Username

You can now delete your old user account …

How To Change Your WP User Name From Admin To A Different User Name

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

Changing Your Admin Username In WordPress To A More Secure Username

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

Changing Your WP 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)

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 really designed for non-technical WordPress users, let’s go one step further and show you how to change your WordPress username inside the WordPress database.

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

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:

Changing A User Name Inside The WordPress Database

For the example below, the server is using the cPanel management software …

Changing Your Admin Username In WordPress

cPanel management software

Log into your server control panel …

Changing Your WordPress User Name From Admin To A Different Username

cPanel admin area

Scroll down to the “Databases” section and open phpMyAdmin

Changing Your Admin User Name In WordPress To Another Username

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 …

Changing Your WP Admin User Name To Another Username

phpMyAdmin databases

Don’t panic when you see the complicated-looking information on your screen screen.

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

Changing Your Admin User Name In WordPress

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

How To Change Your WordPress Username From Admin To Another Username

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

Changing Your WP Username From Admin To A Different Username

Log out of your server when you’re finished and return to your WordPress site. You will probably find that your session is expired. If so, log in again with your new Admin credentials …

How To Change Your Admin User Name In WordPress To Another User Name

You will see that the username is now updated. However, it will probably still display the old “nickname” …

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

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

Changing Your WordPress User Name From Admin To A Different Username

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

How To Change Your WordPress Admin Username

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

How To Change Your Admin User Name In WordPress

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 …

Changing Your WP Admin Username

Click Update Profile to save your new settings …

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

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

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

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

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

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