This tutorial is part of our tutorial series on WordPress Security. In this tutorial, you will learn how to change your WordPress database password.

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How To Change Your WordPress Database Password

If you need to change your WordPress database password, follow the steps below:

Log into your cPanel account …

(Log into cPanel)

Go to cPanel > Databases > MySQL Databases …

(cPanel – MySQL Databases)

Scroll down to the ‘Current Users’ section, select the user account  and click on ‘Change Password’ …

(MySQL Database: Users – Change Password)

Change the password. Make sure you choose a very strong new password and copy this password to a plain text file …

(MySQL Databases – Set New Password)

After changing the current user password, you also need to change the password inside your wp-config.php file. Otherwise, you will experience an “error connecting to the database” error.

If you have been following our WordPress maintenance tutorials, you should have a backup copy of your wp-config.php file stored in your hard drive or remote storage location.

You can edit the wp-config.php file by going to cPanel > Files > File Manager …

(cPanel:Files – File Manager)

Or edit a copy of the file and then replace the wp-config.php file on your server using FTP …

(wp-config.php)

Replace the ‘DB_Password’ field in your wp-config.php file with the same password used earlier. Note: Make sure to replace only the string inside the single quote marks and check that there are no spaces or misspelled characters to avoid errors. Save the file to update …

(Change password in wp-config.php file)

Remember to test your site to make sure that everything is working correctly.

Congratulations! Now you know how to change your WordPress database password.

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