For increased security, avoid installing a WordPress site with the user name “admin”.
This is the default installation username for WordPress and one of the first areas of potential vulnerabilities hackers look for when attempting to break into WordPress websites and blogs.
In this tutorial for non-technical WordPress users, you will learn how to change your WordPress admin user name from ‘admin’ to a more secure username.
Changing Your WP Username From Admin To A More Secure Username
By default, with a new WordPress website installation, the first user is the admin of the website or blog.
Having the default WordPress username admin is not recommended, as it can out your site at risk of being attacked by hackers or botnets …
Let’s change your WordPress admin username from ‘admin’ to a more secure username.
There are a number of ways to access your “Profile” section and view your user name details after logging into WP:
Select the Users > All Users page in the main menu …
Click either on the user name, or click on the Edit link when hovering over the user name 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” section by selecting Users > Your Profile from your Dashboard side menu.
You will see when you get into the Profile area that your user name can’t be changed inside your Dashboard section …
So, how do you modify your admin username?
Change Admin Username By Creating A New Admin User
If your username is “admin,” here’s the easiest way to change this without going into your server:
First, create a new user …
Next, create a better user name, and assign the new user the role of “Administrator”. Remember to save your changes in order to update your settings …
You have now added a new admin user …
Log out of your WordPress admin area …
Log in with the new admin details for the user you have just created …
You should see your new user name details in the “Howdy, User” screen …
Select Users > All Users in your main menu …
Delete the old user account …
Choose 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 admin 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 mostly aimed for non-technical WordPress users, let’s go one step further and show you how to change your WordPress user name inside the WordPress database.
All you need is admin access to your server’s control panel.
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 A Username Inside The WordPress Database
For our example, we’ll be working with the cPanel management software …
cPanel
Log into your server admin account …
cPanel administration area
Navigate to the “Databases” section and open up phpMyAdmin …
phpMyAdmin
Open up your WordPress database.
Note: If you have multiple databases set up on your domain, make sure you select the right one …
phpMyAdmin databases
Don’t be concerned about the complicated-looking screen.
Click on wp_users …
The user name is located in the “user login” column. To edit the username simply double-click on this text you want to change …
Type in the new user name and click outside the edit box to update the field with a new user name …
Log out of your server if you’re finished and return to your WordPress site. You may find that your session is expired. If so, log in again with your new administration login credentials …
You will see that the username is now updated. However, it will probably still display the previous “nickname” …
To change the “nickname”, go to your Users area and click on the Edit link below your username …
You can also reach the Profile section if you click on the Edit My Profile link in the “Howdy, User” panel …
Select 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 drop-down menu …
Click Update Profile to save your new settings …
You admin area is now updated with a new user name and nickname …
Congratulations! Now you know how to change your WordPress admin user name on your website.
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