How to Recover or Reset Your Joomla Admin Password
If you are unable to log in to your Joomla administrator area, you can reset the admin password directly through the database or using Joomla’s built‑in command‑line tools. These methods work for Joomla 3.x and 4.x.
Method 1: Reset the Password via phpMyAdmin (Database)
You can manually update the admin password in the database:
- Log in to your hosting control panel and open phpMyAdmin.
- Select your Joomla database.
- Open the table: #__users (e.g., jos_users).
- Edit the row for your admin user.
- Set the password field to a new hashed value.
Use this value for a new password of secret:
$2y$10$92IXUNpkjO0rOQ5byMi.Ye4oKoEa3Ro9llC/.og/at2.uheWG/igi
Save the record — you can now log in using the password secret. After logging in, change it immediately.
Method 2: Reset the Password Using Joomla CLI (Joomla 4+)
Joomla 4 includes a command‑line tool that allows you to reset the admin password easily.
php cli/joomla.php user:reset-password admin
Follow the prompts to set a new password. This method requires SSH access to your hosting account.
Official Joomla Documentation
Full instructions are available on the Joomla documentation site: How to Recover or Reset Your Joomla Admin Password
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