It happened to me a few times: I had access to a client’s CPanel, but not its WP-Admin area.
How could I get into WP-Admin?
Solution #1 – reset password
- You go to CPanel;
- File Manager -> Open WP-Config.php in the root area of Public_HTML (or where the file is hosted), and see the database name;
- CPanel -> PHPMyAdmin -> Open Database -> Open table with something like wp_users, see a username’s email, change it to something you own;
- Backup – Also, at this step, save the user’s password hash, if you wish to set it back to that user, later, in PHPMyAdmin;
- Go to WP-Admin and reset password;
- Change back the email + (set a) password in WP Admin or in PHPMyAdmin.
What if the email system is broken in WordPress? (the server can’t send emails)
Solution #2 – change password
- You go to CPanel;
- File Manager -> Open WP-Config.php in the root area of Public_HTML (or where the file is hosted), and see the database name;
- CPanel -> PHPMyAdmin -> Open Database -> Open table with something like wp_users;
- Backup the Password of the user;
- Use a site like WordPress Password Hash Generator | USEO Tools to generate a hash for a password you set;
- In PHPMyAdmin put that generated password;
- Login to WP Admin.
- Put back the password in PHPMyAdmin.
- Also, for this process you could also consider adding this plugin (WP Mail SMTP by WPForms – WordPress plugin | WordPress.org), it will help with sending emails. Or consider contacting the hosting. Now, it’s not urgent anymore to have the email option functioning very fast, so you can wait for their reply.
