Joomla! Documentation™

Joomla! 

3.x

Resetting a user password can be done a number of ways:

Frontend

The user can do it by themselves through the front end of your site:

1. Make sure the Login Module is published and active on the front end of your site. If not, log in to the Administrator back-end and go to the Module Manager to enable it.
2. Find the Login Form on the front-end of your site. If you need to reset your password, click "Forgot your Password?" and you will be prompted to enter your email address. A confirmation code will be emailed to you so you can enter a new password.
3. If you can't remember your username, click "Forgot your username?" and it will be emailed to you.

Backend

The site administrator can perform the following steps:

1. Log into the Administrator back-end of your site (e.g. www.yoursite.com/administrator)
2. In the menu Users, select the sub-menu Manage.
3. Click the User's name you want to edit.
4. Enter the new password into the Password field and type it again in the Confirm Password field.
5. Click Save.

Resetting in PhpMyAdmin

If you have lost your admin password and you can't log into the backend, then you're able to reset the password in your PhpMyAdmin. Complete the following steps:

1. Select your database in PhpMyAdmin
2. Select the prefixofyourtable_users table.
3. Click "Browse" and select "Edit" (the small pen icon) on the user whose password you wish to reset
4. You will now see all user data in a form. Under the "password" field, you will see a long list of encrypted letters. Delete these letters, and type in a new password.
5. BEFORE saving, remember to select "MD5" in the "function" dropdown list.
6. Save your new password and log into the backend of your Joomla site. Remember to reset the password again from the back-end, as the MD5 encryption is much more secure this way.