WordPress Hacks

This page contains hacks for working with WordPress.

Reset admin password

There are two easy ways to reset the password using WordPress in Docker without accessing the database directly.

These instructions are modified from Resetting Your Password to work with Docker.

Using WP CLI

WP-CLI is the command-line interface for administrating WordPress without using a web browser. These instructions should work in most instances.

Tip

You can easily change the password for any user using this method.

  1. Install the WP-CLI Phar package

    # Change to the docker-compose wordpress directory
cd ~/wordpress-docker

# Install wp-cli.phar
docker-compose exec wordpress curl -O https://raw.githubusercontent.com/wp-cli/builds/gh-pages/phar/wp-cli.phar
docker-compose exec wordpress chmod +x wp-cli.phar
docker-compose exec wordpress mv wp-cli.phar /usr/local/bin/wp
    Example output
    root@vps298933:~# cd ~/wordpress-docker
root@vps298933:~/wordpress-docker# docker-compose exec wordpress curl -O https://raw.githubusercontent.com/wp-cli/builds/gh-pages/phar/wp-cli.phar
  % Total    % Received % Xferd  Average Speed   Time    Time     Time  Current
                                 Dload  Upload   Total   Spent    Left  Speed
100 5437k  100 5437k    0     0  28.3M      0 --:--:-- --:--:-- --:--:-- 28.2M
root@vps298933:~/wordpress-docker# docker-compose exec wordpress chmod +x wp-cli.phar
root@vps298933:~/wordpress-docker# docker-compose exec wordpress mv wp-cli.phar /usr/local/bin/wp
root@vps298933:~/wordpress-docker#

  2. Verify the installation

    docker-compose exec wordpress wp --info
    Example output
    root@vps298933:~/wordpress-docker# docker-compose exec wordpress wp --info
OS:     Linux 4.15.0-124-generic #127-Ubuntu SMP Fri Nov 6 10:54:43 UTC 2020 x86_64
Shell:
PHP binary:     /usr/local/bin/php
PHP version:    7.4.13
php.ini used:
WP-CLI root dir:        phar://wp-cli.phar/vendor/wp-cli/wp-cli
WP-CLI vendor dir:      phar://wp-cli.phar/vendor
WP_CLI phar path:       /var/www/html
WP-CLI packages dir:
WP-CLI global config:
WP-CLI project config:
WP-CLI version: 2.4.0
root@vps298933:~/wordpress-docker#

  3. Find the number of the user that you want to change the password for.

    docker-compose exec wordpress wp user list --allow-root
    Example output
    root@vps298933:~/wordpress-docker# docker-compose exec wordpress wp user list --allow-root
+----+------------+--------------+---------------+---------------------+---------------+
| ID | user_login | display_name | user_email    | user_registered     | roles         |
+----+------------+--------------+---------------+---------------------+---------------+
| 1  | test-user  | test-user    | user@host.com | 2020-11-14 04:36:15 | administrator |
+----+------------+--------------+---------------+---------------------+---------------+
root@vps298933:

  4. Change the password using the new password and user number.

    docker-compose exec wordpress wp user update 1 --user_pass=ESzPHYbLkN! --allow-root
    Example output
    root@vps298933:~/wordpress-docker# docker-compose exec wordpress wp user update 1 --user_pass=ESzPHYbLkN! --allow-root
sh: 1: /usr/sbin/sendmail: not found
Success: Updated user 1.
root@vps298933:

Using function wp_set_password()

  1. Edit the functions.php file

    Note

    Verify that twentytwenty is the latest theme. These instructions were written in 2020. 😉

    cd ~/wordpress-docker
nano wordpress/wp-content/themes/twentytwenty/functions.php

    1. Put the wp_set_password() function on a blank line below <?php to reset the password for the admin user.

      // Changes the password for the first registered user during WP installation
wp_set_password( 'ChangeMe!', 1 );
      Example
      <?php

// Changes the password for the first registered user during WP installation
wp_set_password( 'ChangeMe!', 1 );

/**
 * Twenty Twenty functions and definitions
 *

    2. Save the file (you can leave it open in the terminal window).

  2. Try logging into the admin panel of your website at http://blog.mysite.com/wp-admin/ using the password in the file.

    Note

    The login will fail but will not generate an error.

  3. Edit functions.php again and comment out the command.

    // Changes the password for the first registered using when WP was set up
// wp_set_password( 'ChangeMe!', 1 );

    1. Save and exit

  4. Log in using the new password