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Do you have multiple WordPress self-hosted blogs? If so, you’ve likely run into a scenario where you just can’t remember your password. With WordPress 2.5 and 2.5.1 there’s an annoying bug that sometimes generates passwords that don’t work when you click the “Forgot Password” option. Usually that button generates a query that will send an email with a temporary password that allows you to reset your password to whatever you wish. The bug in 2.5 will still do that but when you click on the link that should allow you to reset your password, nothing happens.

Actually something does happen, WordPress resets the password internally (in the MySQL database) but the link that it sent you to activate that password fails to connect with the database effectively locking you out of your blog. In this scenario, at least for me, all the potentially viable solutions lead to dead ends.

Although it should’ve, launching the database manager to reset the password manually didn’t work. I tried doing this in various ways including this method from Codex, this one from Watching The Net and this one from Thought Outflux. But none of them worked!

Opening up wp-config.php and trying to reset the password there didn’t work there either.

I was at a loss as to what to do. That is until I found the Village Idiot Emergency Password Recovery software. Using it is simple:

1. 1. Download the script from Village Idiot WordPress Emergency Password Script.
2. 2. Unpack the downloaded zip file.
3. 3. Upload the file emergency.php to the root of your WordPress installation (the same directory that contains wp-config.php).
4. 4. In your browser, open http://example.com/emergency.php.
5. 5. As instructed, enter the administrator username (usually admin) and the new password, then click Update Options. A message is displayed noting the changed password. An email is sent to the blog administrator with the changed password information.
6. 6. Delete emergency.php from your server when you are done. Do not leave it on your server as someone else could use it to change your password.

For whatever reason this worked flawlessly where the other methods failed and I was able to regain access to my wordpress blog and set the password to something I’ll (hopefully) never forget again. I’m not ruling out operator error on the other methods but the aptly titled Village Idiot software makes the process fool-proof.

Note: Keep in mind that all of these options will only work if you are the site administrator or have direct access to the server at which the blog is hosted.