Introduction
You have a brand new WordPress website and now you would like to start creating or editing your content. To do this you need to log into your WordPress dashboard.
We often get asked “How do I log into WordPress?”. Indeed this is always the first step when starting to do any work on your WordPress website. This article covers how to log into WordPress.
We will cover:
- finding your WordPress login URL,
- alternative login URLs,
- the login details email,
- the password reset page,
- the WordPress login page,
- the WordPress admin dashboard,
- troubleshooting your WordPress login.
This article is part of a series on WordPress.
What is WordPress?
Log into WordPress
Web Development and WordPress FAQs
Finding your WordPress login URL
The first step is finding the login URL of your website. In most cases this is pretty easy.
In short, you can usually just add /wp-admin to the URL of the home page*
* or whatever the root domain is
Being the main takeaway of this article, here it is in big letters:
Add
/wp-adminto the URL of your website
For example if you website’s domain is example.com, then your login would be example.com/wp-admin
/wp-admin to the domain example.com.Try it now
We recommend you pause here and try logging into your website now by adding /wp-admin to your website’s URL.
Working?
If it works, then great! You should either be looking at your WordPress login page, or your WordPress dashboard now.
Scroll to the section on the WordPress login page to read more about logging in.
Or scroll to read more about the WordPress dashboard.
Not working?
If you are not being directed to your WordPress login page or your WordPress dashboard, then there could be an issue.
Scroll to the section on troubleshooting your WordPress login.
Alternative login URLs
Before moving on to the sections on login pages and the WordPress dashboard, you may consider using a shortcut to login. Let’s quickly explore alternative methods of logging into your WordPress dashboard.
You can use the URL extensions /admin, /login, or /login.php to log into your website.
So if your website’s domain is example.com then you could use: example.com/wp-admin, example.com/admin, example.com/login, example.com/login.php
to log into your WordPress website.
Which is the best login URL to use?
Seeing as we now have several methods to log in, then it begs the question “which is the best login URL to use?”. It’s worth a quick explanation.
If you are not logged in already, then /wp-admin, /admin and /login will all direct to /login.php, which is the WordPress login page.
If you are logged in already, then you will be directed to your WordPress dashboard (which is at /wp-admin).
Therefore the most direct route to your dashboard is via the /wp-admin method. Then you don’t have to think about whether you are logged in already.
So just to recap, with the /wp-admin method, if you are not logged in, then you will be directed to the login page. If you are logged in then you will go straight to your dashboard.
The WordPress login details / set password email
In order for you to be allowed to access your website, the developer who created the site must create a new user with your name, and email. If you developed the site yourself you can most likely skip this step.
Your WordPress website will send you an email notifying you that your user account has been created.
There is a link below the line of text “To set your password, visit the following address:”. Clicking this link will take you to the Reset Password page. In this case you’ll be setting a password for the first time.
Jump to the section on the WordPress reset password page.
The WordPress Reset Password page
If you’re looking at the WordPress reset password page, then chances are you’ve been directed here by the WordPress login details / set password email.
This email gets sent to you when your user account is created, or when you have lost your password and clicked the Lost your password? link on the login page.
Here you can create your own password, or click the Generate Password button.
Create your own password
If you create your own password, then make sure it is very secure. WordPress will warn you if it is not!
Generate a strong password
We recommend clicking the Generate Password button rather than creating your own password.
WordPress will generate a very strong password of random characters. Of course this password will not be easy to remember, but luckily you can get your browser to “remember” the password for you.
Next time you log in your browser will autofill your login details for you.
If, for some reason, you no longer have access to your web browser or change browsers, then you can always reset your password.
Lost your WordPress password?
If you ever lose or forget your WordPress password, but you remember your username or email address, then you can easily reset your password.
Firstly, go to the WordPress login page as per the instructions at the start of this article (ie. try adding /wp-admin to your URL).
On the WordPress login screen click on the link: “Lost your password?”.
You can also access the lost password page by adding /wp-login.php?action=lostpassword to your website’s URL.
You’ll arrive on the Lost Password page.
Enter your username or email address here, then click the Get New Password button.
An email will be sent to you with a password reset link. When you click the link in the email you will be directed to the reset password page.
Scroll to the section on this page about resetting your WordPress password.
The WordPress login page
After correctly entering your WordPress login URL you will either arrive at the WordPress login page or at the WordPress dashboard.
If you’re logging into WordPress for the very first time, or if you’ve been away from your site for some time, you’ll find yourself on the WordPress login page.
Entering your login credentials
The WordPress login page has fields for Username or Email Address and Password, a Remember Me checkbox, and a Log in button. There is also a link to the Lost your password? page, and a link to the front page of website.
You can use either your username exactly as it was written, including being case-sensitive, when it was created, or you can use the email address that is associated with your account on your website.
Use the password that was assigned to your account. If your website was built by a developer then perhaps this password was sent to you, or perhaps you created it yourself.
To save your password or not
If you are working on your own private computer and feel safe about it, we recommend using a very strong password and allowing your web browser to save it so you don’t have to remember it. If this is your first time logging in you will be asked if you’d like to save your password by your web browser.
Remember me?
If you are on your own computer we also advise checking the “Remember me?” checkbox at the bottom of the login fields. WordPress will then bypass logging in for 14 days, so you can go straight to your WordPress dashboard.
The WordPress dashboard
When you’ve successfully logged in you’ll arrive in your website’s WordPress dashboard.
You’ll see a sidebar on the left with various actions you can perform and links to settings pages.
At the top of the dashboard is the admin bar.
You’ll notice that when you view the front end of your website, for example the home page, you’ll notice that the admin bar is visible and fixed to the top of the screen as you scroll.
You can access various common actions from the admin bar, such as adding posts, pages, and media items such as images, videos, and documents.
Troubleshooting your WordPress login
If you’re having trouble logging in then first try resetting your password.
If you don’t remember your username or email, then you’ll be unable to reset your password. In this case we recommend contacting the developer who built your website.
If you have access to your web hosting control panel then you can reset your password by accessing your database. This article on WP Beginner covers this.
This article is part of a series on WordPress
What is WordPress?
Log into WordPress
Web Development and WordPress FAQs
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