It seems that the official documentation is out of date for resetting the password. Resetting the version in the web.config and changing the password to default on the DB no longer works. It simply logs you in briefly and then logs you out, theres no prompt to set a new password like the docs suggest and you can't reset your password. The password is hashed so changing it to "default" doesn't actually make the password default.
Step 1
Open SQL Server Management Studio
Create a new query using the database for your umbraco project. Copy and paste the following SQL:
UPDATE umbracoUser SET userdisabled = 0, userLogin = 'admin', userPassword = 'default' WHERE id = 0
Run the query. This has now made sure the admin account is enabled and and set the password to 'default'.
This won't work yet though as passwords are stored as hash values, so you need to edit a setting in the web.config file temporarily.
Step 2
In the web.config file, at the root of your web project, use Ctrl+F to find UsersMembershipProvider
The passwordFormat will be set to "Hashed". You need to change it to "Clear" so that you can login. Save the web.config file.
Step 3
Go to the umbraco login page and login with the username of admin and the password of default.
Once you have logged in, you need to change the passwordFormat in the web.config again back to "Hashed" and press Save.
Step 4
Now you can change the password for the admin user to a different one and it will be saved in the database with a hashed value instead of clear text.
To make sure it is storing passwords in the hashed format, run this SQL query after you have changed the password.
SELECT userName, userPassword FROM umbracoUser WHERE id = 0
You should see the admin username and the hashed password.
I followed your steps. It sounded perfectly logical, sadly it still won't let me in. I tried with the admins email and just with "admin". It doesn't make a difference.
Did you try this yourself successfully? If so, can you post the full Membership Provider part of your web.config? Maybe I have something else set wrong ...
Do you have access to any user account? If yes, here's a quick workaround that I'm using.
1.) Go to the database and find the "dbo.umbracoUser" table.
2.) Open it and find the user account that you have access.
3.) Copy the "userPassword" field value and paste it on the user account that you want to reset.
Resetting the admin password on 8.5.3
It seems that the official documentation is out of date for resetting the password. Resetting the version in the web.config and changing the password to default on the DB no longer works. It simply logs you in briefly and then logs you out, theres no prompt to set a new password like the docs suggest and you can't reset your password. The password is hashed so changing it to "default" doesn't actually make the password default.
Theres an article about using a DLL: https://our.umbraco.com/packages/developer-tools/umbraco-admin-reset/ This version of the downloaded DLL is 5 years old and doesn't work.
The creator of the DLL's github has a branch for v8: https://github.com/rsoeteman/umbraco-admin-reset/tree/V8
But I can't seem to get the project to build. Has anyone had any luck building this v8 version of the DLL? Could you provide a download link?
Hello, You can follow these steps
Step 1 Open SQL Server Management Studio Create a new query using the database for your umbraco project. Copy and paste the following SQL:
UPDATE umbracoUser SET userdisabled = 0, userLogin = 'admin', userPassword = 'default' WHERE id = 0 Run the query. This has now made sure the admin account is enabled and and set the password to 'default'.
This won't work yet though as passwords are stored as hash values, so you need to edit a setting in the web.config file temporarily.
Step 2 In the web.config file, at the root of your web project, use Ctrl+F to find UsersMembershipProvider
The passwordFormat will be set to "Hashed". You need to change it to "Clear" so that you can login. Save the web.config file.
Step 3 Go to the umbraco login page and login with the username of admin and the password of default.
Once you have logged in, you need to change the passwordFormat in the web.config again back to "Hashed" and press Save.
Step 4 Now you can change the password for the admin user to a different one and it will be saved in the database with a hashed value instead of clear text.
To make sure it is storing passwords in the hashed format, run this SQL query after you have changed the password.
SELECT userName, userPassword FROM umbracoUser WHERE id = 0 You should see the admin username and the hashed password.
Hello,
I followed your steps. It sounded perfectly logical, sadly it still won't let me in. I tried with the admins email and just with "admin". It doesn't make a difference.
Did you try this yourself successfully? If so, can you post the full Membership Provider part of your web.config? Maybe I have something else set wrong ...
Hi
I tried this today and it took my website down. Is it possible that the connection string for Umbraco uses the Admin login?
Hey Ziggy, Chantal
Do you have access to any user account? If yes, here's a quick workaround that I'm using.
1.) Go to the database and find the "dbo.umbracoUser" table.
2.) Open it and find the user account that you have access.
3.) Copy the "userPassword" field value and paste it on the user account that you want to reset.
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