Once in a while, you may in need to add an administrator user to your WordPress website. Nowadays, bloggers are opening up their doors to guest authors.
And it’s evident that it’s not hard to manage a website alone, you may also need a helping hand.
Generally, you may not need to deal with codes while adding a new user, but when you lose your login details or your login limit plugin blocks you, you require to create a new administrator account, it’s possible only using cPanel.
You can use phpMyAdmin, which require an SQL query and I am sure, you may not be familiar with the database coding.
It’s better to use a function and remove it after the work is done. Isn’t this amazing to add a WordPress administrator user using PHP and remove it?
Most of the time, you need to copy, paste the code, and leave it in the file, but not in this method. You’re going to learn the basics of WordPress functions and where to add them.
Do You Know How to Edit the functions.php File
If you’re a techie person, you may already know, the functions of a WordPress website reside in the functions.php file.
Let me make it simple for you. In every WordPress theme, functions.php is the main file to control all the functionalities of the layout; you can use it to enhance your current website features.
You can edit the file from your wp-admin panel, but when you don’t have access to it, you need to use cPanel. I am going to walk you through the process.
Follow the steps.
Step 1:
Open the cPanel account and search for the file manager. You can easily find it under the Files’ section.
Depending on the web hosting company you use, you can find the file manager. For Bluehost users, cPanel is blue, Siteground has the similar layout as the screenshot, Inmotionhosting provides the same.
The layout may vary, but the options are similar.
Step 2:
If you have only one domain name, it’s evident that the data is residing in the root directory. It’s possible that you may see the home directory, click on public_html from the left-hand sidebar.
Now, you can see all the files and folders of your WordPress website. Search for the wp-content folder and open it.
Step 3:
On this page, you can see, the folder consists of plugins, themes, and the media data of your site.
As you already know, you need to open the themes folder.
Step 4:
Here you can see all activated and deactivated themes you have installed on your site. Open your active theme folder.
Step 5:
Search for the functions.php file and right-click to edit. You can also use the common Edit link showing on the main horizontal navigation menu of cPanel.
Step 6:
In the code editor, you need to add the code at the bottom.
function new_admin_account(){
$user = 'Username';
$pass = 'Password';
$email = 'email@yoursite.com';
if ( !username_exists( $user ) && !email_exists( $email ) ) {
$user_id = wp_create_user( $user, $pass, $email );
$user = new WP_User( $user_id );
$user->set_role( 'administrator' );
} }
add_action('init','new_admin_account');Click on the Save Changes button.
Note: Don’t forget to change the “Username” and “Password” from the code. You should also change the email address.
Let me show you an example. If I choose “onetwo55” as a username and “in##*os67” as password, the code becomes like this.
function new_admin_account(){
$user = 'onetwo55';
$pass = 'in##*os67';
$email = 'email@yoursite.com';
if ( !username_exists( $user ) && !email_exists( $email ) ) {
$user_id = wp_create_user( $user, $pass, $email );
$user = new WP_User( $user_id );
$user->set_role( 'administrator' );
} }
add_action('init','new_admin_account');Now, trying logging in your new account with these login credentials, if you can log in, congrats, you have successfully created an administrator account for your WordPress site.
Note: Now, you can remove the code you have added.
The beauty of using a function is that you don’t need to keep the code forever, once you finish the task, remove the code and enjoy.
I Hope It’s Not So Hard to Understand
To accomplish one task, you have many alternatives. Many people rely on the WordPress admin panel, but they cry when the website goes down or they lose the login credentials.
You may also think about recovering the password, but sometimes, it can’t work because the security plugin blocks the access.
Creating a new user account is the only hope, which is possible only if you know how to use cPanel. PHP can be scary to many, but all you need is to copy, paste, and remove the code.
Conclusion
It’s essential to learn the basics of cPanel. For a WordPress website, cPanel is like the ultimate weapon. Although many websites are running on managed web hostings, NGINX server, but not all of them.
Most of the small business owners rely on shared web hostings, and cPanel is what you get. I hope you can easily create a new administrator user account.
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