How to Login to WordPress? (2023)

Starting a new WordPress website is exciting, yet it requires certain prerequisites. One of the first steps is to install WordPress on your domain. Next, you need to start creating your website. But how do you find your WordPress admin login URL?

In this article, we will clarify the various ways of accessing your WordPress admin page. We will also outline a few tips on what to do if you can’t find it.

What are the default WordPress Admin Login URLs?

Usually, WordPress gives you the login URL for your site when you complete the installation. But, if you failed to notice that, you can always use the default WordPress admin login URLs:

• www.yourwebsite.com/admin/

• www.yourwebsite.com/login/

• www.yourwebsite.com/wp-admin/

• www.yourwebsite.com/wp-login.php/

Note: Make sure to replace “yourwebsite.com” with your actual domain name.

Each of these URLs will redirect you to the login page for your WordPress Dashboard:

After reaching the login page, you need to enter your WordPress username and password. These are the credentials you have set during the installation process.

For WordPress installed on a Subdomain:

If your WordPress is set on a subdomain, your login URL will look like this:

www.blog.yourwebsite.com/wp-admin

www.blog.yourwebsite.com/wp-login.php

For WordPress installed in a Subdirectory:

When your WordPress is installed in a subdirectory, you will need to also include its name in the URL. For example, if your site is set in “yourdomain.com/wordpress/”, then the login URL would be:

www.yourwebsite.com/wordpress/login/

www.yourwebsite.com/wordpress/wp-admin

No matter where your WordPress is installed, you can always bookmark your login URL. Of course, there are other ways to get inside your Dashboard. Read along to learn more about them.

Use the “Remember me” option

“Remember me” box is a useful feature on the WordPress login page. Check it and you will stay logged in for several consecutive days (depending on your browser cookies settings ).

Add a Login link on your WordPress Website

If you can’t remember your login URL, you may add a login link to your site. You can add such a link in your sidebar, footer, or menu.

To add your login link to your site’s menu, navigate to Appearance > Menus >Custom Links :

Another option is to use the Meta widget to add a login link to your site’s footer. To do this, you need to go to Appearance > Widgets and click the “+” sign in the upper-left corner. Afterward, simply drag the Meta widget to the Footer or Sidebar.

Create a Custom Login Form in WordPress

Provided that more people would need to log in to your Admin Panel, you may decide to create a custom login page. If your site allows registration or membership, creating a custom login page will ensure a better user experience for your visitors. A branded WordPress admin panel login page also allows you to better promote your business.

You can do that easily with a popular plugin like WPForms. This is a drag & drop form builder, which helps you create your custom forms in minutes.

Log in to your WordPress Admin Panel from Site Tools

Most hosting companies make your access to the WordPress Dashboard easier, by creating login shortcuts. For example, at SiteGround, we have set up 2 separate shortcuts to your admin panel.

Log in to your WordPress Admin from your SiteGround Client Area

To log in to your Admin Panel easily, log in to your SiteGround Client Area. Under the Websites section, you will find the WordPress Admin button for your site.

If you have more than one WordPress installed on this site, click on the login button for the respective installation. This will automatically log you into the WordPress admin panel.

Use the Auto Login feature in Site Tools

Another option to log in to your admin area is to use the Auto-Login button in Site Tools. Let’s say you are tweaking your hosting controls and you also need to reach your Dashboard. You can do so by navigating to WordPress > Install & Manage > Manage Installations. There, next to your site you will find the Auto Login button:

Secure your login process

Now you know how easy it is to reach your WordPress website admin login page. Surely, this makes you think about the security of your site. If it is not rocket science for you, it will not be difficult for hackers to log in, too.

That is why we advise you to secure your website. Below, we will list a few security measures you can apply.

Create a strong and unique password

Hackers try different combos of letters, numbers, and symbols to guess your password. A rule of thumb is to always set strong passwords. These are hard to crack and provide better security.

To create a strong password, you can use a password generator. You can find this tool in your Site Tools as well:

Change Your WordPress Admin Login URL with a Plugin

Changing your WordPress login admin address is another security step. This is quite easy to do with the SG Security plugin. You just need to open the plugin in your Admin Panel and go to the Login security part:

You then need to choose “Custom” and type a new name for your login page. When this is set, you should clear your browser cache.

Then, if you try to go to https://www.yourwebsite.com/wp-admin you will see a 404 page. To log in to your WordPress site admin page, you need to go to the newly set login address.

Hide your WordPress login page by editing your .htaccess file

Another way to hide your login page is to set a rule in your .htaccess file. Here is the code you can place in .htaccess:

RewriteRule ^newlogin$ http://yourwebsite.com/wp-login.php [NC,L]

After the code is set in place, your new URL to login to your WordPress site admin area will be https://yourwebsite.com/newlogin

Still, you need to remember your new admin WordPress login URL. That is why it is best to set a name for the page that is easy for you to recall. You can also add a bookmark to it in your browser.

Configure CAPTCHA

A CAPTCHA (Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart) does exactly what its name implies. CAPTCHAs are posing challenges to ensure you are a human, not a bot. Such a tool allows only humans with the right login details to enter your Dashboard. That is why it is a great addition to your site’s security.

One of the popular CAPTCHA plugins for WordPress is Google reCAPTCHA. This plugin can protect the following parts of your site:

• Login form
• Registration form
• Reset password form
• Comment form
• New password form

More often than not, WordPress login and registration pages are targeted by hackers. Thus, integrating CAPTCHA for your forms will keep your site safe from spambots and hackers.

Limit login attempts

A brute force attack is a way for hackers to guess your login details. They use scripts to try different combinations of passwords. To succeed, they attempt the login multiple times. Limiting the number of failed login attempts on your site can help you prevent such attacks.

You can easily do this with the SG Security plugin. Among other security features, the plugin also has a Limit Login Attempts option. It allows you to specify the number of times users can try to log in with incorrect credentials.

If a user reaches that limit, the plugin will block their IP. This feature can be enabled from the Login Security section of the plugin.

Add 2-Factor Authentication

This enhancement forces the site’s admin to provide a token before granting access. The token gets generated by the Google Authenticator application. This feature is also available in the SG Security plugin’s Login Security section.

Can’t log into WordPress Admin?

If you cannot log into the WordPress Admin Panel, there are steps you can take to fix this issue.

Update your WordPress Admin password

As frustrating as it may be, sometimes you may forget your WordPress admin password. Here are several ways to help you change it:

Change your password from the WordPress login screen

WordPress has a built-in feature called “Lost your password?”. You can see it on your WordPress Admin login screen.

Click the respective link and type your WordPress admin email address. You will then receive an email to reset your password. Afterward, you should be able to log in to your WordPress website admin area with your new password.

Update your admin password from Site Tools

You can also change your WordPress password from Site Tools. Go to Site Tools > WordPress > Install & Manage > Manage Installations. Then, click on the Actions menu next to the desired domain > Update Admin Password.

Change your WordPress password via PHPMyAdmin

You can also change your admin password for WordPress via PHPMyAdmin. You can access it from your SiteGround Site Tools > Site > MySQL > PHPMyAdmin.

Once inside the tool, find your WordPress database and look for the wp_users table. In that table, you will find all users for your WordPress site. Edit the one you need and change the Function for user_pass to MD5. Then, change the Value for user_pass with your desired new password.

Then simply click the Go button. Your new admin password is now all set.

Reset your WordPress password using WP-CLI

If you are proficient with SSH, you can use WP-CLI to reset your password. When in the root folder for your WordPress, use the following command to find your user ID:

$ wp user list

WP-CLI will output a list with your users and the ID of each user. Having the ID for your user, you can change your password with this command:

$ wp user update id --user_pass=password

Note: You will need to replace “id” with the number of your user ID. Also, replace “password” with the actual password you wish to use.

Reset Cookies and Cache

Sometimes, browser Cookies and Cache can hinder your WordPress Admin Page login.

You need to enable Cookies in your browser in order for the WordPress login process to work correctly. Hence, it is best to check if these are on for your browser (Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Opera, Edge). Then, clear your browser cache and cookies, and try to log in again.

Deactivate plugins

Quite often a faulty plugin can interfere with your admin login for WordPress. This could be caused by conflicting plugins as well. Thus, you can try disabling your plugins to solve this problem.

Since you are having a WordPress login issue, you will not be able to deactivate your plugins from the Dashboard.

Therefore, you can easily disable your plugins from Site Tools > WordPress > Install & Manage. There, next to your site, you will see the Actions menu. You can Disable all plugins with one click in this menu:

Alternatively, you can disable all plugins directly from the database.

Incorrect files/folders permissions

Incorrect files and folder permissions can hamper your WordPress admin access. You can easily mend the permissions from Site Tools > WordPress > Install & Manage. Under the Actions menu, you will find the button “Reset Permissions”.

Click on it and all files/folders permissions of your WordPress site will be set to default values.

White screen of death error

Occasionally, you will see a blank page when you try to log in to your WordPress Admin Dashboard. There are various reasons for this error. You can check our guide on how to fix it here:

• Fix WordPress White Screen of Death Error

To sum up, logging in to your WordPress website is pretty straightforward. You may use the default login URL https://yourwebsite.com/wp-admin or create a custom WordPress wp-admin login URL. For ease of access to the URL, you may bookmark it in your browser or simply add a shortcut to it on your website.

To keep your website safe from hackers, secure your login process. If you are unable to reach your Dashboard, check the troubleshooting steps in this article.