Forgot username — how to get reminder?

You can access your website database using PHPMyAdmin and get your username & reset your password. You need not start from scratch.

The following links should help:
https://codex.www.ads-software.com/Resetting_Your_Password

I may have to resort to that, but it would be nice if WordPress would just let me in when I enter the VALID username and password.

Yesterday, I finally got in after entering the exact same info and getting an error message about 60 times. Once I was in, I took a screen capture of the profile page, so I know for a fact that I am remembering the info correctly and yes, I *am* entering it correctly.

However, I am still locked out.

Sorry to say that WordPress sucks, from the overwhelmingly negative experience I have had with it at every step of the way. Good thing it’s free.

I may have to resort to that

There’s no may about it. If the lost password link isn’t doing it for any reason then that’s the way to go.

It’s not that I don’t remember my password.

Not sure what is the point of my actually typing out a description of the problem if it’s going to be ignored completely, but to clarify AGAIN:

I HAVE reset the password dozens of times now. WordPress still tells me my username is invalid, even though it is NOT. (I took a screen capture of my profile page when I was successfully logged in to verify this.) So, upon entering the CORRECT username and the CORRECT password, I am still locked out. Unless WordPress randomly decides its in the mood to let me access my account after all.

According to other posts, I am not the only user who is having continual access problems for no valid reason.

Hey, thanks for the clarification. That info may help myself or perhaps another unpaid volunteer supporting you on their own time help you out of a jam that you are in.

*Jan looks for coffee, finds none thinks that’s a pity*

Can you specifically go over what steps you’ve taken? Are you only using the lost password link your installation provides or are you trying any of those other steps in that article?

It’s not that I don’t remember my password.

Right, that part is clear. But your WordPress installation disagrees and it’s not working for you and your installation.

It could be many things: do you know if you have any plugins activated that can be messing with your login? I know you cannot log in and check, but can you recall what may be causing your problem?

If you can share that info then a way to fix your problem may be suggested. Also a link to your site never hurts.

The site (unfinished and currently looking like C R A P!!) is https://oldgrovewoodworks.bigbugvisuals.com/

Not sure about the plugins, there may be a couple activated on the site.

Yesterday I changed the email address associated w/the account, and today, attempting to reset the password via the login page (fwiw, even though the password does not seem to be the issue), it tells me there is no account associated w/that email. Even though the profile page last night when I was successfully logged in shows that there is. Maybe it just takes a day or so for the new email address to update, but at this point I can not get in to make any progress on finishing the site.

Yesterday I changed the email address associated w/the account

That’s good information. Do you have access to phpMyAdmin for that server’s database? It sounds like something is off with that account.

Take a look at this part.

https://codex.www.ads-software.com/Resetting_Your_Password#Through_phpMyAdmin

Browse the wp_users table (see that link, it walks you through it) and verify the user name and if you want (just to be safe) try resetting the password too in phpMyAdmin.

If you don’t have access to phpMyAdmin for that installation let us know here. There are other ways to get that information as well. Most of which need you to have ssh access to that web server.

Well, thank you. So I tried that, followed instrux to the letter, still locked out.

But again, the password has never been the problem, (even though I’ve reset it at least 15 times now), it simply doesn’t like my username, and now I have no idea whether the “new” password I just set up through that lengthy phpMyAdmin process was meant to be valid, or if the old one was meant to be valid, but still neither one lets me in.

No idea, but I’m still locked out. Clicked the “forgot password” link and now no email at either address. I checked the email address associated w/the account in phpMyAdmin and it was still set to the previous one, so I changed it in the phpMyAdmin also and clicked “go”, but still no emails at either address. Maybe there’s a few days of lag-time from WordPress once you change your email address for it to update to a new one so I suppose I could carve out another day next week to try logging in to my account.

Someone suggested on another thread to try creating a new account and deleting the old one, which I will try and do and will presumably then have to spend several hours trying to migrate the site I’d already started over to a new user account which will hopefully not decide to lock me out.

Maybe there’s a few days of lag-time from WordPress once you change your email address for it to update to a new one

There is no lag time. All changes take place immediately.

Well then it’s completely and utterly F-ed up and broken and doesn’t work the way it claims to.

It works for everyone else, so I can only guess that this is an issue with your site or with your local system.

OK, half an hour later got the email link to reset the password. Successfully did that yet AGAIN.

However, the password has never been the problem, and the original problem remains UNRESOLVED.

The problem (again) is that when I go to the login page and enter the CORRECT username (exactly as it appears in the phpMyAdmin and exactly as it appears on my profile page when I managed to actually login 2 days ago), WordPress tells me

“***** not a valid username on WordPress.com, please try again with the correct username.”

And my only option is to “reset the password”. Which does not solve the problem.

And according to at least one other thread, it does NOT “work for everyone else”, there are other people with access problems as well.

I checked the email address associated w/the account in phpMyAdmin and it was still set to the previous one, so I changed it in the phpMyAdmin also and clicked “go”, but still no emails at either address.

What you are describing isn’t normal. Is there something restoring the database to a previous state?

Also do you have access to the web server’s file system? If you do you may want to rename the wp-content/plugins directory to something such as plugins-old. That will force all of your plugins to be disabled.

Someone suggested on another thread to try creating a new account and deleting the old one, which I will try and do

How will you do that step specifically? Especially if you are locked out?

What you are describing isn’t normal. Is there something restoring the database to a previous state?

Nope, nothing exotic or external to my knowledge happening with any system settings or domain settings. And I’m sure that WordPress wasn’t designed to be buggy and broken, but every time I have ever tried to use it for its intended purpose (that is, build a website using a template), I have run into one allegedly “unusual” problem after another and had to undo, redo, reconfigure, or work around something.

Also do you have access to the web server’s file system? If you do you may want to rename the wp-content/plugins directory to something such as plugins-old. That will force all of your plugins to be disabled.

Yes, I do. I can try that and see if I am then allowed to login using my username. I had intended to use the plugins on the site I was trying to build. I guess I’ll have to dispense with that idea as well and resort to yet another workaround to get it to work properly.

How will you do that step specifically? Especially if you are locked out?

No idea how to do that actually but it’s all just par for the course with WordPress. Seems simplest to just create a new user account and start from scratch all over again, since it seems to hate my username and I can’t change it, reinstalling WordPress and recreating the website to match what I’ve done so far. Not simple at all really.

Seems simplest to just create a new user account and start from scratch all over again

I’m not disagreeing with you but if you can’t get into your WordPress dashboard how can you do that step?

As to the plugins, you can do do that without WordPress dashboard access.

1. Using FTP or whatever file management tools your host has provided you with navigate to the wp-content/ directory.
2. Once there locate and rename the plugins directory to plugins-old. Just that one directory and nothing else.
3. Try and re-login to your WordPress dashboard.

If it’s a plugin that’s causing your problem (and I’m not sure that’s what’s going on) then that may fix it for you.