Hey guys! I’m back with another blog post. Today I’m sharing another story from my freelance experience, and I hope you’ll find it useful. Recently, I picked up a new project where my client gave me access to his cPanel but didn’t share his WordPress admin login. The thing is, I needed WordPress access to actually do the work. So with my client’s permission, I added myself as a WordPress administrator directly through cPanel. Here’s how I did it — let’s jump in!
I’m Hussain Abdullah Tofa, known online as AbdullahTofa. I’m a professional freelancer, a team leader at The Electric Viking, and virtual assistant of Proxy1Media.com. I also previously handled SEO for Family Braces in Georgia, USA.
How to Create an Admin User with FTP/cPanel for WordPress
To create a WordPress admin user through FTP or cPanel, follow the steps below:
1. Log in to Your FTP/cPanel
Log in to your website’s hosting or cPanel directly. Most cPanels are accessible at yoursite.com/cpanel. If that doesn’t work, just log in to your hosting provider’s dashboard and access cPanel from there.
2. Open File Manager
Every hosting account comes with a “File Manager” — it’s a standard tool you’ll find in every cPanel. I’ve highlighted it in the image below:
You’ll find File Manager just below the second dark line. Click on it.
3. Select the Folder Containing Your Website
Once File Manager opens, you’ll see a page like the one below. Double-click the folder that belongs to your website. In my case, I’m selecting my own website folder, named “abdullahtofa.com.”
4. Open the wp-content Folder
After step 3, you’ll see a screen like the one below. Find the wp-content folder and double-click to open it.
5. Open the Themes Folder
Inside wp-content, you’ll see a folder called themes — usually right after the plugins folder. Double-click to open it.
6. Select Your Active Theme Folder
Now select your website’s active theme folder by double-clicking it. If you have multiple themes installed and aren’t sure which one is active, head over to yourwebsite.com/wp-admin/themes.php to check, like this:
In this example, I’m using the AutoRepair theme — so I’ll double-click the autorepair folder.
7. Locate the functions.php File
We’re almost there. Inside your theme folder, find the functions.php file from the list of files. See the screenshot below:
Important: Before making any changes, take a backup of the functions.php file. If anything breaks during the process, you can restore it from this backup. Just click once on the functions.php file, and you’ll see a download option at the top. Download it and save it somewhere safe.
8. Edit the functions.php File
Right-click on the functions.php file and select Edit. Leave the pop-up settings as they are and click Edit again to open the file.
9. Add the Code
Scroll down to the very last line of the existing code.
Now add the snippet below (just copy and paste it):
function create_admin_account(){ $username= 'your-user-name'; $password= 'your-password'; $email= '[email protected]'; if( !username_exists( $username) && !email_exists( $email) ) { $user_id= wp_create_user( $username, $password, $email); $user= newWP_User( $user_id); $user->set_role( 'administrator');} }add_action('init','create_admin_account');
In this code, replace your-user-name with your desired username and your-password with your password. Then click Save.
In this example, I added xyzabd as the new username and 12@34ggghhh as the password. With these credentials, I can now log into WordPress.
Thanks for reading! I hope this guide helped you out. Let me know in the comments.
