How to Change Default Username and Login Logo in WordPress

In my previous article about Security Tips for WordPress, I specified that changing the default username (admin) is really necessary for security reasons. As you know, your default WordPress username once chosen, cannot be changed from the Dashboard by default without a plugin.  But we could easily change it from phpMyAdmin which is the interface to your blog’s SQL database. Below are the steps to change the default (admin) WordPress username:

Changing Default WordPress Admin Username:

Step 1: Login to your web hosting‘s control panel or cPanel.
Step 2: Open phpMyAdmin from ‘Databases’ block.

Step 3: After phpMyAdmin loads completely, click on ‘Databases‘ tab on the top menu.
Step 4: Select your blog’s database.
Step 5: Locate ‘wp_users’ table and click on ‘Browse’ beside wp_users.
Step 6: Search your username and click on ‘Inline Edit’.

Step 7: Enter a new desired username into the ‘user_login’ field.
Step 8: Click on ‘Save’.

You are done. Now the default username has been changed to the username you specified.

Note: Be careful while editing tables as a minor mistake can do major damage.

Changing WordPress logo at Dashboard login page:

As a blogger you visit the Dashboard login page of your blog daily to access the admin panel. At the login page, you see the WordPress logo by default. If you have many guest authors/contributors which login into their respective accounts on your site. They will see the WordPress logo at login page, which does not look professional and for those who log into several WordPress sites they may not know which one they are logging into without checking URL. Do you wish to change that logo to your website’s or your brand’s logo? If yes, you can do so very easily without any plugins. Follow the steps below to change the default WordPress logo to a custom logo:

Step 1: Login to your hosting’s control panel or cPanel.
Step 2: After successful login, click on ‘File Manager’.

Step 3: After File Manager loads completely, open ‘Images’ folder in WP-Admin.
Step 4: Locate ‘logo-login.png’ and download it to your PC.

Update: In WordPress 3.4, “logo-login.png” has been changed to “wordpress-logo.png”.

Step 5: Check the dimensions of the logo-login.png and update your logo to that dimensions.
Step 6: After updating the logo, rename it to ‘logo-login’ and keep the format as ‘PNG’.
Step 7: Upload it to ‘Images’ folder in WP-Admin.
Step 8: Confirm the replace file request.

You are done. Now the WordPress logo is changed to the logo you selected.

Dragon Blogger Note:

If you modify any WordPress core files, the next time you update WordPress via Simple Script or manually it will replace the customized changes.  Make sure you take backups of any files you modify and save them locally.