Resetting a DotNetNuke Host user password

A frequent question asked by customers is how to reset the DotNetNuke Host users password if you can’t remember what it is. If you have access to the database this is a fairly easy process. Steps to reset a DNN Host password

  • If you do not know the database details of your DNN database, login to your account via FTP and view the web.config file in the root of your DNN application. You can get the Server name, db name, username and password from the connectionstring property.
  • Open SQL Management Studio and connect to your SQL Server using the information from step 1.
  • If you have set your registration to none, private or verified then you’ll need to edit the Portals table and change the UserRegistration field to 2. This will set the registration setting to Public.
  • Open your site and click on the register button, then register a new user.
  • Open the Users table and find the record of the new user you just added at the bottom. Set the IsSuperUser field to True (or 1 for SQL 2000).
  • Login as your newly created user and you should see the Host and Admin menus. Click on the Host, Host Accounts link then click on the All link on the user list.
  • You should now see the Host user listed. You can click on the pencil edit button on the left of the user to reset the Host users password.
  • If you no longer need the newly created user you should logout and log back in as Host and delete it. You can then also login as Admin to your portal and set your registration setting back to what it was previously.
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