Tell me more ×
WordPress Answers is a question and answer site for WordPress developers and administrators. It's 100% free, no registration required.
up vote 1 down vote favorite
1

Can I change the name of the wp-login or wp-admin file so that I can go to a different filename in order to login. I am trying to prevent hackers from finding my login and wp-login has become a very obvious option.

share|improve this question
4  
The simple fact of knowing where your login link is should not be a security vulnerability (otherwise you are probably in trouble in any case). If you are worried you should look into more protection fofr login (like SSL) and not just trying to hide it. – Rarst♦ Jul 28 '11 at 15:22

5 Answers

up vote -2 down vote accepted

I've written an article and made a video demonstrating how to rename the wp-admin folder.

Bare it in mind though that any future plugins/themes you install could break your installation unless you search/replace 'wp-admin' with your new admin folder name in your new plugin/theme files & filenames.

How to rename wp-admin folder

share|improve this answer
:S I really wish you would talk through the video but that helps thanks! – Howdy_McGee Jul 28 '11 at 2:23
yeah me too I don't have a microphone at the moment, i'll add a voice over in a week or two when i get paid. – PHP Monkey Jul 28 '11 at 2:24
up vote 1 down vote

As far as i know you cannot rename wp-admin. Many themes and plugin uses wp-admin in path. So if you rename it then all your plugins and themes will be broken. If you don't want your users to access wp-admin then restrict it using .htacess If anyone access your wp-admin url redirect them to other page using .htaccess file. Only allow certain IPs to access wp-admin.

For example use this .htaccess code in your root of wp-admin (Not your wordpress root). Create a new .htaccess file there and use this code.

AuthUserFile /dev/null
AuthGroupFile /dev/null
AuthName "Example Access Control"
AuthType Basic
<LIMIT GET>
order deny,allow
deny from all
allow from xx.xx.xx.xx
allow from xx.xx.xxx.xx
</LIMIT>

Replace xx.xx.xx.xx with your IP address. You can add more. Thereafter only you can access wp-admin. You can also use redirection plugin.

If you must want to rename wp-admin then proceed to read more but with extreme caution.

Just replace "wp-admin" with your keyword. Use this simple search and replace tool. Here is the screenshot of that tool.

Warning: If you update your wordpress then your site will be broken. You should replace them in themes and plugins too. I highly NOT recommend this option. Use this option only if its mandatory. I'm not responsible for any problem that arises if you use this option.

share|improve this answer
@php-monkey I checked your tutorial. I think you are wasting your time in editing everything with notepad. Just use simple search and replace tool. It scans all your directory files and replace all the texts within minutes. Its a 1 or 2 minute work. But i believe you wasted so much time in editing each files. Sorry i couldn't add comment in your answer – Giri Jul 28 '11 at 3:40
You have flagged to remove community wiki status from your answer, but this doesn't seem to be possible. – Rarst♦ Jul 28 '11 at 15:20
up vote 0 down vote

I have used a combination of a modified .htaccess and then a symlink to successfully change the wp-admin url and it has worked fine across many sites with various themes and hundreds of pluggins. No hacking finding/replacing etc. needed.

share|improve this answer
Care to provide the code you're using? – INT Nov 15 '11 at 23:50
up vote 0 down vote

In .htaccess you can bind Authentication to Locations. For further information: http://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.2/howto/htaccess.html

share|improve this answer

Your Answer

 
discard

By posting your answer, you agree to the privacy policy and terms of service.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.