How to reset the admin password in CMS Made Simple

What is happening?

CMS Made Simple is software for building websites. Its admin area is the private control room of your site. You need a username and password to enter. If you lose the password, you can reset it. There are two ways. The first is easy. The second is for when the first does not work.

Method 1: Use the lost password link

This needs the admin account to have a working email address.

1. Open your site address followed by /admin.
2. Click the Forgot your password? link below the login box.
3. Type your username or the email address of the account.
4. Click Submit.
5. Open your email. Look for a message from your site. Check the spam folder too.
6. Click the link in the email.
7. Type a new password. Use a long one with letters, numbers and a symbol.
8. Log in with the new password.

Method 2: Change it in the database

The database is where the site stores users and pages. phpMyAdmin is a web tool that lets you look inside it.

1. Log in to your hosting control panel from https://secure.hostvento.com/clientarea.php.
2. Open phpMyAdmin.
3. Click your CMS Made Simple database in the left list. If you do not know its name, find it in the file config.php in your site folder. Look at the line db_name.
4. Open the table cms_users. The table prefix may be different if you changed it.
5. Find the row with your username.
6. CMS Made Simple stores the password as a hash. A hash is a scrambled form of the password that cannot be turned back. Open the table cms_siteprefs and find the row named sitemask. Copy its value.
7. Click Edit on your user row. In the password box, choose the function MD5. Type your sitemask value and then your new password together, with nothing between them. For example abc123MyNewPass.
8. Click Go.
9. Log in to /admin with the new password.

Newer versions may store the password in a different way. If this does not work, ask Hostvento support for help.

Quick recap

• First try Forgot your password? on the login page.
• Check your spam folder for the email.
• If that fails, edit the cms_users table in phpMyAdmin.
• Back up the database before you edit it.
• Ask support if you are stuck.