Joomla Website Layout Customization

If you're planning to work and develop customized Joomla websites in Ubuntu and do not have a local web server installed (LAMP configuration:  Linux – Apache – MySQL and PHP), you can read another tutorial on this site to learn to install XAMPP in Ubuntu.

If you have a fully working XAMPP installation in Ubuntu (according to the procedures provided in the XAMPP Ubuntu installation tutorial) but still do not have a default Joomla installation, you can refer to yet another tutorial to learn how to install Joomla in an XAMPP local web server. This lets you develop your Joomla website without uploading files (yet) to a web hosting company.

Make sure your Joomla installation is completely working, and that you have tested it according to the above tutorial's requirements, before proceeding with the rest of the web development procedures discussed in this article.

How to Change Your Joomla Password in phpMyAdmin

To log in as an administrator to your Joomla website, you need to have a username and a password, which you should have configured when you installed Joomla.

The administrator login URL will be: http://localhost/joomla/administrator

However, one common mistake is forgetting the password used during Joomla installation. One of the easy ways to solve this problem is to completely change the password in a MySQL environment using phpMyAdmin. This is applicable, of course, only if you also remember your XAMPP phpMyAdmin login credentials.

If you remember your XAMPP phpmyAdmin username and password, then you can change the password to something you can remember, and use that password to log into your Joomla website as an administrator. Once you are logged in, you can start configuring and developing your website.

Step 1. Open this URL in your browser: http://localhost/phpmyadmin

Step 2. The warning “Authentication required” will pop up. Enter your XAMPP username and password (not your phpMyAdmin login credentials yet). These are is the same login credentials you will use if you log in to http://localhost/xampp

Most usernames will be using “lampp,” and the password is set to your own personal choice.

Step 3. After logging in, you will see the phpMyAdmin login form. Enter your MySQL username and password, and then click Go.

Step 4. You will see a list of MySQL databases on your left. Click the Joomla database.

Step 5. The Joomla database consists of around 38 MySQL tables using the latest version (Joomla 1.5, as of August 2010). In the table list, click jos_users. This is the table where you will change your Joomla password.

Starting with Joomla 1.5, it is slightly complicated to change your password because of the new password format. It currently consists of two parts, the encrypted password and a salt, separated by a colon.

To make things easy, click the pencil icon to edit the password entry.

Step 6. Delete or clear the old password field. Once you do that, it should look like this:

Do NOT press “go” yet.

Step 7. Go to this URL: http://www.subclosure.com/generate-new-joomla-1-5-md5salt-encrypted-passwords-to-store-in-database.html

Type your desired password in the form under the field “Enter desired password” and then click “make password.”

Step 8. Copy and paste the result of “Encrypted Joomla password” to the password field in your phpMyAdmin jos_users table.

Step 9. Click “Go.”

Step 10. Now, try logging in to the Joomla administrator URL, namely http://localhost/joomla/administrator, to test your newly set password. It should work this time.