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I have a rather peculiar problem. The web-developer before me run away for some reason and we cannot get ahold of him for the admin password.

Luckily we have access to the database according to some of my remote colleagues. I can login to it. I have a administrator username and password that lets me login to the admin panels of the websites but I cannot find that administrator user in the database in the #_users table of those same websites.

So is it possible to have the users stored in a different table other than the #_users one? Or I just have access to another database that doesn't have anything to do with the websites?

I am new to Joomla! and I am using -v 3.6.5

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It is quite possible not to have users (or articles, categories, etc...) stored in "local" database which belongs to website by its reference in configuration.php file. That is generally achieved by using multi-sites extensions, such as MightySites from AlterBrains, or JMS Mutlisites. They can "map" tables stored in "external" databases to local ones, thus producing effect in which website normally operates like it has all that data "locally". That way users, articles, categories, etc... can be shared among multiple web sites.

In order to find out if that is your case, you will need FTP access and verification of existence of com_mightysites or similar extension, their specific configuration_xxx.php files, and #_mightysites table in which table mappings are stored.

I don't have a hands-on experience with extensions other than MightySites, so their particular details might vary.

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It's likely that you are accessing a different database. So make sure you are reaching at the actual current one. Check your configuration.php about the right database.

If you have access to the database of that website, then I don't understand why you are trying to search for a certain username (if that's the case). Are you sure a certain username exists in the #__users table?

Why not just create a new Super User and simply try to login with that account?

  • Simply create a new user in the #__users table with a simple username, could be 'admin' (but must be unique).

  • Only add name, username, an email if you like, and the password.

  • For password you can use the following one, which translates to 'admin':

    $2y$10$a0tad7LWNkq0OoHAEc31qO35sjuN8Mg9aR4dgoUkZTZg2jkgySOxy

  • In the #__user_usergroup_map table, add a new record using the id of the user that you created above for user_id and 8 for group_id.

  • Login to the backend of the site with the new user account - and remember to go in user_manager to change your account username/password to something harder.

Find some further help in the following Q/A.


--- that should have been a comment ---

It was confusing the part in your question where you say:

I have a administrator username and password that lets me login to the admin panels of the websites but I cannot find that administrator user in the database in the #_users table of those same websites.

while just before you said you don't have an admin password.

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