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Lost Password

Posted: Sun Jun 10, 2007 5:37 pm
by Exc.Phoenix
Hello

I installed serendipity as my blog system on my webserver. It installed flawlessly and everything was good.

However i did not use it, it was just there until i need it to use. Then after two months, i cameback to it, and i see that i forgot my password, yes i know its dumb of me, but nothing i can do now.

My question is does serendipity stores passwords/usernames anywhere? if so, where so i can look for it and recover my password. If it does not how do i uninstall it?

Thank you in advance for your replies.

Setting a password

Posted: Sun Jun 10, 2007 6:23 pm
by urs.enke
In whichever database you pointed Serendipity to during installation, there is a table called "authors" with a column "password" for each author. The passwords are encrypted, but you can simply set a different value. In the same software that you used to create the database required for Serendipity, you could set the first author's password to "pass" by executing the following query:

Code: Select all

UPDATE serendipity.authors SET password=MD5('pass') WHERE authorid=1;
This assumes that the database is called "serendipity", otherwise replace the name.

Posted: Mon Jun 11, 2007 3:39 am
by Exc.Phoenix
Thanks for the reply.

The program that create the database to me its unknown, because i simply click on button on my control panel and it creates a table for me. However im guessing its phpmyadmin (if what im saying does not make sense sorry i new to do this.)

However i went to phpmyadmin and i found the table you were talking about. The table name is as you said

serendipity.authors, however it does not have a period but _ a thing like that dont know if it matters.

First i went to browse and i put the code in there and say i have a problem with the syntax. Then i did it in the in the search where it actually says do a query, it does something and it does not give an error, and it gives me this

MySQL returned an empty result set (i.e. zero rows). (Query took 0.0015 sec)SQL query:SELECT *
FROM `serendipity_authors`
WHERE `password` LIKE 'UPDATE serendipity.authors SET password=MD5(''pass'') WHERE authorid=1;'
LIMIT 0 , 30

But when i go to the admin suite, it still says i have a wrong pass or username. I know its not the username cause i remember it, but also cause i used the authorid=1; in the query and my username comes up with a bunch of numbers in the password section which im guessing its the encryption.

If you know any tuts on phpmyadmin? or what im doing wrong? or where i have to do the query? or maybe im spelling something wrong? or maybe i should use phpNuke? Dont know anything helps.

Thanks in advance for reply and thanks for even replying back.

Posted: Mon Jun 11, 2007 1:13 pm
by urs.enke
You're right about the underscore, I forgot that one can define a prefix to those tables' names, which in your case apparently is "serendipity_". When I wrote "serendipity.authors", though, the part in front of the dot meant the database name. Combined with your complete table name, that would result in "serendipity.serendipity_authors", always assuming that "serendipity" is also your database's name. But when you're using phpMyAdmin and browsing the correct database, you can forget about any dot stuff and keep writing "serendipity_authors" to refer to the table.

Where you have an error, however, is the query. Somehow, you inserted the correct query in the condition of another. In phpMyAdmin, there should be a tiny "SQL" icon in the left-hand column, right above the list of tables when you're browsing the database. Also, when you're viewing a table's contents, there is a larger "SQL" tab link near the very top. If you click either, a box should appear where you can enter the query as I posted it, but with an underscore where the dot was. No "SELECT", the query must be the only thing in the box.

Posted: Mon Jun 11, 2007 5:44 pm
by Exc.Phoenix
Okay i found the SQL query button at the left that you were talking about as well as the other one. I did it and it worked, using your code.

No words can express how thankful i am, basically because i have been trying to get the pass back for a week or so now, with the same result, finally thanks to your help, i got it to work.

Thanks once again.