If you are locked out of your Zen Cart admin panel, you can reset the password through phpMyAdmin by updating the admin user's record in the database.
Update the password in phpMyAdmin
Open phpMyAdmin (cPanel > Databases > phpMyAdmin), select your Zen Cart database, click the SQL tab, and run:
UPDATE admin SET admin_pass = MD5('NewPassword123') WHERE admin_name = 'admin';
Replace NewPassword123 with your desired password. Log in, then change it again through the Zen Cart admin panel.
- Open phpMyAdmin from cPanel
- Select your Zen Cart database
- Run the UPDATE query from the SQL tab
- Log into Zen Cart admin with the new password
- Change password again through Admin > My Account so Zen Cart stores it with proper hashing
If your Zen Cart uses a table prefix (check includes/configure.php for DB_PREFIX), the table name will be [prefix]admin instead of just admin.
For other CMS password resets: Joomla, osCommerce. For phpMyAdmin usage, see View/Modify Data in MySQL.
Locked Out?
Open a Support TicketQuick Recap
- Run the UPDATE query in phpMyAdmin
- Check your table prefix in configure.php
- Log in and change password again through admin panel
- MD5 is temporary - Admin panel uses proper hashing
- Back up before making changes
CMS password recovery · Last updated March 2026 · Browse all PHP Scripts articles
