Title: [Plugin: Better WP Security] Changing table prefix kills wp-admin Last modified: August 20, 2016 --- # [Plugin: Better WP Security] Changing table prefix kills wp-admin * [Go Game Guru](https://wordpress.org/support/users/gogameguru/) * (@gogameguru) * [14 years, 10 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-better-wp-security-changing-table-prefix-kills-wp-admin/) * **If you’re about to try this plugin, backup your database first.** * I installed this plugin today and it looks cool. * However, when I used it to change the table prefix it reported that it had failed. I then started getting messages (when logged in as an admin user) that I didn’t have sufficient privileges to access any of the pages in wp-admin. * Deleting the plugin directory wasn’t enough to fix this. In the end I had to drop my wordpress database, restore a backup and manually amend wp-config.php to get up and running again. * To the author: let me know if you want help tracking down this bug… * (or if you’re in the same position as I was and need help, reply here and I’ll try to help you) Viewing 4 replies - 1 through 4 (of 4 total) * [mlmnewsblog](https://wordpress.org/support/users/mlmnewsblog/) * (@mlmnewsblog) * [14 years, 9 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-better-wp-security-changing-table-prefix-kills-wp-admin/#post-2247724) * I installed this plugin yesterday and facing same problem. I had even mailed the author but no help came from his side till now. My hosting service provider is unable to help, as these things are out of there hand.Though they tried their level best to help me. * Now you are my hope. Could you help me to resolve this problem. * I’m already in deep trouble. * Thread Starter [Go Game Guru](https://wordpress.org/support/users/gogameguru/) * (@gogameguru) * [14 years, 9 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-better-wp-security-changing-table-prefix-kills-wp-admin/#post-2247725) * OK, I have some things myself I have to deal with right now, so the next few days I’ll be travelling and won’t be able to respond immediately. I’ll do my best to help you though. * I’m assuming your server is running on a LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP) setup? If not, you might need to change some things in my instructions to fit your setup. * If my instructions below don’t make any sense to you, get a friend who knows a bit about how to use Linux to read them, or show them to a technical support person at your webhost. * Firstly some questions: * 1. Do you have a backup of your database from before you installed the plugin?( If you don’t you’re going to need someone else to help you, preferably the plugin author because he might know what he’s broken.) 2. Do you have access to/know how to access PHPMyAdmin on your server? (If you don’t know ask your webhost for help with this) 3. Do you have FTP access to the server? * If you answered yes to all those questions, then one process to fix this is: * 1. Connect to your server by FTP or SSH. 2. Open your wp-config.php file to find out what the name of your WordPress database is. 3. Log in to PHPMyAdmin. 4. Backup your current WordPress database to a new file and then drop that database( that means delete it – don’t drop the database user – we still need them). 5. Import your old backup file from before you installed the plugin to recreate the database (if it says the file is too big, see below). 6. Edit wp-config.php to change the database prefix back to what it was before – the default is “wp_”. 7. Save the file and upload it back to the server, then try logging in again. 8. You might need to restart some services if you can? If things aren’t working, try restarting Apache by typing: service httpd restart if that doesn’t work… try /etc/init.d/apache2 restart * By default PHPMyAdmin doesn’t allow very large files to be uploaded through the web interface. If your backup is too big you may need to edit /etc/php5/apache2/ php.ini on your server. Change the following values to: * memory_limit = 64M post_max_size = 64M upload_max_filesize = 64M * Then save the file and restart Apache. (this assumes that 64MB is enough for you to upload the file) * I hope this helps. * [mlmnewsblog](https://wordpress.org/support/users/mlmnewsblog/) * (@mlmnewsblog) * [14 years, 9 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-better-wp-security-changing-table-prefix-kills-wp-admin/#post-2247726) * Im have asked my service provider to do all this for me.Let’s see how it goes… * and thanks a ton… * [mistaecko](https://wordpress.org/support/users/mistaecko/) * (@mistaecko) * [14 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-better-wp-security-changing-table-prefix-kills-wp-admin/#post-2247757) * Some hints for others who find this thread * ad (5) dump file to big * use bigdump.php or a similar solution: [http://www.ozerov.de/bigdump/](http://www.ozerov.de/bigdump/) * ad (8) server restart shouldn’t be necessary – it’s PHP! * Please also see [this thread](http://wordpress.org/support/topic/please-help-error-establishing-a-database-connection) for a similar problem with the table rename feature. Viewing 4 replies - 1 through 4 (of 4 total) The topic ‘[Plugin: Better WP Security] Changing table prefix kills wp-admin’ is closed to new replies. * ![](https://ps.w.org/better-wp-security/assets/icon.svg?rev=3529351) * [Kadence Security – Password, Two Factor Authentication, and Brute Force Protection](https://wordpress.org/plugins/better-wp-security/) * [Frequently Asked Questions](https://wordpress.org/plugins/better-wp-security/#faq) * [Support Threads](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/better-wp-security/) * [Active Topics](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/better-wp-security/active/) * [Unresolved Topics](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/better-wp-security/unresolved/) * [Reviews](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/better-wp-security/reviews/) * 4 replies * 3 participants * Last reply from: [mistaecko](https://wordpress.org/support/users/mistaecko/) * Last activity: [14 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-better-wp-security-changing-table-prefix-kills-wp-admin/#post-2247757) * Status: not a support question