How To Find Your WordPress Login URL

There are few things more frustrating than installing and setting up a WordPress website only to forget how to log back in. Whether it’s a site that you’re administering or one that you’ve set up for a client, it’s easy to forget the steps necessary to log in to a WordPress website.

Fortunately, once you understand how to log in to a WordPress site, you have several great options for ensuring that you never forget the login procedure ever again.

What Is the Login Page?

Because WordPress is a web-based Content Management System, you can log into a WordPress site from any browser, and you don’t need any special software. Therefore, WordPress uses a dedicated URL or web page for the login procedure.

After you’ve logged in, you can manage your profile, adjust the settings, change the theme, update or install plugins, and make other customizations to your WordPress website. After you log in, you’ll be sent directly to the administration page or admin screen.

Note: The permissions of what you can and cannot do on the admin screen is determined by your user role.

How to Log In to WordPress

For a typical WordPress installation, your WordPress files will be on what’s called the root directory of your domain. Your domain is the core website address where your WordPress site is hosted. For example, “www.MyAwesomeBlog.com” could be a domain.

The login page is usually found at a URL that has “/admin/” or “/login/” appended to the domain name. For the example above, your login page would be found at “www.MyAwesomeBlog.com/admin/” or “www.MyAwesomeBlog.com/login/”.

If, however, you installed WordPress is a subfolder or subdirectory, then you’ll need to use the “/admin/” or “/login/” appendix to the subfolder or subdirectory’s URL.

For example, your login page might be found at “www.MyAwesomeBlog.com/wordpress/login/” or “www.MyAwesomeBlog.com/wordpress/admin/.”

Likewise, if you installed WordPress in a subdomain, you’ll need to append the “/admin/” or “/login/” to the end of your subdomain, which might look something like “blog.MyAwesomeBlog.com/admin/” or “m.MyAwesomeBlog.com/login/”.

Once you get to the login page, you’ll need to present your credentials. If you’ve forgotten your password, WordPress can send you an email to reset it. WordPress will send the email to the address you used when installing WordPress, so make sure you check the right account. If you don’t see the password reset email within five minutes, be sure to check your email “trash” and “spam” folders.

How to Make Sure You’ll Never Forget Your Login Page Again

Typing out your domain and adding “/admin/” or “/login/” will get you to the login page, but it’s a lot of work. Therefore, the easiest and fastest way to remember the login page is to bookmark it with your browser.

If you’re using Chrome, click “Bookmarks” and then “Bookmark this page.”

If you’re using Safari, click “Bookmarks” and then “Add bookmark.”

If you’re using Firefox, click “Bookmarks” and then “Bookmark this page.”

If you’re using Opera, click “Bookmarks” and then “Add to bookmarks.”

Make sure you remember where you bookmarked your login page!

It’s important to keep in mind that each browser works differently. After you’ve visited your login page and successfully presented your credentials, your browser may ask you if you want to remain logged in. That way, in the future, you can just go directly to the admin screen without having to log in every time. Keep in mind that how long you’ll remain logged in depends on your browser’s cookie settings.

Adding a WordPress Menu Link

If you don’t want to add a bookmark to your browser that links to your login page, or you simply want an alternate way to login (for example, if you’re regularly logging in from different computers), you can add a link to your WordPress website’s menu(s).

From the WordPress admin screen, click on “Appearance” on the left-hand side and then “Menus.” Select the menu that you want to adjust, and click on “Custom Links.” In this space, provide the URL that leads to your login page. Then click on “Add to Menu.” You’ll also need to create a name for this link, so feel free to call it “Login” or something similar.

Adjust the new link’s position in the menu hierarchy, if you wish. Then click “Save Menu” to save your choices. You can add the link to the login page from the default main menu and/or to any sub-menus.

Once the login link has been added to the menu, you’ll be able to use it directly from your WordPress site with one click.

Note: Having a menu login link is especially useful if your WordPress site has registered users, especially users with the user role of Contributor, Editor, or Authors. This will let them log in to your website more easily, too.

Adding a Login Link to your WordPress Sidebar or Footer

A third option for creating a permanent link to your login page is to add one as a widget. WordPress widgets are built-in tools that allow you to quickly perform common functions, including logging in to a WordPress website.

From the admin screen, click on “Appearances” in the left-hand column, and then choose “Widgets.” The widget that you want in this case is called “Meta.” You can then drag the Meta widget to any existing sidebar or footer area. “Meta” is a plugin that lets you perform a number of functions directly related to the operation of your WordPress website.

How to Customize the WordPress Login Page

Although the standard WordPress login page works well, some administrators prefer to customize it to better suit their needs. Fortunately, WordPress is designed to be customized on just about every level, including the login page.

By customizing the login page, you can change the background, replace the WordPress logo with one of your choosing, adjust how the login fields look, choose a different login URL, and make other changes. But since there is no way to customize the login page from the admin screen, it is recommended that only developers and advanced WordPress users attempt to modify the appearance of their login screen.

The look and layout of your WordPress login page is NOT determined by the website’s theme. Therefore, you’ll need to create a kind of “mini theme” file to change how the login page looks.

First, find the “/login” folder in your WordPress directory and create a new .txt file named “custom-login-styles.css.” Then open your WordPress theme’s “functions.php” file and add this code:

function my_custom_login() {
echo '<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="' . get_bloginfo('stylesheet_directory') . '/login/custom-login-styles.css" />';
}
add_action('login_head', 'my_custom_login');

You can change the background for your login page by making changes to the “custom-login-styles.css” file like so:

body.login {
  background-image: url('home-bg.jpg');
  background-repeat: no-repeat;
  background-attachment: fixed;
  background-position: center;
}

Note: Make sure you replace “home-bg.jpg” with an image file of your choosing. Also, make sure that theimage file is stored in the same “/login” folder where the “custom-login-styles.css” file is kept.

You can change the WordPress logo with one of your own by making changes to the “custom-login-styles.css” file like so:

.login h1 a {
  background-image: url('login-logo.png');
}

Note: Make sure you replace “login-logo.png” with an image file of your own choosing. Also, make sure that the new logo image file is stored in the same “/login” folder where the “custom-login-styles.css” file is kept.

You can change the look of the login form by making changes to the “custom-login-styles.css” file. You can change the size of the font, the color of the font, the border color, the border radius, and the color of the text entry fields.

Here’s an example:

.login label {
  font-size: 12px;
  color: #555555;
}

.login input[type="text"]{
  background-color: #ffffff;
  border-color:#dddddd;
  -webkit-border-radius: 4px;
}

.login input[type="password"]{
  background-color: #ffffff;
  border-color:#dddddd;
  -webkit-border-radius: 4px;
}

Removing Lost Your Password Link

If you want, you can also remove the “Lost Your Password?” link to the login page. This is not recommended! About the only reason you’d ever want to do this is if someone has taken over your email account but you remember your WordPress website.

To remove the “Lost Your Password?” link, add these lines to your custom CSS file:

p#nav {
  display: none;
}

Changing the Redirect URL

You can also change which webpage you’re sent to after successfully logging in. The default is to go straight to the dashboard (or admin screen), but you may prefer to send users (but not the administrator!) to the homepage or a custom landing page.

To do this, you’ll need to add some code to your site’s “functions.php” file:

function admin_login_redirect( $redirect_to, $request, $user )
{
global $user;
if( isset( $user->roles ) && is_array( $user->roles ) ) {
if( in_array( "administrator", $user->roles ) ) {
return $redirect_to;
} else {
return home_url();
}
}
else
{
return $redirect_to;
}
}
add_filter("login_redirect", "admin_login_redirect", 10, 3);

Remember me link

Normally, when you go to the login webpage, you’ll see an option called “Remember Me” that is NOT checked. You can change this to being checked (or activated) by default by adding a few lines of code to your website’s “functions.php” file.

function login_checked_remember_me() {
add_filter( 'login_footer', 'rememberme_checked' );
}
add_action( 'init', 'login_checked_remember_me' );

function rememberme_checked() {
echo "<script>document.getElementById('rememberme').checked = true;</script>";
}

Logging In Made Simple

There are four ways to access your WordPress login page: typing in the URL directly, bookmarking the URL with your browser, creating a WordPress menu item that links to the login URL, and adding the “Meta” widget to a sidebar and/or footer area of your WordPress website.

You can also easily customize the look and appearance of your WordPress login page by using CSS and making a few modifications to your core files. Customizing the login page is a really nice touch when designing a WordPress site for a client or for when you want to add essential branding elements to your own WordPress website. Not only that, but a custom login page is sure to really impress visitors to your WordPress website!

I hope this guide has been useful for you.

You might want to have a look at how I monetise my WordPress websites with my guide to making money blogging or my epic How to Make Money Online guide.