You can do this simply by running the following SQL commands through phpMyadmin or through command line MySQL.
1. First insert the new user account into the database.
If you’re using command line MySQL then you will need to select the database first using the “use” command below:
use wp_mywordpressdatabasename
Now that you’ve selected the database, you can run the following query to insert the new user account into the wp_users table of your WordPress Database. You will want to fill in your details below before executing the query. You enter this query under the “SQL” tab within phpMyAdmin.
INSERT INTO `wp_users` (`id`,`user_login`, `user_pass`, `user_nicename`, `user_email`, `user_url`, `user_registered`, `user_activation_key`, `user_status`, `display_name`) VALUES ('','john', MD5('newpassword123'), 'John Smith', '[email protected]', 'http://geektank.net/', '2013-29-03 00:00:00', '', '0', 'John Smith');
If successfully you should see:
Query OK, 1 row affected (0.00 sec)
Note, the field ‘ID’ is blank because this field is set to auto-increment within the table, a number will automatically to the ‘ID’ field for the new user.
2. Find out what ID your new account received.
Now that you have the successfully inserted the new record into the wp_users table. You want to know the new ID for the new account. You can find this rather easily with phpMyAdmin, but if you’re using the mysql command line simply run the following.
select * from wp_users where user_login = "john";
Which should return:
+----+------------+----------------------------------+---------------+--------------------------+-------------------------+---------------------+---------------------+-------------+--------------+ | ID | user_login | user_pass | user_nicename | user_email | user_url | user_registered | user_activation_key | user_status | display_name | +----+------------+----------------------------------+---------------+--------------------------+-------------------------+--------+------------+---------------------+-------------+--------------+ | 5 | john | 8359b10e30dfabd587a5661e52249101 | John Smith | [email protected] | http://geektank.net | 2012-08-23 00:00:00 | | 0 | John Smith | +----+------------+----------------------------------+---------------+--------------------------+----------+--------------+---------------------+---------------------+-------------+--------------+
The ID for the new account we created is 5.
3. Making the new WordPress Account an Administrator (wp_usermeta bits)
Even though we added a new user, it doesn’t have Administrator rights yet. We need to add a couple of entries to the wp_usermeta table. Taking the ID of the new user we create the following two queries.
INSERT INTO `wp_usermeta` (`umeta_id`, `user_id`, `meta_key`, `meta_value`) VALUES (NULL, '5', 'wp_capabilities', 'a:1:{s:13:"administrator";s:1:"1";}');
INSERT INTO `wp_usermeta` (`umeta_id`, `user_id`, `meta_key`, `meta_value`) VALUES (NULL, '5', 'wp_user_level', '10');
These queries will tell provide Administrator rights to our new user account.
4. Enjoy the new account!
You’re done!