Reset Administrator Username and Password ( Linux )

On occasion, a primary SmarterMail administrator may need to reset their own login credentials or the login credentials for a secondary administrator account that manages the entire SmarterMail installation. This is useful if the primary administrator has lost their password or if the login credentials have fallen into the wrong hands.

NOTE: If you use a hosted SmarterMail and need to reset your Domain Administrator or user password, please contact your hosting provider directly. These steps are for resetting a system administrator's account credentials and require access to the server where SmarterMail is installed.

Follow these steps to reset an administrator's password back to the default configuration:

Stop the SmarterMail service
- ```
sudo service smartermail stop
```
Make a backup copy of the administrators.json file
- ```
sudo cp /etc/smartermail/administrators.json /etc/smartermail/administrators.json.BACKUP.$(date +"%Y-%m-%d")
```
- (If you installed SmarterMail in a custom location you will want to adjust the path above.)
Edit the file (for the admin user you are working with) with your editor of choice and replace the >password_hash line with the following password hash. (Note that you should not simply delete the existing password hash without replacing it with the below. If you do, the administrator will not be able to log in.)
- ```
"1000:7Zf5bDhx+pB+3pSt9bFzbnnn9uiZi25P:+esCLUvFa/lw8c1+UMk+guGeHFfQ7Asc"
```
- ```
sudo nano /etc/smartermail/administrators.json
```
Save and exit the editor.
Restart the SmarterMail service.
- ```
sudo service smartermail start
```

After completing this process, the administrator account you modified will be able to log in to SmarterMail using their username and the default password "admin" (without the quotes). That administrator should immediately go to Settings > Administrators and change their password to something more secure.

Article ID: 3718, Created: Today at 8:23 AM, Modified: Today at 1:14 PM

Reset Administrator Username and Password ( Linux )

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