How To Edit WordPress wp-config.php File

If you’re facing any problems with WordPress automatic installation then you can also edit your wp-config.php file manually with the help of this tutorial. Before starting this tutorial, you need following information:

• Database Name: Name of the database used by WordPress.
• Database Username: Username of the database used by WordPress.
• Database Password: Password of the database used by WordPress.
• Database Value: The hostname of your Database Server.
• Secret Keys: Unique keys. Don’t worry about it.

Create wp-config.php File

There’s no wp-config.php file in the WordPress download, you need to create it. There is a wp-config-sample.php file in the root of your WordPress download, just rename it as wp-config.php. The data in this file are in a specific order, and it matters. Don’t even try to rearrange the contents of the file.

Adding Database Info

First, we need to fill the database info into your wp-config.php file. Search & find following part in your wp-config.php file:

// ** MySQL settings - You can get this info from your web host ** //
/** The name of the database for WordPress */
define( 'DB_NAME', 'database_name_here' );

/** MySQL database username */
define( 'DB_USER', 'username_here' );

/** MySQL database password */
define( 'DB_PASSWORD', 'password_here' );

/** MySQL hostname */
define( 'DB_HOST', 'localhost' );

Make following changes to the above code:

• Replace ‘database_name_here’, with the name of your database.
• Replace ‘username_here’, with the name of your username.
• Replace ‘password_here’, with the your password.
• Replace ‘localhost’, with the name of your database host.

Adding Security Keys

Now, we need to put some unique security keys to our wp-config.php file. The keys should be long, hard to remember, and you can easily generate them with one click. Click here & copy the entire page.

Now, find following in your wp-config.php file and replace it with your security keys:

define('AUTH_KEY',         'put your unique phrase here');
define('SECURE_AUTH_KEY',  'put your unique phrase here');
define('LOGGED_IN_KEY',    'put your unique phrase here');
define('NONCE_KEY',        'put your unique phrase here');
define('AUTH_SALT',        'put your unique phrase here');
define('SECURE_AUTH_SALT', 'put your unique phrase here');
define('LOGGED_IN_SALT',   'put your unique phrase here');
define('NONCE_SALT',       'put your unique phrase here');

Why Security Keys?

That’s a good question! A secret key makes your site harder to hack and access harder to crack by adding random codes to the password.

Database Table Prefix

Now we need to decide a table prefix for our WordPress database. The default is wp_, but don’t forget to change this to protect your WordPress from various threats. Change wp_ in the following part:

/**
 * WordPress Database Table prefix.
 *
 * You can have multiple installations in one database if you give each a unique
 * prefix. Only numbers, letters, and underscores please!
 */
$table_prefix  = 'wp_';

Replace the wp_ in above code with a something random, such as wp_14jk1h23j2_. As you can see, our randomly generated code is impossible to guess.

That’s it! We will have bunch of more tutorials about this magical WordPress file. You can save your wp-config.php with these above changes and your WordPress will work.