Skip to main content

Resetting Your Admin Password

Step-by-step guides for resetting your admin password in Docker and local installations.

For Docker Deployments​

Step 1: Generate a New Password Hash​

Create a bcrypt hash of your new password. Replace your-new-password with the password you want to use:

htpasswd -bnBC 10 "" your-new-password | tr -d ':\n'
note

The output will include a bcrypt hash with special characters. Any $ characters in the hash must be triple-escaped (replaced with \\\) when used in the Docker command in Step 2.

Step 2: Update the Password in Docker​

Replace HASH with the bcrypt hash from Step 1 (triple-escaping any $ characters) and admin@example.com with your admin email:

docker run --rm -v open-webui:/data alpine/socat EXEC:"bash -c 'apk add sqlite && echo UPDATE auth SET password='\''HASH'\'' WHERE email='\''admin@example.com'\''; | sqlite3 /data/webui.db'", STDIO

If the above command fails, use the alternate method below.

Alternate Docker Method​

The one-liner above can fail in some environments because the alpine/socat image does not include bash. Use this step-by-step approach instead:

  1. Start an Alpine container with the Open WebUI volume mounted:

    docker run -it --rm -v open-webui:/data alpine

  2. Install required tools:

    apk add apache2-utils sqlite

  3. Generate the bcrypt hash:

    htpasswd -bnBC 10 "" your-new-password | tr -d ':'

  4. Update the password:

    sqlite3 /data/webui.db
    UPDATE auth SET password='HASH' WHERE email='admin@example.com';
-- Exit sqlite: Ctrl+D

For Local Installations​

Step 1: Generate a New Password Hash​

htpasswd -bnBC 10 "" your-new-password | tr -d ':\n'

Step 2: Update the Password​

Navigate to the open-webui directory and run:

sqlite3 backend/data/webui.db "UPDATE auth SET password='HASH' WHERE email='admin@example.com';"

Replace HASH with the bcrypt hash from Step 1 and admin@example.com with your admin email.

Resetting All Data​

If you want to completely reset Open WebUI — including all user data, settings, and passwords — delete the webui.db file.

Step 1: Locate webui.db​

If you're unsure where webui.db is located, find it with a Python shell:

import os
import open_webui

# Show where the Open WebUI package is installed
print("Open WebUI is installed at:", open_webui.__file__)

# Construct the expected database path
db_path = os.path.join(os.path.dirname(open_webui.__file__), "data", "webui.db")

if os.path.exists(db_path):
    print("webui.db found at:", db_path)
else:
    print("webui.db not found at:", db_path)
    print("Try: find / -name 'webui.db' 2>/dev/null")

Step 2: Delete webui.db​

rm /path/to/webui.db
warning

Deleting webui.db removes all stored data — user accounts, settings, chat history, and passwords. Only do this if you need a complete fresh start.