How to Reset Forgotten Postgres Password

Remembering a password may be a hectic task for most of us. Most of the time a situation arises to reset the password because of forgetting it. It also applies to Postgres when you forgot the current password. Postgres is basically a relational Database management system that is a freely accessible resource. Postgres originated from the University of California and it is mainly used by web, mobile, geospatial, and analytics applications as a data storage service. Since Postgres utilizes the pg_hba.conf file in the data directory for user authentication, you need to modify it to reset the password.

Steps to Reset Postgres Password

[1] Initially, your Postgres file pg_hba.conf needs to be backed up. Hence copy it to another location or rename it to pg_hba.conf.bk.

[2] Change all your local connections from md5 to trust to change the pg_dba.conf file.

[3] Now, you will be able to log in to the PostgreSQL database server without providing any password.

[4] Restart the PostgreSQL server on your Windows from Services or enter the following command

pg_ctl -D "C:\Program Files\PostgreSQL\12\data" restart

[5] Finally, use tools such as psql or pgAdmin to connect to the PostgreSQL database server.

[6] Now, use the below command to set a new password for the Postgres user.

ALTER USER postgres WITH PASSWORD 'new_password';

[6] Reload the pg_dba.conf file and restart the PostgreSQL database server. Now, connect to the PostgreSQL database server with your new password.

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