Recovering a Lost Admin Password

This is an emergency method for when you've lost the admin password and outgoing mail is not configured, preventing you from using the standard Forgot password? recovery on login page. This requires direct access to the files on your server.

  1. Using an FTP client or a file manager, open the .env file located in the main directory of your BeDesk installation.

  2. Find the line that says MAIL_DRIVER=smtp and change it to MAIL_DRIVER=log. This will prevent BeDesk from trying to send an email and instead write the password reset link to a log file. (It might be MAIL_MAILER depending on the version you are using)

    Editing the .env file to change MAIL_DRIVER

  3. Now go to login page, click Forgot your password?, enter your admin email, and click Send.

  4. Instead of an email being sent, the reset link will now be saved in a log file. Open the file located at storage/logs/laravel.log.

    Log file containing the password reset linkPassword reset page after clicking the link from the log file

  5. Inside this file, you will find a URL for resetting your password or a secret code to enter, depending on which version you have installed. Copy this entire URL and paste it into your browser's address bar.

  6. You can now set a new password for your admin account.

Once you regain access, go back to your .env file and change MAIL_DRIVER=log back to MAIL_DRIVER=smtp (or your original setting) to re-enable normal email functionality.