Title: Phantom admin user
Last modified: August 21, 2016

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# Phantom admin user

 *  [BartelsJuice](https://wordpress.org/support/users/bart086c/)
 * (@bart086c)
 * [12 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/phantom-admin-user/)
 * Phantom admin user
 * A long time ago, when the earth was still cooling, and I installed WP… after 
   the install, I established some administrator level users, I then deleted the
   default _admin_ user that WP installs.
 * (This was also a recommended procedure during the WP attacks of April 2013)
 * I just noticed that when I look at the _Users_ page in the Dashboard and filter
   for _Administrators_, the count is one higher than the listed admins.
 * My first thought is a break-in. But on searching the SQL db on the tables:
 * wp_users
    and wp_usemeta
 * I find that in the users table indeed user ID#1 is gone, and there are only the
   correct number of users with UserLevel 10. However, the usemeta table still lists
   user ID#1 with several attribute fields. I tried deleting them but they reappeared.
   I then set the wp_user_level (for user ID#1) to Null. I tried editing the value(
   which was 10) but could not.
 * I also optimized the tables.
 * Back at the Dashboard, Users filtered for Administrators still shows one more
   than listed.
 * Any ideas…????

Viewing 1 replies (of 1 total)

 *  Thread Starter [BartelsJuice](https://wordpress.org/support/users/bart086c/)
 * (@bart086c)
 * [12 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/phantom-admin-user/#post-4146176)
 * SOLVED:
 * It seems that the number of users listed in _Dashboard_ > _Users_ when filtered
   for _Administrators_ comes from _wp\_usemeta_ table. When I deleted those rows
   for user ID#1 singly rather than as a group they deleted. Then when I checked
   the _Dashboard_ again the user count was correct for _Administrators_.
 * Now this raises a question. Do attributes remain in the _wp\_usemeta_ file for
   all users that get deleted? And, if true, is it true when the delete is by either
   an admin, or the user themself?
 * If true, it would seem that the _wp\_usemeta_ table would just, over time, continue
   to grow.
 * Any ideas??
 * bc

Viewing 1 replies (of 1 total)

The topic ‘Phantom admin user’ is closed to new replies.

## Tags

 * [admin](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/admin/)
 * [administrator](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/administrator/)
 * [user-level](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/user-level/)

 * In: [Fixing WordPress](https://wordpress.org/support/forum/how-to-and-troubleshooting/)
 * 1 reply
 * 1 participant
 * Last reply from: [BartelsJuice](https://wordpress.org/support/users/bart086c/)
 * Last activity: [12 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/phantom-admin-user/#post-4146176)
 * Status: not resolved

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