This tutorial will walk you through what is needed to change the admin directory name (aka rename admin folder) in Geodesic software. Doing this can make it that much harder for someone to get into your admin panel who is not supposed to be there, but should not be an excuse to use an easily guessable admin username/password! In addition to changing the admin directory name, for security purposes to make it even harder to get into the admin panel, we also recommend to "password protect" the admin panel's directory, using a different user/pass than the admin panel's software login. That way for someone to get in, they would need to "guess" 2 sets of user/pass combinations.

Changing the admin directory name consists of changing (or adding) a line to your config.php file, and re-naming the directory, it's that simple:

1. Turn your cache off at Site Setup > Cache, as some of the cached information will need to be reset for the folder change. <
2. Decide what you are going to re-name the directory to. For the purposes of this tutorial, we will be using secretadmin/, you should pick something different since anyone can read this tutorial¹⁾. In the rest of these instructions, wherever you see secretadmin, replace that with whatever you have chosen for the new admin directory. <
3. As always when making changes to PHP files, make a backup of your config.php file that you can use to easily restore your site should there be any problems with the changes you make to the file. <
4. In your config.php file, find the line:

   define ('ADMIN_LOCAL_DIR', 'admin/');

   If you do not find that line in your config.php file, you might need to add it. <

5. Replace the admin/ with the new directory name, the end result will look something like this:

   define ('ADMIN_LOCAL_DIR', 'secretadmin/');

   Replace secretadmin/ with the admin directory name you decided on. Make sure to include the trailing slash, if you leave it off things will not work correctly. <

6. Save and upload the new config.php file. <
7. Re-name the admin directory to supersecret (or whatever name you decided on). Remember the name needs to match what you changed it to in the config.php file. <
8. Now just visit the new location to make sure it worked. If anything went wrong, restore the backup config.php. <
9. If your cache was on before, you can turn it back on once you are able to log into the admin panel using the new folder, in the admin at Site Setup > Cache. <
10. You are done! Be sure to read over the Important Notes below, there is important info you need to be aware of, like additional steps during software updates. <

If you are using a different directory name instead of admin/, there are a few things you will need to do differently, noted below.

• Obviously, to access the admin panel, you will access it using the changed directory name. <
• When you update the software, after the update is "complete", you will need to replace your re-named admin directory with the new admin files in the update²⁾:
  1. Delete your changed admin panel directory, for example if you renamed it to sectretadmin/ you would delete the sectretadmin/ directory. <
  2. Re-name the new admin/ directory that was uploaded with the new software update, to the re-named name. <

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• When you contact Geo support, be sure to mention the admin directory's location to speed up the process in case support needs into the admin panel. <