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How to rename the phpBB3 admin directory

This is an article on how to change the name of the administration control panel directory. By default, its name is adm and it's located in the root phpBB3 directory on your hosting account.

For example, if your phpBB3 board is installed in a folder called phpbb3 in the root public_html directory on your account, the path to the admin directory would be public_html/phpbb3/adm, which means that the URL address of the administration control panel would be yourdomain.com/phpbb3/adm.

You can change the name of the adm folder to anything you want. You can rename the folder from the Files section of the Pixie control panel. Just highlight the directory with the left mouse button, then click on the Rename link on the right. On the new page type the new name and click on the Rename button. You can also rename the directory with an FTP client.

In addition to renaming the folder itself, you also have to change a link in the functions.php file. It's located in the includes folder that is itself located in the root phpBB3 directory. If we use the above example, the path to it would be public_html/phpbb3/includes/functions.php. You can again use the Files section of the Pixie control panel to edit the file. Just click on the name of the file with the left mouse button to see and edit its content. Alternatively, you can download it with an FTP client, then use a text editor (e.g. Notepad) to find the code you have to change, and after you change it you can upload it back through FTP.

This is the line that you have to find in functions.php:

'U_ACP' => ($auth->acl_get('a_') && !empty($user->data['is_registered'])) ? 
append_sid("{$phpbb_root_path}adm/index.$phpEx", false, true, $user->session_id) : '')
	);

The code is near the end of the file (around line 4638). In this code you have to change adm (phpbb_root_path}adm/index) to whatever you renamed the directory.

Now you can log in to your administration control panel through the new URL.

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