How to Log In to Joomla CMS as an Administrator

By Seamus Bellamy and Steven Holzner from Joomla! For Dummies, 2nd Edition

To access what Joomla refers to as the content management system’s (CMS’s) back end, you use the Administration control panel. Joomla’s default installation includes a link to the Administration control panel — Site Administrator — in the This Site menu. By clicking the link, you open the Joomla Administration Login page. To gain access to Joomla’s back end, enter the same User Name and Password you chose when you installed Joomla.
If you opted to bypass the installation of the sample content that Joomla offers to you during the CMS’s installation process, you can also reach your Joomla site’s back end by typing www.yourwebsite.com/administrator into your web browser (yourwebsite being the name of your website, of course).
To gain access to the site’s back end, you have to have Administrator privileges. If you are the person that installed Joomla, the CMS automatically uses the information you entered during the installation process to create what Joomla calls a super user account, giving you the highest level of access and control over the website’s functions.
How do you log in as an administrator? You have several options:

• If Joomla is installed locally (on your own computer), navigate to http://yoursite/administrator (that’s http://localhost/administrator or http://localhost/xxxx/administrator if you installed Joomla in the directory xxxx).
• If Joomla is installed remotely (on a host server), navigate to www.yoursite.com/administrator.
• Pull up the default front page in your browser, and click the Site Administrator link in the This Site menu.

No matter which option you choose, you see a login page for administrators. Enter your username and password you chose when you were installing Joomla, and then click the Login button.
When you’re logged in, you see the Administration control panel, displaying a set of manager icons. Cool — you’re in.