The most common WordPress errors and their solutions

I wrote down the most common mistakes in WordPress. In the instructions, I also mention specific solutions, how to fix them and also how to avoid them in the future.

WordPress is easy to use even for an ordinary user who has no programming experience. However, sometimes a problem can occur. So that you don’t freak out about what’s going on with your site, I’ll try to summarize most of them.

Let’s go through the procedure for solving the most common errors in WP together:

Back it up

The first and most important principle is: before fixing every error, back up the entire site and its complete database. Only then proceed to the solution itself. You can create a backup with a few clicks in the Updraft plugin . It is good to have this plugin installed to create regular backups of the site.

General procedure for problem identification

The most common cause of a problem is a template or some plugin. This way you can identify which of these components it is:

1. If you use a cache plugin, wipe the cache and deactivate it.
2. Temporarily disable all plugins.
3. Temporarily activate one of the basic WordPress templates (such as Twenty Twenty).
4. Test if the problem has disappeared.
5. Activate each plugin and theme one by one and always test the situation. If the problem appears, the cause is the last activated component.

Of course, if you have a WooCommerce eshop , leave the basic WooCommerce plugin out of the temporary deactivation.

Fix internal server errors

The WordPress Internal Server Error or 500 Internal Server Error occurs when the server is unable to determine what the problem is. It can have many causes:

A problem in the .htaccess file

Most often, this is an error caused by incorrect directives in the .htaccess file. Rename the .htaccess file using FTP. If it didn’t help, enter the administration and save the permalink settings again. This will generate a new .htaccess file.

PHP limit exceeded

Sometimes the 500 Internal Server Error is caused by running out of allocated memory. For a solution, you need to contact your hosting provider and increase your limit.

Deactivation of plugins

If that was not enough, you need to deactivate the plugins to solve this error. In FTP access, find the file wp-content. In it there is a folder called Plugins . You can disable all of them by temporarily renaming this folder. If it didn’t help, there will be an error in the template itself.

Reinstalling the template

The next step to fix the problem is to reinstall the WordPress template. Use FTP to download the latest version of the template and re-upload it.

Error log on the server

If this still does not help, contact your hosting provider to provide you with an Error log. In it you will find information about the error. You will probably also need the help of a programmer to explain what the data in the Error log means.

Many WordPress mistakes can be avoided by using the right web hosting.

WordPress Syntax Error

This WordPress error sometimes appears when you try to touch the template code. Most often, it is actually a typo, that is, a syntax error in the code you wrote. In order to find them, it is good to know at least the basics of working in PHP. For example, an error message might look like this:

Parse error – syntax error, unexpected $end in 
/hosting-7513/www/vaswordpres.tld/wp-content/themes/sablona/functions.php
on line 38

To fix this error, you need to fix the code notation. Use FTP access for this. Common writing errors are an unterminated line or an illegal character in the PHP code.

Fix Error Establishing and Database Connection

The Error Establishing a Database Connection WordPress error occurs when your site cannot connect to the database server . This usually happens in the process of changing your password or username.

Error in the database

To solve this WordPress problem, it is necessary to first check where the error appears. It can be only in the administration or directly on the site. If it is only in the administration, it may be a database corruption. You can fix it in the wp-config.php file. Add an entry

define('WP_ALLOW_REPAIR', true);

Then go to the address:

http://www.VASADOMENA.sk/wp-admin/maint/repair.php.

Now you will repair the database. You do not need to be logged in for this step. Find the button to repair the database. WordPress will try to find the error. When done, delete the added line in wp-config.php.

Checking the wp-config.php file

If the above procedure didn’t help, it could be that you don’t have the correct credentials in your wp-config.php file. Check them on these lines:

define('DB_NAME', 'meno-databazy');
define('DB_USER', 'prihlasovacie-meno');
define('DB_PASSWORD', 'heslo-k-databaze');
define('DB_HOST', 'localhost');

Checking the MySQL server

The error can also occur due to increased site traffic, when the server does not have time to process all requests. In this case, contact your hosting provider to test the functionality of the database server.

White screen of death

This WordPress error looks like a white screen with no error message. First of all, you need to check if at least the menu for site administration works. There are several reasons for this error, so we will go through them one by one.

The problem is in the template

The problem may occur when handling the template, or if the template has been programmed incorrectly. Deactivate the changes you made to the template and return to the default template. If the administration menu is still not functional, perform the error fix via FTP:

Locate the wp-content/themes/ directory
You rename the template directory e.g. from mojatema to mojatema-correction
Now try to login to the template menu. If everything is fine, continue to the point “remove the error in the code”.

Reset plugins

Errors in plugins could also cause the white screen. Your best bet is to turn them all off. If you have access to the template menu, find the option to disable plugins in the settings. If the error reappears after re-enabling the plugins, then the problem is being looked for in one of them.

The procedure via FTP is more complicated:

1. Locate the plugins directory in wp-content/plugins.
2. Rename it to plugins-repair, for example.
3. Save it offline.
4. Now create a new plugins directory and check if the problem is fixed.
5. Gradually move the directories of individual plugins to the new plugins directory and enable them via the template menu. In doing so, you check for which plugin the problem appears. When the white screen appears again, delete that plugin and install another one with similar features.

Fixing a bug in the code

There may be several errors in the code. Duplicate or conflicting PHP functions in different plugins or incomplete upload of a plugin or template (it helps if you simply delete the template or plugin). A space in the functions.php file or an empty line in the wp-config.php file can also be a problem. If you have made changes in this directory, you need to delete them. Alternatively, you can also re-upload this directory from the template.

Another problem in the code is the incorrect setting of rights in the directories. Directories should have rights set to 755 and files to 644.

WordPress 404 Error Fix

Error 404 manifests itself by displaying a message that the page does not exist to the visitor of the page. The most common cause is a problem in the setting of the hyperlink, the so-called permalink. You will need to reconfigure your permalink settings.

With this error, it is usually possible to enter the administrative menu of the template. Go to Settings»Permalinks and click Save Changes. This step will update your permalinks. If this step did not resolve the issue, you will need to update the .htaccess file via FTP.
Log in to the server using FTP and find and fix the .htaccess file. Change the permission to 666, rewrite the .htaccess and change the permission back to 660. You can also add this code to the .htaccess:

# BEGIN WordPress
<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
RewriteRule ^index\.php$ - [L]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule . /index.php [L]
</IfModule>
# END WordPress

Fixed incorrect placement of the side panel

This WordPress error manifests itself by causing the sidebar to appear below the page content instead of next to it. This error can occur when the user adds a snippet to the source code of the page and forgets to close the hlml div tag. This will cause the layout of the template to change.

Go through everything you’ve changed recently. Did you add a plugin or change the html. Or if it has a page that shows the error< div> blocks. Check that they are closed. An excellent helper for finding this error is W3 Validator.

Missing buttons

If a white box appears instead of buttons in the WordPress visual editor, the error is caused by broken JavaScript or TinyMCE files.

First, try clearing your browser’s cache. Another option is to use a different browser. If that didn’t help, replace the TinyMCE files. The problem could have occurred during installation or updating. Re-upload /wp-includes/js/tinymce/.

If the error still occurs, open the wp-config.php file and add:

define('CONCATENATE_SCRIPTS', false);

Out of memory error

If PHP has run out of memory, this can manifest itself as the aforementioned white screen of death. The second possibility is that an error message appears on the screen:

Fatal error: Allowed memory size of 33554432 bytes exhausted
(tried to allocate 2348617 bytes) in 
/home/username/public_html/site1/wp-includes/plugin.php on line xxx

A WordPress script or plugin has run out of memory. You can fix errors via FTP access. In your site folder, find the wp-config.php file. Download it to your computer and open it in a text editor, for example PsPad. At the end of the file, before the line: “That’s all, stop editing! Happy blogging.” Insert the following line:

define( 'WP_MEMORY_LIMIT', '256M' );

You have thereby increased the PHP memory limit by 256MB. Save the changes and upload the file back to wp-config.php.

WordPress error: admin menu locked

You may not be able to access the menu of your WordPress template. This can be caused by a code or plugin that tries to make some changes to the site administration. Or you forgot your password, or the site became the target of a hacker attack. One solution is to reset the old password in phpMyAdmin and replace it with a new one. The second solution is to use FTP access.

After logging in, the system returns you to the login page

This WordPress error occurs when you enter your username and password during the login process, but the system still returns you to the login page . This is caused by an incorrect URL, a redirect in the .htaccess file, or misconfigured permalink settings.

First, clear the cache and cookies in your browser. Then restart the browser. If that didn’t help, disable the plugins.

If you still can’t log in, you need to deactivate the template. Do so via FTP access in the file /wp-content/themes/. Rename your template file. Then try logging in again. If it helped, the problem could be with the template update. Download the original version and install it.

If that doesn’t help either, try to delete the .htaccess file via ftp and reset the permalinks.

WordPress error: Maximum Execution Time Exceeded

This problem is caused by the fact that you have reached the maximum set value of the server while loading the PHP script. The servers have a limited time set to load the script. Some hostings set the time limit to higher values ​​and some to lower values.

You can fix this WordPress problem with a simple procedure. You can install the Maximum Execution Time Exceeded plugin. This plugin increases the time to load a PHP script up to 300 seconds.

To repair the .htaccess file via FTP, proceed as follows. Add a line to your .htaccess file:

php_value max_execution_time 300

If the increase to 300 seconds is not enough for you, increase it to more seconds.

WordPress problems uploading images

If placeholders for images in your media library are showing on the screen instead of images, that’s a problem. The error is caused by incorrect installation files and permissions.
You will need FTP access to repair. Use an FTP client such as Fillezilla for this.

Open the file /wp-content/ via FTP client. Here you will find the folder /uploads/. Clicking the right mouse button will take you to file permissions settings. Set permission 744 for uploads folder and all subfiles. If that didn’t help, try the number 755. Give 644 permission for all other files. Don’t forget to save the new settings.

WordPress image size issues

If you have trouble uploading and resizing images, install the EWWW Image Optimizer or WP Smush.it plugin. These plugins adjust the quality and size of images for the web. You can also use them to optimize the images you already have on the page.

Another problem is if the uploaded image is larger than WordPress allows . If you want to upload large images, add to functions.php :

@ini_set( 'upload_max_size' , '256M' );
@ini_set( 'post_max_size', '256M');
@ini_set( 'max_execution_time', '1000' );

Error message: Are you sure you want to do this?

This is a fairly common WordPress error. It caused WordPress to look for a nonce in your admin and can’t find it. You will need to find out if the error is in the plugins or the template and fix it.

WordPress Error: Unable to perform scheduled maintenance

If you see a message on your screen saying that scheduled maintenance cannot be performed, it’s because WordPress put your site into maintenance mode during the update. You perform the repair via FTP access.

Error when automatically updating the page

Sometimes it happens that a problem arises when the page is automatically updated. You may see a PHP error message, an update failure, or a blank white page. The most common cause is incorrectly set file permissions. Try refreshing the page manually.

Problem saving changes

When editing a page, it may happen that the changes are not saved. Clearing your browser cache will help. The browser may have loaded the saved version of the page directly from the cache.

What to do if WordPress is not sending emails

This WordPress error manifests itself in the fact that email communication and the contact form on your site do not work. This may be because other hosting users from the same hosting provider have disabled or restricted email communication from their sites, or your hosting is not configured to use PHP.

To avoid this error, use SMTP. For example, MailGun and Gmail. You can use the WP Mail SMTP plugin for this.

WordPress error RSS Feed

These WordPress errors are caused by formatting. They are different depending on the browser you are using. You fix the error in the functions.php file in your template. Check that there is no extra space or separator at the end of the php tag.

WordPress error: Too many redirects

The reason for the redirection may be to move the page and redirect users. However, it may happen that the user remains locked between two pages that are redirected to each other.

Failed to upload file to disk

The most common cause of this WordPress problem is incorrect file permission settings. To counter the authorization settings, use access via an FTP client. Go to the wp-content file. In this file and select Permissions. Check that your settings are correct:

Všetky adresáre — 755 alebo 750
Všetky súbory — 644 alebo 640
wp-config.php — 600

WordPress error 403: Access denied

First, create a backup of the site and the database. Then it is necessary to disable all plugins. If it helped, one of your plugins caused the error. Deactivate them one by one to find out which one.

WordPress error 403 could also be caused by a corrupted .htaccess file. Search for it via FTP client and delete it. Then try to login to your site. If the problem is solved, generate a new .htaccess file. You do this in the administrative menu of the template in Settings> Permalinks. Simply click the save settings button.

The error could also have occurred due to incorrect file permissions settings. You need to check them. I described the procedure for this step in the previous point.

Problem Fix: This page contains malware

Google flags pages that contain malware or suspicious code . The reason for this message may be that your site has been hacked and indeed contains malicious code. The second reason may be that the malicious code is contained by a third party. For example, a page to which you are linked in order to display an ad.

WordPress error: Missed Schedule Post Error

WordPress allows you to schedule your posts in advance. The process then happens automatically. If you’re getting the error message about missing posts more often, install and activate the Missed Schedule Post WordPress plugin. The plugin will search for missed posts and publish them on the page.

Error 28

This error is related to hosting. Contact your hosting provider for a solution. One of the following situations could have occurred:

• You have too many files in /tmp.
• Your server cache is full.

Constantly logging out

To identify the login, WordPress stores a cookie. You need to have the same URL set in the site address and WordPress address of your site. In the administrative menu, go to Settings » General and check that both names are the same. If you don’t have access to the administration, do it via FTP.

Find the wp-config.php file. Download it and open it in a text editor. You can use notepad. Add the following code above the line That’s all, stop editing! Happy blogging:

define('WP_HOME','http://example.com');
define('WP_SITEURL','http://example.com');

The theme is missing the style.css stylesheet

The most common cause is that you are trying to upload a zip file to WordPress that does not contain the template code.

You can easily verify this – when you unzip that zip file on your computer, it should only have one folder and the style.css file should be right there.

This problem also often happens with themes from Themeforest , where the zip file often contains documentation, etc., in addition to the template code. Solution: Themeforest allows you to download only the installation file:

Another reason could be that there is only template code in the zip file, but it is bad. Unfortunately, I also encountered this in practice. In that case, the creators of the template should be contacted to fix it and send you a working version.

This response is not a valid JSON response

There can be many reasons behind this general message. I meet her mainly in the Gutenberg editor .

The procedure for finding the cause is the same as for other problems: it is necessary to temporarily deactivate the plugins and change the template to the basic one. If you also use a cache plugin, you need to clear the cache and temporarily disable it. If it helped, then the cause will be in some plugin or template.

The most common WordPress errors and their solutions – a summary

A large number of errors can be avoided by using high-quality components – themes and plugins. I recommend betting on proven multifunctional Divi and Avada templates. I also have excellent experience with StudioPress templates .