We all love WordPress. It is one of the most dominant content management systems that allow people to build websites from scratch without any heavy-lifting. While WordPress is easy to use, there are some common errors that could drive you crazy. It can be an irritating white screen of death or an unknown database error that could break down your website. There are several other errors associated with WordPress that could leave you in a troubling situation. Fortunately, WordPress provides a solution for every problem that you encounter while managing your site.
If you are new to the WordPress development industry or don’t want to get your hands dirty in coding, then you can always opt for a reliable WordPress developing company. It is undoubtedly the best way to avoid all WordPress errors. But, if you are comfortable with coding and want to fix-the-issue yourself, then you should read this blog post.
In this post, we will explore the 5 most common WordPress errors along with their respective solutions.
Note: Before fixing the WordPress issues, make sure to have a complete backup of your WordPress. I would recommend you to use robust WordPress plugin like BackupBuddy that schedules an automatic backup of your site.
Let’s begin!
5 Most Common WordPress Errors and Solution
1. Locked out of WordPress Admin
At times, WordPress site owners might find themselves locked out their WP admin area. It happens when you forget your password or don’t have to access to password recovery email. However, remembering all password(s) becomes tough, especially for those who are new into this industry.
In fact, it could also happen because of a plugin or code that falsely tries to make some distortion within your admin area. In order to overcome this situation, you need to fix the issue as soon as possible.
Solution:
Utilize your database
• Login to your Cpanel and under your database section, open phpMy Admin.
• Click on your database name.
• Now, you can see various tables in the right tab.
• Browse a “wp-users” table.
• Now, you can see a row with your username details (such as password, usernames, ID, etc.).
• You will see the user-pass column where you can change your password.
Note: Before clicking on a save button, click on MD5 in the menu function.
You can also edit your functions.php
• Install a connection with your server through FTB and open your “functions.php” file.
• Reset your password by inserting lines of code into wp-set-password (“Desired New Password)”: You can either change the value of desired new password with the new one or change the user-Id from the wp-users table with a new one.
• Click on Save icon to save all the changes made in the file and upload it to your FTP.
2. 404 Page error
This error occurs when a user lands on a single post on their site and they get a 404 error. However, a user can browse all other sections of their site, but won’t be able to access to a particular page. One of the most common reason for this issue is permalink settings in WordPress.
Solution:
To solve this problem, a user may need to reconfigure their permalinks settings or they can also update their rewrite rules manually.
Open the settings > permalinks > choose a relevant option> click on save button.
Note: Make sure your post is still returning back to a 404 error page or not.
3. Error Establishing a database connection in WordPress
This error message clearly states that your site is unable to connect to the database. This could happen when a site owner has enrolled or modified their database with wrong credentials such as database username, password or host. In order to solve this issue, you might need the assistance of a professional developer as it can be tricky for novice users.
Solution:
Fix your wp-config.php
Access to your wp-config.php file via FTP or file manager in Cpanel. Make sure whether the database information is correct or not, which includes database username, host, and password. Here, you can find the information written under a comment saying:
//** MySQL settings – you can get this information from your web host **//
/** The name of the database for WordPress **//
define (‘DB_Name’, ‘your_database_name’);
etc…
Note: if you are a beginner, then you need to learn a lot of basic things before fixing this issue.
Resolve the issues with your web host
If there is no error in your wp-config.php file, you should cross-check with your web hosting company. They will tell you whether your database has exceeded its quota or there are any temporary issues related to the server.
Scan your site
Due to the increasing popularity of WordPress, it has become one of the most vulnerable CMSs on the web. Hackers target websites that are developed on WordPress. If you find everything fine with your hosting provider, then you should protect your site from hackers.
Install a WordPress plugin such as Sucuri to check whether everything is fine or not. You can also install a backup plugin to keep a regular backup of your site.
4. Missing of StyleSheet
Website owners always try to buy an intriguing and appealing theme from a reliable source. Sometimes, they find a problem while installing a theme into their site.
Well, this could happen if you miss uploading a root theme folder within your WordPress. Let’s take a look at its solution.
Solution:
• First, you need to open your theme folder and check if it comes with a subdirectory.
• You can see a folder with the similar name, which is mentioned as the theme name.
• Zip it and upload it either through FTP or WP.
5. Connection timed out error
This type of error messages flashes out usually on a shared server. The main reason for this error can be due to:
- Heavy themes or plugins
- Exhausted PHP memory limit, or
- Error in theme functions
Solution
To avoid this situation, you can uninstall all your heavy plugins and themes and get back to straightforward themes like Twenty fifteen or twenty sixteen theme to encounter an issue.
You can also expand your PHP memory limit by inserting a single line of code to your functions.php define(“WP-MEMORY-LIMIT’,
or you can also embed a single piece of code in your .htaccess file at the top:
php_value memory_limit 256M
Conclusion
I hope this list helps you find solutions for the 5 most common WordPress errors. If you are not comfortable with the coding, you can also hire a reliable WP development company at an affordable price.
Author Bio: – Maggie Sawyer is an experienced website developer by profession as well as a blogger by hobby. She works for MarkupHQ, the PSD to WordPress Conversion that provide complete WordPress solution, with 100% guaranteed result. She likes to write and share tutorials on WordPress customization services.