Every time WordPress updates any of its themes, plugins, or core programs, your website will go into maintenance mode. To minimize downtime, you must take your site out of maintenance mode as soon as the updates are completed. People are unable to access your website when WordPress is stuck in maintenance mode. WordPress will display a message that lets them know that updates are underway.
In this comprehensive guide, we’ll walk you through fixing the issue of how to get the WordPress site out of maintenance mode if WordPress is stuck in maintenance mode and making sure it won’t occur again.
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Common reasons why your WordPress site is stuck in maintenance mode
Whenever there is an update, WordPress enters maintenance mode. Updates are often simple; however, there are a few possible reasons for errors that result in WordPress getting stuck in maintenance mode.
When you make an update, a .maintenance file is created in the root folder of your WordPress site. In the .maintenance file, WordPress is instructed to enter maintenance mode and display the pop-up notification for users. WordPress removes the .maintenance file from the root folder, and the notification disappears as soon as your update is completed.
However, sometimes the file isn’t deleted. WordPress gets stuck in maintenance mode. Then you will always see the following message when you visit your website:
These errors in WordPress maintenance mode may be caused by:
- You accidentally closed your browser window while an automated update was running.
- When you try to update a lot of WordPress plugins or themes at once, the server of your hosting provider becomes overloaded.
- A compatibility issue causes a glitch, such as when you upgrade WordPress but your theme or plugins are incompatible with the new version.
- The incorrect directory or file permissions may put WordPress in maintenance mode by stopping it from finishing updates.
how to get the WordPress site out of maintenance mode
Your WordPress website might get stuck in maintenance mode. Even though this is rather common, it could harm your website. Here are some guides for you on how to fix WordPress stuck in maintenance mode:
Solve WordPress Default Maintenance Mode Getting Stuck:
WordPress creates a file named “.maintenance” in the root folder of your WordPress website when it enters maintenance mode. This is the same folder that contains:
- wp-admin folder
- wp-config.php
To fix the WordPress stuck-in-maintenance mode problem, you will need to connect to your server via FTP.
Step 1: Log in to your hosting account. Go to the File Manager in cPanel.
Step 2: You will see a folder called public_html. Open it and look for a file named .maintenance.
Step 3: Select the file with a right-click and delete it. Visit your website again, and it should work normally.
PRO TIP: Clear your cache if you are still seeing maintenance mode activated. The cache saves pages and content from your website to save loading time. When you have cleared your cache, your website will serve the latest version available.
Miscellaneous Ways to Solve WordPress Stuck in Maintenance Mode:
If none of the above-described solutions worked for you, we have a few more tricks that you can try out. Let’s find out!
1. Check Your Theme for a Maintenance Mode Option:
Sometimes, plugins come pre-installed on themes. If your theme comes with a maintenance mode plugin, any other maintenance mode solution on your website may be overridden. If there is a maintenance mode option in your theme, make sure to disable it.
2. Reindex the page using the Google Search Console:
Have you solved the maintenance mode issues, but when you Google your website, it still shows up as “Site is under maintenance”?
This is because Google regularly crawls and indexes your website. If the search results page still shows maintenance mode, you can use Google Webmasters to request a re-index. On the other hand, you may simply wait your time until the Google bot crawls your website again.
PRO TIP: Make sure you regularly back up your WordPress website. when things go wrong. You can use your backup to restore your website to normal. When you make significant changes to your website, such as adding updates, new plugins, or themes, we suggest taking a backup of your site.
How To Prevent WordPress From Getting Stuck in Maintenance Mode?
Even though fixing the problem is easy enough, there are still some positive steps to reduce the possibility of your site getting stuck in maintenance mode again.
- Ensure plugins and themes are compatible:
Before updating, confirm that the themes and plugins are compatible with the version of WordPress you are using. You can easily verify compatibility from your WordPress dashboard.
- Avoid updating all plugins at once:
Try to avoid executing too many updates at one time. You can reduce the number of updates WordPress needs to perform regularly by updating themes and plugins as soon as they become available, instead of waiting to do them all at once.
- Always take a backup of your WordPress site:
When it comes to running a WordPress site, things do go wrong from time to time. Backups provide a safety net in situations like these. Make a backup of your website before performing updates or making major changes, particularly manual edits to WordPress files.
Conclusion:
This brings an end to our article on fixing a WordPress website that is stuck in maintenance mode. Just remember to use staging whenever you can and to always make a backup of your website. This will help you with a wide range of potential issues, not just WordPress maintenance mode issues. You can guarantee a smooth transition from maintenance mode to an updated and fully working website by following the steps discussed here.
FAQs:
Q: Can a plugin cause WordPress to get stuck in maintenance mode?
Yes. Sometimes, a plugin update may play the villain and lock things up. If so, you can diffuse the situation by renaming the “plugins” directory and using FTP to get into your “wp-content” area. This should force WordPress to deactivate the plugins and hopefully come out of maintenance mode.
Q: How long does maintenance mode usually last?
Usually not too long—a few minutes at most—while updates are being made. Consider it a coffee break where your website takes a short break to refresh itself with new content before returning. If it continues longer, we will need to troubleshoot the issue.
Q: How can I put my WordPress site in maintenance mode intentionally?
To activate maintenance mode, use plugins such as “Maintenance Mode” or add a small piece of code to the functions.php file of your theme.
