It’s easy to Activate Maintenance Mode in your WordPress Website . WordPress activates the maintenance mode. So it may perform modification on the website while updating.
But after modifying the website and try to turn off maintenance mode WordPress fails to delete the maintenance file some people face this issue, WordPress stuck in maintenance mode.
Don’t worry it’s normal and here in this article, I will tell you how you can solve this issue. WordPress is a content management system (CMS), where people publish their websites and their content on those websites.
Now the world is moving to more advanced, where incredible workshops and designs are being introduced. WordPress is a platform where any non-technical person can develop his/her website without arranging any coding headache.
WordPress team works 24/7 to make sure that the data of clients remain secure. To achieve that goal WordPress team releases different security updates with some extra features (like Bug fixing). These updated may cause some issues, Stuck in WordPress Maintenance Mode is one of them.
What Causes the WordPress Maintenance Issue?
This issue has some major reasons, these are mentioned below.
- WordPress provides some updates which are important for your website, that updates may contain new features link bugs fixing, security features, new styles, and new designs, etc. But sometimes these updates may cause some problems. When a user updates the WordPress, the installed plugin which was used to generate the maintenance page could be unstable because of that update.
- Updating the list of (2,3,4 or more) plugins together can make you to face this issue.
- Installed Maintenance Mode plugin is not compatible with the WordPress version.
- A new version of Plugin, theme or WordPress has some bugs.
- Closing the windows tab in the middle of the update process.
- Do not update the themes and plugins at the same time.
Updates Issue
If your website is important for you then create backup. Every time you update any plugin, theme or WordPress version, create your backup first. So that if you face some issue after the update, you can backup your website instantly. if you don’t believe your hosting provider then do it manually on your computer or backup remotely on other servers.
Follow These Steps to Check the Infected Theme or Plugin
1) Go to your c-panel.
2) Click on your file manager. The new tab will lead you to the Root Directory.
3) Visit public_html.
4) In public_html open the folder named “wp-content“.
5) Rename the folder of “plugins” to “plugins-old” or “plugins-deactivate“. By doing this all the plugins will be deactivated.
6) Now check the problem if it is solved or not.
7) Now activate the plugins one by one and check which plugin is the cause of the problem.
I will recommend you to don’t allow WordPress theme or any plugin to update automatically it could be news themes, travel blog themes, parallax themes. If you could not arrange your time daily for updates then arrange it every month, but do it yourself. Update themes and plugins one by one and check if they are working properly or not.
Compatibility Issue
Before applying updates to any theme or plugin, check carefully that it’s compatible with your WordPress version or not. If you are updating your themes and plugins on every available update but your WordPress version is old then you may face the issue.
The new version of WordPress contains many security patches, which are important for your website. But while updating the theme or plugin read all the instructions provided by the developer according to its compatibility with the version of WordPress.
In this article, I will show you how to change the site title in WordPress and why it’s important.
Stuck in WordPress Maintenance Mode
Most of us use the admin panel to update the plugin, theme or WordPress version, and they don’t know what’s going on in the back (c-penal/server). When you hit to update a plugin or theme many files began to download, unzip and replace with old files. This process takes little time but if something goes wrong, you may face the issue.
In the WordPress root directory, updater of WordPress creates a .maintenance file while updating itself, and throw the file in hidden mood so may never see it. You can access the file manually by accessing your c-penal.
The .maintenance file is the file that was created by the plugin while activating the maintenance mode. Because of updated issues sometimes you could not delete it with plugin. That’s why you have to get access to your root directory through c-penal or FTP to get the file.
Delete .maintenance file using C-penal
If you don’t know how to access your c-penal or use it, contact your hosting provider he/she will assist you. There are many files in the file manager which are hidden by the WordPress. You can access them by logging in to the c-penal.
After you logged in the c-penal click on the file manager, a new tab will lead you to the file manager which contains a bunch of folders and files. After opening the file manager, a File Manager Directory Pop-up appears.
Select “Web Root (Public_html)” and “Show hidden files” option. Then hit the “GO” button. The WebRoot (Public_html) contains the .maintenance file. Just right click on it and delete the file.
That’s it now your dot file is deleted and your website is free from maintenance mode. Sometimes you may do not see the Pop-up. Go back to your c-penal and reset interface settings. Now you will face the Pop-up of File Manager Directory.
If you could not access your Root Directory through c-penal, then there is another way to access your Root Directory by using the FTP protocol.
Delete .maintenance File Using Filezilla
FTP client works as a File Manager so you can access your files in the Root Directory. FileZilla is one of the best FTP clients. I will recommend Windows users to use FileZilla and for Mac users to Cyberduck. You can install both programs on your computer and get access to your Root Directory by following the steps mentioned below.
But to use FTP client you have to know your website details, it mostly asks for username and password. If you do not know your details then contact your hosting provider and get the details.
1) Download the FileZilla.
2) Install it on your computer.
3) After installation, launch it.
4) The main screen of FileZilla will ask you a bunch of details (Host, Username, Password, and port).
- Host: You have to enter your domain name in the host.
- Username: You can get your FTP username from your hosting provider.
- Password: You can get your FTP password from your hosting provider.
- Port: Leave it blank.
5) After putting all the details click on the “Quick connection“.
6) After the connecting process, you will face the folders named wp-admin, wp-content, uploads, and CSS, etc.
7) If you can see these folders on the right side of FileZilla then you are okay. You are in your root directory.
8) As I have mentioned before .maintenance file is hidden, click server and apply to Force Showing Hidden Files.
8) Search for your .maintenance file delete it.
9) Refresh the directory and clear your cache.
If you are getting into website building and need to learn how to design the best-looking homepage with plugin. Then these Beaver Builder & Elementor page builder can help you. In this article, here is the essential differences between Beaver Builder Vs Elementor.
WordPress Maintenance Mode
WordPress has its own maintenance mode. Whenever we update WordPress it performs some functions on the backend and activates the maintenance mode. It happens so rapidly that you could not notice it.
I have already mentioned the reasons for this problem. Normally WordPress deletes the .maintenance file from directly but some time it doesn’t. It depends on the reasons described above. Don’t be panic and follow the given steps and get your website back.
Out Side Help
If you are not technical and could not perform these step then there is also an option. You can hire someone else to do this job, there are hundreds of platforms where experts work for you, just pay them and get your website back. If you don’t know how to hire a freelancer, open the new tab right now and follow the steps that I’m going to tell you.
1) Search for “Fiverr” or “Up-work“.
2) Create an account.
3) Put all your details.
4) Search for the “Bug Fixing” expert.
5) Tell him/her your issue about “Stuck in WordPress Maintenance Mode“.
6) Create the order for that freelancer (After asking the price of work).
7) Check the website after he/she tells you to check.
8) There you are “Your website is live again“.
Every problem has solutions, follow these steps one by one and carefully. In the end, you will get it cleared.
Be Careful
Be careful while updating your website themes and plugins. Check their compatibility with your WordPress version. If you face some kind of issue just hit backup of your website and contact the developer of theme or plugin.
Don’t use those plugins or themes which are not tested on the new version of WordPress those plugins/themes may cause problem. Do not update all the available updates at a time. This may increase the load on your server and you can face the “time out” error.
The process of updating stops in the middle due to which many errors can occur. I will suggest you to update all things then do it one by one by reading all the given instruction and compatibilities with the WordPress versions.
Glitch in Maintenance Plugin
If you are using a plugin to activate maintenance mode on your website and it’s not working for deleting that maintenance mode, when you need to delete it, and there is a problem in its functioning code then you can face the issue.
You can simply delete the plugin if the problem is still working then you can delete the files from the directory as mentioned above. There is not a way to be saved from a glitch of plugin. But you can research and chose those plugins that are completely well codded and okay to use.
There are hundreds of alternatives that you can use in your website. But in WordPress content management system I recommend you to not install too many plugins or themes on shared hosting, the reason is that plugins and themes load the website high, and you can lose control or face errors.
Its make sure that your website is easy to navigate and looks aesthetically pleasing and orderly, knowing how to add categories in WordPress.
Note
When WordPress performs update it automatically deletes the maintenance file. Deleting that file is in its functionality but as I have mentioned the problem and its cause, sometimes it does not delete the file.
If you are facing the issue wait for at least 10 to 15 mints because sometimes processing takes time. If the problem does not solve then apply one of the given methods to solve the problem. I hope that this article helped you and taught you a new thing about the WordPress issues.
Maintenance mode is a very helpful feature in the WordPress management system. It help’s you to better communicate with your users when you are constructing or repairing something on your website. It tells your users about your current situation.
You can inform your users that you are building something interesting for them or fixing the errors. You can also attach a chatbot on your Maintenance page to communicate with your users. That one will maintain your ratio of users.
There are too many plugins in the market, to create a maintenance page. But remember the instructions I mentioned above so you may not face the Stuck in WordPress Maintenance Mode problem.
