It may be frightening to think that you cannot access your WordPress dashboard.
What is more, your site is online; yet, you type in your credentials and get redirected to the log-in page or simply nothing occurs.
The good news is that your website is not necessarily down and compromised simply because you do not have access to wp-admin anymore. Login errors in WordPress may simply be due to entering the wrong password or an error with the browser cookies, but they may also arise due to clashes between plugins, corrupt files, database errors, wrong URLs, security restrictions, and even hosting-related problems.
In this article, you will be taught how to fix the most common WordPress login problems and regain access to your account without the use of WordPress login
Table of Contents
WordPress Login Problem Causes
There are numerous reasons why you can’t login to WordPress wp-admin area.
Some of the common issues could be:
- Wrong credentials (username/password)
Faulty password recovery email - Expired/corrupted browser cookie cache
- Theme/plugin compatibility issue
- WordPress URLs set wrongly
- Corrupt .htaccess file
- Connection problem in the database
- PHP problem/limitation
- Security plug-in problem
- Server problem
- Malicious/Hacked WordPress files
The key is to determine what takes place when you attempt to log in. An incorrect password alert has to be managed differently from a 500 error and an endless loop.
Our guide on recovering a WordPress website when you cannot get into the admin area includes several recovery options through cPanel, FTP, and phpMyAdmin.
How to Solve WordPress Login Problems
1. Check Your Username and Password
Begin by ensuring that you are using the right WordPress username and password. Should you have any issues regarding the login password, kindly select the “Forgot password?” link from the login page and request a password reset.
- Log into the HarmonWeb Client Area.
- Click on your username or profile picture from the top right side.
- Click the option for change password or go to the profile settings.
- Enter your old password.
- Enter your new password and re-enter it to confirm.
- Save the changes.
In case the reset email does not reach you:
- Check the inbox for the email in your junk mail.
- It is important to know the right email ID that needs to be used.
- Check if emails from your website are being delivered.
2. Clear Cookies and Try Another Browser
WordPress uses cookies for your browser session.
To clear for HarmonWeb :
- Open your browser and visit the HarmonWeb website.
- Click on the lock or settings icon next to the website URL in the address bar.
- Select Site settings or Cookies and site data.
- Then click Delete or Clear data to delete only cookies of HarmonWeb.
Do the same on any other website. You can also clear cookies by pressing the key combination of Ctrl + Shift + Del on Windows, and Command + Shift + Delete on Mac.
But sometimes some problems may result from corrupted cookies. Do any of these simple tests:
- Delete cookies and cache from your browser.
- Launch the login form in a new/incognito browser tab.
- Use another browser.
- Try another computer or internet connection.
In case you are able to log in using another browser, there might not be any issue with your WordPress installation and your browser might be the culprit here.
3. Deactivating WordPress Plugins Without Access to wp-admin
An installed or newly updated plugin is one of the most common causes for a WordPress site to start malfunctioning.
To disable WordPress plugins by renaming them via the cPanel File Manager, you must rename the plugin folders as this will cause WordPress to automatically deactivate them since it cannot find the files:
- Log into cPanel Log into your Harmonweb Client Area.
- Select your hosting services, and then Login to cPanel.
- Click the Files tab within the cPanel, and then click on File Manager.
- Click on the root directory of your website. For a main domain, it’s normally public_html, while for an addon domain or a subdomain, it’s a directory with the name of the domain
- Go to the wp-content folder
- Click on the folder called plugins
To Deactivate all plugins at once, right-click on the Plugins Folder
- Rename it by adding _old or _disabled to the end of its name
To disable a particular plugin
- Open the plugin folder by double-clicking on it.
- Locate the folder of the particular plugin creating the problem.
- Select the folder by right-clicking on it and rename it by adding _old to it.
Note: As you have renamed the folder with the plugins to disable them, you need to reverse this action to enable them again. In case all the folders are renamed, you must revert their names back to “plugins,” and then your plugins will become disabled, but you can still log in and enable the plugins one at a time. If it’s one folder that you renamed, then you may follow the same process.
4. Check If the Theme You Are Using is Creating Problems
Other times, the issues might be caused by the theme itself too.
If disabling the plugins does not work for you, navigate to:
wp-content/themes/
via the File Manager in cPanel or via FTP.
Once you have found your active theme, rename its folder temporarily. This action will force WordPress to use any available default theme. Then, try accessing wp-admin. If this fix restores wp-admin functionality, then it is obvious that the issue must be because of the theme.
5. Review Your WordPress URL Setting
Incorrect values for siteurl and home may pose a problem for you while logging in to the site, particularly if your website address has recently changed to HTTPS.
Nonetheless, you are still able to view these values even when you are not able to log in to the admin area using phpMyAdmin. Check your WordPress database and find the wp_options table where you will see these options:
- siteurl
- home
These two must have the correct URL of your website.
Like for instance:
- https://example.com
If either option has the old URL, uses HTTP instead of HTTPS, or is having some other URL then WordPress redirects you to the wrong page.
6. Redirect and SSL Issues
If entering the login information keeps sending you back to the login page, there may be an issue with redirects or cookies and not with the wrong credentials.
This may occur due to:
- WordPress being set to use HTTPS, while the server isn’t doing so correctly.
- The security/redirect plugin having conflicting settings.
- Incorrect configurations of the HTTP and HTTPS versions of your domain name.
- Your site has recently changed hosting.
- Your site is being affected by reverse proxy/CDN interference with SSL.
Make sure to check your SSL settings and temporarily disable redirect plugins and SSL management plugins if you have access to the site files.
7. Finding Out About 500, 503 or Database Errors
Not always is the issue that arises related to WordPress. When you receive a 500 Internal Server Error when visiting the /wp-admin URL, there can be many reasons behind it. One such solution is provided by HarmonWeb which deals with this very error in WordPress.
In case the message “Error Establishing a Database Connection” is shown to you, it means that WordPress is not able to connect to the database. Make sure that the database credentials, database and hosting are operational.
In case you need help to solve the issue with WordPress database connection, there is a special article published by HarmonWeb for that purpose.
On the other hand, 503 Service Unavailable and 504 Gateway Timeout messages may suggest that there is an issue with the server, resource, plugin, firewall, or network but not with the WordPress login credentials
What to Do if You Think That Your Website Has Been Hacked
Don’t automatically think that forgetting your password is what caused the problem when your user name or password becomes unusable, an admin account disappears or strange users appear on your website.
Some indications of a hacked website include:
- Administrator passwords altered
- Strange admin accounts
- WordPress files altered
- Plugins with suspicious behavior
Gaining control, changing your password, removing the unauthorized user and scanning the site for malicious files are the next steps to take. If you’re not sure about what occurred, consult with the host service first and do not make any changes to the site until you know what is going on. Read more on how to recover your website here.
Contacting Your Hosting Provider for Assistance
It is time to get assistance from your hosting provider when:
- You cannot login to cPanel or access your hosting account.
- Your whole website is inaccessible.
- Database server seems unavailable.
- Your IP address is potentially blacklisted.
- It’s the PHP configuration that causes the issue.
- The server’s resources have run out.
- Either SSL/DNS configuration must be fixed.
- WordPress-based troubleshooting has not been successful.
A good hosting service can identify if the problem lies in WordPress or in the server side.
Conclusion
It does not have to be the end of your WordPress website just because you can no longer access wp-admin. There are many basic things to check first, starting from your password, cookies, and login URL. The important thing here is to change only one thing at a time and make backups of your WordPress database or files before making any changes.
Having Issues with wp-admin Due to a Hosting Issue?
If you have verified that the WordPress files and login details are working perfectly and yet you can’t access your dashboard, then our team at HarmonWeb can help solve hosting level issues including those related to the server.
If you have a WordPress website, try out HarmonWeb WordPress Hosting that is tailor-made for WordPress with features like staging, automatic updates, caching, SSL, and malware scanning.
