Guide to Troubleshoot WordPress Errors for the Beginners

Are you having trouble with your WordPress blog? Every WordPress blog experience error and can be fix easily but it can be frustrating for the beginners to fix on their own. In this guide you will learn how to troubleshoot WordPress errors step by step for the beginners.

Troubleshoot WordPress Errors Step by Step

Before you start to troubleshoot WordPress errors , It is highly recommend you to take complete backup of your website. You can see this guide on how to take backup of WordPress site.

Step-1: Deactivate all the plugins

If you have access to your WordPress dashboard then login to WordPress panel. Click on Installed plugins under Plugins. Check the box before the plugin then choose deactivate from the drop-down box and click on apply button.

If you are unable to access WordPress admin panel then you need FTP client such as FileZilla to connect to your web server.

Once connected, open the root directory e.g. public_html then wp-content where you will find plugins folder. Right click on plugins folder and click on rename.

Now, change the default folder name plugins to any name e.g. plugins.fix. It will deactivate all the installed plugins from your WordPress website. You can see details guide on how to deactivate WordPress plugins manually.

Step-2: Change Current Themes to Default

You may see error when your current theme have broken script. You can switch the current theme to WordPress default such as twenty fifty or twenty seventeen. If you have access to WordPress admin then Go to appearance and themes where you can install and activate default theme such as twenty fifty.

If you do not have access to the WordPress admin panel then you need to use FTP client such as FileZilla to connect your web server. Once connect open root directory e.g. public_html.

You will WordPress core file and folder. Double click on wp-content folder, you will find themes folder where all the installed themes are located. Open the themes folder and right click on current themes then click on download to keep backup.

Once downloaded, right click on the current themes then click on delete. If your blog have default theme installed then WordPress will automatically activate the default theme if it is already installed you need to install default theme manually in your WordPress blog.

Step-3: Update Permalinks

When you WordPress blog permalinks are not configured properly the you will see 404 not found error. You can update the permalinks from you WordPress dashboard. Login to the admin panel and Click on Permalinks under Settings and click on Save changes without changing any settings.

If you do not have access to your WordPress admin panel then you can see the step-1 in this guide on how to fix 500 internal server error on WordPress to create .htaccess file manually.

Step-4: Regenerate .htaccess File

Corrupted .htaccess file is one of the causes of 500 internal server error in WordPress blog. You can delete .htaccess file using FTP client FileZilla and regenerate it from the WordPress dashboard.

Download and install FileZilla in your computer and connect to your web server. Open root directory e.g. public_html where you will find .htaccess file. Right click on .htaccess file and click on delete.

If you cannot find .htaccess file in the root directory then you can see this guide on how to find .htaccess file in WordPress site.

Once deleted you need to regenerate .htaccess file from your WordPress dashboard.

Login to WordPress dashboard and click on Settings then Permalinks then click Save button without changing anything. This will create new .htaccess file in your blog.

Step-5: Check your Site Address (URL).

If the Site Address (URL) is not configured correctly then you may see error such as too many redirection issue and 404 not found error in your WordPress blog.

Check your website URL configuration clicking on Settings then General.

You will find WordPress Address (URL) and Site Address (URL). In box field your blog address should be same.

If you are unable to access WordPress admin panel then you need FTP client FileZilla to change the site address.

Open FileZilla and connect to the web server and double click on root directory e.g. public_html where you will find wp-config.php file. Right click on wp-config.php file and click on view/edit.

The file will open in file editor such as Notepad where you have to add two line of codes replacing http://yourblog.com to your own blog address.

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

After adding the code save the changes and close the file editor you will see the message to upload the edited files back to the server. Click on OK button to upload.

Step-6: Reinstall WordPress Core Files

You can replace WordPress core folders wp-admin and wp-include from the fresh copy of WordPress file.

You can Download WordPress file and save it on the desktop.

After download you will find WordPress file on the desktop. Right click on the file and click on extract here. It will create separate WordPress folder on the desktop.

Connect to your web server using, FTP client FileZilla and open root directory e.g. public_html where you will find wp-admin and wp-includes folders.

Now, from the PC section (left) of FileZilla expand Desktop and select WordPress folder. Select wp-admin and wp-includes pressing CTRL key then right click on the selected folders and click on Upload.

It will start uploading the fresh copy of WordPress file. You will see the message to overwrite the folders. Click on Always use this action then click ok button.

Step-7: Scan your Blog for Malware

You can use free Sucuri site check tool to find the malware. Enter your blog address in the box and click on scan website.

Sucuri site scan will take few minutes depending on the size of your blog. Once completed you will see the report where you may find the malware in your WordPress blog. If your blog is infected by the malware then you can use the free plugins and remove it.

Login to your WordPress dashboard then install wordfence security plugins and activate it.

Once activated you will find Wordfence option in your WordPress panel. Click on scan under Wordfence.

In wordfence dashboard click on start new scan button. It will start scanning your blog which will take few minutes to complete.

Once completed you will find report where malware infected files will be shown. If your blog contains malware then click on Repair all repairable files button at the top right.

We hope this guide on how to troubleshoot WordPress errors is helpful. If you find this guide helpful, please share and follow us on facebook and twitter.