What is a Critical Error Warning in WordPress

Critical Error in WordPress is an error message that appears on your website when WordPress can’t load scripts that are important for the proper functionality of your website. There can be various causes for this error, such as a malfunctioning plugin, theme, code snippet, or scripts. These malfunctions result in either a dysfunctional file or a code that doesn’t work properly, both prompting a Critical Error message.

Now, let’s see how to access the WordPress admin panel with a critical error warning.

Read also:

• How to Fix “Patterns are Not Uploading” Error to WordPress Theme
• WordPress 404 Not Found
• How to Fix Error 503 Service Unavailable in WordPress

How to Access WordPress Admin Panel With a Critical Error Warning

First, you need to locate where the issue comes from and then fix it. In the following paragraphs, we share how to fix the problem, should it derive from the most common Fatal Error prompts – faulty plugins and themes.

Method 1: Check for Malfunctioning Plugins

Although numerous WordPress plugins work just fine, some can still cause technical issues, such as the Critical Error. To see whether an active plugin on your website is causing the trouble, continue reading. The process is simple and comprises only a few steps: deactivate all plugins, check whether the error message is still present, and if it is, find the plugin that causes the trouble. Here’s how to proceed:

Since Critical Error prevents you from accessing your WordPress dashboard, you should use the AwardSpace hosting panel instead. Once you log in, click on File Manager:

Then, from the list of directories, open one of the problematic WordPress websites:

After that, locate the wp-content/ folder and open it:

Once you are in, locate a folder called plugins/. Once you see it, right-click on it and select Rename:

Now choose a name for the folder, for example, Plugins_changed_name or anything else different from Plugins.

The idea behind the renaming is simple – WordPress automatically searches for a folder named exactly plugins to browse and incorporate your installed plugins, and when this folder is renamed to something different, the CMS simply can’t find what it searches for and decides there are no installed plugins, so every plugin within the renamed folder is deactivated.

Now, while all plugins are deactivated, try to open your website. If it loads without the Critical Error message, then the issue derives from one of the deactivated plugins. To locate which one is corrupted, you should download all of them on your device, and upload them again one by one and checking whether the error message appears after each upload. Once you see an issue right after an upload is completed, this is the malfunctioning plugin.

Here’s how to proceed:

Step 1: Download all Your Plugins to Your Device

The first thing to do is to download all your plugins to your device before deleting them from WordPress from the hosting panel. To download them, via the AwardSpace hosting panel, head to File Manager ->  Your Website’s directory -> wp-content/ -> the renamed Plugins folder. 

Once inside, select all plugins within the folder and download them via the Download button at the top menu:

Step 2: Delete All Plugins from WordPress

Now that your plugins are downloaded on your computer, it is time to delete them from WordPress. Don’t worry about losing any that are important for your website, as in a moment, we will be uploading them again.

While in the plugins directory, select all plugins and click the Delete button located at the top of the page:

Step 3: Rename The Plugins Directory Again

Now that you have your plugins safely downloaded and deleted from WordPress, it is time to revert to the original folder name, so WordPress can access it and engage with the plugins you are about to re-upload. For this, head to File Manager -> Your Website Directory -> wp-admin and right-click on the renamed plugins folder, select Rename, and type in the original folder name – plugins/

N.B! Keep in mind that WordPress expects the folder to be named exactly plugins (with lower case!), otherwise it will remain unrecognisable. 

Step 3: Re-Upload Plugins One By One

The next step in the process is to re-upload each of your plugins one by one and check whether the Critical Error message appears after each single upload. The logic behind such an approach is simple – once a faulty plugin is uploaded, it will prevent WordPress from functioning properly, and therefore, the error message will occur. Once you see this issue, you can then be sure that the last plugin you uploaded is the malfunctioning one. Here’s how to proceed:

Log in to the AwardSpace hosting panel and again head to File Manager -> Your Website’s Directory -> wp-admin -> plugins. Once there, click the Upload button at the top of the page and select one of the downloaded earlier plugins and upload it again to WordPress. Keep in mind that you should compress the plugin folder before uploading it. Also, make sure to upload a single plugin at a time:

Once the zipped plugin is uploaded to your server, unzip it by right-clicking on its folder and then selecting Extract Here:

Now, reload your website. If you don’t see the Critical Error message, then this plugin functions just fine. If this is the case, then repeat the process outlined in this step until you upload a plugin that prompts the Critical Error message. Once you locate it, you can delete it and install a plugin by another developer, or contact customer support for further help.

However, if shutting down your plugins folder doesn’t fix the issue, then the problem is rooted elsewhere – your plugins function just fine. Should this be the case, proceed with the next method.

Method 2: Check for Malfunctioning WordPress Themes

A theme you use for your WordPress website may prompt the Critical Error message. These are rare occasions, but the chances of stumbling upon a faulty WordPress theme are never zero. To check whether your installed WordPress theme is causing trouble, install a default WordPress theme, check whether it causes trouble, and if not, then the previously active theme is prompting the issue. Here’s how to proceed.

Step 1: Download All Installed Themes on Your Device

Similar to the plugins process, you should first download all installed WordPress themes on your device. To do so, via the AwardSpace hosting panel, head to File Manager:

Then, open the directory of your problematic WordPress website and head to the wp-content/ folder:

Then, open the themes/ folder:

Once you open the folder, download all your installed themes. To do so, select all of them and click on Download at the top of the page. This will download a ZIP containing all your themes on your device:

Step 2: Delete All Themes from WordPress

The next step in the process is to delete all themes you have stored on your server. Don’t worry, you will have them back once the issue is fixed. To delete your themes, while in the themes/ folder, select all of them and click on Delete at the top of the page:

Step 3: Upload a Default WordPress Theme

Now, it is time to test whether your active theme was causing the trouble. To do so, you need to upload a default WordPress theme and see if your website can work with it without displaying any error messages. However, before you upload a theme, you should first download it from the official WordPress site. Simply head to the official WordPress themes library and download any of the default themes, such as Twenty Twenty-Five, on your device.

Once you have downloaded the default theme, it is time to upload it to your server. For this, via the AwardSpace hosting panel, head to File Manager -> Your Website Domain -> wp-content-> themes/ 

While there, click on the Upload button:

Now, search for the default theme and upload the zip file to your server. Once it is uploaded, right-click on the ZIP file and select Extract Here:

Now that the theme is being extracted, open your website.

Should it load properly and you don’t see a sign from the Critical Error message, then the issue lies within your first active theme you downloaded on your device before deleting it from the server. You can either change it to another one or contact the developers for further assistance.

Should you still see the Critical Error message on your website, even with a default theme, then the problem is not coming from a malfunctioning theme, but is rooted elsewhere. Proceed with he next step.

Method 3: Reinstall WordPress Core Files

A corrupt WordPress core might prompt the Critical Error message. To check whether the problem derives from a malfunctioning core, you should reinstall WordPress; however, from the AwardSpace hosting panel.  The process is simple and requires only a few clicks here and there. Here’s how to proceed.

Step 1: Download a Fresh WordPress Copy

First, download the latest WordPress version. This is an important step, as you will work with the latest bug-free version of the CMS. After it is downloaded on your device, unzip the file.

Step 2: Navigate to the Root Folder of Your Website

The next thing to do is to open the currently functioning WordPress core files on your server. To do so, via the AwardSpace hosting panel, head to File Manager -> Your WordPress Website.

Now, download your plugins/  and themes/ folder, as shown above, so you retain all the files you are using.

After that, click the Upload button  at the top of the screen:

Then, select all the WordPress files you unzipped on your computer and upload them. You will be asked whether you would like to overwrite them. Click Yes and let the process complete:

Then, re-upload your plugins and themes as shown in Method 1, Step 3, and Method 2, Step 3 of this article.

After that, reload your website and check whether the issue is still persistent. If it is not, then some corrupt core files were causing the Critical Error message, and now that you work with a fresh copy of WordPress, the problem is fixed.

Should the error message still be present, then the issue lies elsewhere.

Method 4: Contact Tech Support Team

Should the suggested methods not fix the Critical Error problem, then you can reach out to our customer support team, which is 24/7 available. All our web hosting plans come with such feature, even our free hosting plan.

Conclusion – How to Access WordPress Admin Panel With a Critical Error Warning

Error messages are often annoying and can stunt your work on your WordPress website for hours. Luckily, there are methods that you can quickly use to get your website up and going in no time. For example, there are various approaches you can quickly apply to learn how to access the WordPress admin panel with a critical error warning. Simply follow our step-by-step guide and fix the problem in no time.

The post How to Access WordPress Admin Panel With a Critical Error Warning appeared first on AwardSpace.com.

Although such an error can stunt your work, you can still fix it quickly and get your WordPress website up and running in no time. In the following paragraphs, we share how to fix “Patterns are Not Uploading” error in WordPress.

What Causes Patterns are Not Uploading Error Message?

Various causes can prompt the Patterns are not uploading error message, and depending on many factors, the issue can be rooted in:

• WordPress themes that do not support block patterns. Should you be using a theme that doesn’t support the block patterns, you can likely stumble upon the error message at a given time when you work on your WordPress project.
• WordPress plugins that conflict with block patterns and/or active themes. Sometimes, active plugins can cause technical issues and therefore prompt the “Patterns are not Uploading” error message.
• Permissions and upload restrictions can be the root of the issue. Should various WordPress mechanisms that restrict file upload are applied, then, on some occasions, the error message can be prompted by these same restrictions.
• Improper code strings in the root WordPress files. If you have manually added code to your WordPress website that contains even a small syntax error, then this code can prompt an error message.
• Caching can also prompt various technical issues, so don’t underestimate this possibility.

How to Fix “Patterns are Not Uploading” Error to WordPress Theme

There are various approaches you can try to fix the “Patterns are not Uploading” error:

Clear Cache

Although cache is handy in many situations, it can cause issues when it is contained in large amounts. This is why it is a good idea to first clear your cache before jumping to technical and more complex fixing approaches.

First, clear your browser cache and reload your WordPress website. Should it load and function just fine without displaying any error messages, then you have just fixed the problem. However, if the “Patterns are Not Uploading” message is still present, then clear the WordPress cache as well and try reloading the website. If the error is still present on your website, then the issue lies elsewhere. Proceed with the next step in the troubleshooting process.

Check the Compatibility of Your Active WordPress Theme

There are some WordPress themes that, although being versatile and handy, are not compatible with the WordPress block editor and can cause issues such as the “Patterns are not Uploading” message across your web pages.

To see whether this is the issue, check the compatibility of your active WordPress theme and see whether it can support the block editor. Should it appear incompatible, disable it, add a theme that is compatible with the block editor, and reload your website. Should the issue be gone, then indeed the incompatible WordPress theme was the root of the issue. Should the problem remain, however, proceed with the next fix.

To reduce your chances of technical issues to a minimum when working with themes, always use child themes.

Check for Other Technical Issues with Your Active Theme

Although your active WordPress theme can be compatible with the block editor, it can still cause issues that prompt error messages such as “Patterns are Not Uploading”. For example, the theme files can be corrupted, incomplete, uploaded incorrectly to WordPress, or anything else. This is why, when troubleshooting the problem, deactivate your theme and temporarily activate a stock one, and check whether the issue has disappeared. If it has, then the root of the problem lies within the theme you were initially using. To fix the issue, try these approaches:

• Reinstall the theme. This means to first delete the theme and then add it again.
• If you are uploading the theme manually, make sure the ZIP file is not corrupted.
• If you have made manual edits to the theme, double-check for code errors and syntax errors.
• Reach out to the theme’s technical support team for further help.

Check for Problematic WordPress Plugins

Similar to themes, sometimes you can use some problematic WordPress plugins that prompt an error message. To check whether any of your plugins is indeed causing the “Patterns are not Uploading” message, deactivate all plugins and check whether the error is still present on your website. If it is not, then indeed a plugin is causing the issue. To find out which one exactly, follow this procedure:

1. While all plugins remain deactivated, activate a single one.
2. Reload your websiite.
3. If you don’t see the error message, deactivate the plugin and activate another one.
4. Reload your website.
5. Repeat these steps until you activate a plugin that prompts the error message.
6. You can try to update it, add a similar one, reach out to technical support for further help, or simply uninstall it.

Check for Unwanted File Permission Blocks

Should any specific file permission rules be set for your WordPress root folder, they can cause issues, as some important files can be blocked and thus prompting the “Patterns are not Uploading” error. To see whether this is the problem in your case, follow these steps:

• Via the AwardSpace hosting panel, head to your website’s root folder and more precisely, to wp-content/themes/your-active-theme/patterns.
• Set permissions to this folder to 755.
• Inside the folder, set all patterns to 655.
• Save and exit.
• Should this approach be too complex for you, you can always rely on our 24/7 customer support, available with each of our web hosting plans.

Now, reload your website. Should the issue be seen no more, then indeed the permission settings were causing the trouble. However, if it persists, head to the next fix approach.

Check for JSON Misconfiguration

If you feel confident about the technicality, you can delve deeper into the issue and try out this approach to fix the error message.

If you are using theme.json files for your WordPress theme, some incorrect settings with such items can prompt the error message. To check whether this is the problem:

1. Use a JSON validator to check for any kind of formatting issues.
2. Make sure other settings for customTemplates, templateParts, or block support are not blocking some pattern features.

Conclusion – How to Fix “Patterns are Not Uploading” Error to WordPress Theme

“Patterns are Not Uploading” can be annoying when it appears on your website, but keep in mind that you can quickly fix the issue with several handy approaches.

The post How to Fix “Patterns are Not Uploading” Error to WordPress Theme appeared first on AwardSpace.com.

What is the WordPress 404 Error?

The 404 error is one of the many HTTP status codes which you might run into on the internet. The error page would appear when you try to access a page and your browser can’t find it. The 404 error message could be different depending on the browser you are using. For example, Firefox would return a “404 Not Found” error while Chrome would return “404. That’s an error.”.

There are different things that could cause a 404 error in WordPress such as:

• Incorrectly entered URL
• Deleted post or page
• Caching problem
• DNS issue
• WordPress compatibility issue

How to Fix the 404 Error?

As long as the “404 Not Found” error is not caused by an incorrectly entered URL or cache, there are a few things that you can do to fix the error.

Reset WordPress Permalinks

WordPress permalinks are used to structure the URL of your website. WordPress provides you with several options from which you can choose from the WordPress admin panel:

You can reset the Permalinks via the WordPress dashboard or via FTP. If you have access to the WordPress dashboard simply navigate to the Settings > Permalinks page. From there change the Permalinks to Plain, which will be a temporary change and save the changes. Once you have done that you can go back and change the Permalinks to the option which you were using.

If you do not have access to the WordPress dashboard, start by connecting to your website directory via FTP or access the File Manager. Once you have accessed your website files you will have to find the .htaccess file and edit it. Very often the .htaccess file will look as shown on the screenshot below:

To fix the .htaccess file you need to add the following default code for the .htaccess:

<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
RewriteEngine On
RewriteRule .* – [E=HTTP_AUTHORIZATION:%{HTTP:Authorization}]
RewriteBase /
RewriteRule ^index\.php$ – [L]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule . /index.php [L]
</IfModule>

Once you have added the code make sure to save the changes.

You can now reload your page and check if your WordPress is returning the “404 Not Found” error. If you see the page successfully – congratulations, you have fixed the error all by yourself.

How to Check if the “404 Not Found” Error is Caused by a Plugin or Theme

Sometimes the plugins and themes which you use might also affect the structure of your WordPress URL. If the above methods do not resolve the 404 error, disabling your plugins and themes is the next step you can take.

There are two ways to disable your plugins depending on whether you can access your WordPress dashboard or not. We have covered this process in our article “How to uninstall a plugin in WordPress“.

The purpose of this process is to find which plugin is causing the error by disabling them one by one. You can also revert the process and disable all plugins and enable them one by one, in case multiple plugins are causing the error. Once you have identified the plugin causing the error there are a couple of this you can do:

• You can contact the developers of the plugin so they can assist you with resolving the issue
• You can remove the plugin and look for an alternative one

If you have gone through all plugins and none of them is causing the error, you will also have to check your current theme. Unlike the plugins, this process is done much faster since you have to check only one theme. All you need to do is change your WordPress theme to a different one. You can refer to our article “How to Change a Theme in WordPress” for more information. Now check if the 404 error still persists. If the error is fixed you will once again have to choose between contacting the developers of the theme for fixing the issue or replacing the theme.

The post WordPress 404 Not Found appeared first on AwardSpace.com.

Suddenly, one day, you decide to check your website, and what you see is not relaxing. Not relaxing at all. Your website has vanished. What you see in the browser, instead of your website is an Error message.

More specifically, what you read is:

Service Unavailable

HTTP Error 503. The service is unavailable.

And it looks something like this:

Now what?

What is Error 503 (Service Unavailable)

The Error 503 service unavailable message is an HTTP status code that the webserver gets back to the browser. You might see such an error in various scenarios.  Such could be a server overload of exhausted resources.

NB! In case you receive this message, and you are a customer of AwardSpace’s web hosting services, don’t hesitate to contact our support team.

Related: how to contact the support team of AwardSpace

Bear in mind that, although in this tutorial we’ll provide you with tips on how you might be able to resolve the issue, your website (or the server on which it is located) could be a target of a DDoS attack.

Such attacks are not rare at all.

But with WordPress, the chances are that a specific plugin is taking up a lot of the resources.

What Causes the Service Unavailable Error 503

As we’ve mentioned, Error 503 occurs when the server is overloaded. Thus, the means by which this might happen are more than a handful.

Even so, most often than not,  you can track the cause of the overload in one of the following:

PHP Scripts

As WordPress’s main programming language is PHP, you can guess that the plugins and the themes are written in PHP as well. One plugin can take so many resources that the site gets down.

Outer PHP Script Connections

Having functionalities on your website, like, say, a weather forecast is great. Yet, such features are rarely available without an outer source that presents the data.

In case the server of the data source is down, it is possible for the script to try to connect continually. Unsuccessfully.

Such an endless circle of trial and error might take up a high percentage of your server’s resources. And the latter could cause Error 503’s occurrence.

Aggressive Indexing/Crawling from Bots

Sometimes, a website might fall prey to all the bots that are crawling the web. Some of them are “good”. Meaning, they don’t harm your website, nor are they aggressive. One such “good” bot is Google’s web crawler that makes your website foundable on the web.

Related: WordPress SEO

On the other hand, there are bots that are scraping the web for various reasons. They don’t obey any specific rules; neither are they careful with your online property. Such bots might cause the 503 Error. As they might take a lot of server resources, which are needed for your website to work properly.

In case you found out that your website is being aggressively crawled, we suggest that you block the bots temporarily by using your .htaccess file.

Website Growing

When your website grows, the visitors are becoming more and more, hence the resources that your website needs increase as well. When the website outgrows the server resources, you might need an upgrade.

You can use the free WordPress hosting service to a certain point of website growth.

Afterward, it’s probably best to move to our cheap WordPress hosting, thus evading downtimes due to lack of resources.

DDoS Attack

A DDoS attack is a type of cyber-attack in which the aggressor tries to make a specific machine or network unavailable. Generally, this happens by flooding the target with a superfluous number of requests. Thus, overloading the system and preventing legitimate requests from being fulfilled.

In case of a successful DDoS attack, your website files won’t be lost, yet the website will be temporarily unavailable. Thus, Error 503 (Service Unavailable) will disappear once the attack has been blocked.

NB! Once again, if you experience Error 503, please contact AwardSpace’s support team.

How to Resolve Error 503 (Service Unavailable) in WordPress

As we’ve mentioned above, the cause of Error 503 might be the inadequate behavior of a plugin or a theme.

Before you dive into conclusions, you might check whether you have PHP Scripts that draw data from an outer source (think currency exchange rate, weather forecast, RSS emissions). If so, stop them.

In WordPress, these scripts are probably plugins.

To stop your plugins from working, now that you don’t have access to WordPress’s Dashboard, you need to log in to your AwardSpace account.

Once there, go to the file manager.

Locate the folder of the website that responds with the 503 Error, and enter it.

Then go to the folder wp-content.

Locate the folder plugins.

Now, you can either stop all the plugins from running, all together or, if you have suspicions of the one that might cause the problem, stop it specifically.

To stop all the plugins from running, you need to rename the folder “plugins” to something else. Say, “plugins-bad”.

Now that you’ve done this create a new empty folder, and name it plugins (all small letters).

Once, you’ve done that, you can check whether your website runs properly. Do so in an incognito window, as the error in question might be cached.

Related: WordPress Cache

NB! If you are suspicious of a specific plugin and want to check whether it is the reason for the issue, you don’t have to create an empty folder, once you’ve renamed the one where the plugin is located.

If you’ve renamed your plugins’ folder, and the issue is still at place, try doing the same with the themes folder(or rename only the folder of the active theme).

If you keep getting the same error, contact the Support team, and explain to them what you’ve tried, so they keep going from there.

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