Hi everyone, this is John-Paul from InMotion Hosting and today we're going to teach you
WordPress troubleshooting techniques. This should help you narrow down the cause of most WordPress
related issues. Keep in mind that all of the tips mentioned in this video are covered in our walk
through guides. You can find links to these guides in the description below and they'll also pop up
on the top right corner of this video. The first thing we're going to talk about is troubleshooting
password issues. Maybe you forgot or misplaced it. Your best bet is to reset the WordPress password
through email. You can use the lost your password link on the login page to do this.
If for some reason the login page is not loading or you don't have access to the login page
you have a couple of options. You can make the change directly in the database. For example,
you could use phpMyAdmin. You could also use FTP or File Manager and edit the functions.php file,
or use an emergency reset script. All of these options are covered in depth in our full article
which is linked below in the description. The next technique for troubleshooting WordPress issues
is enabling the WordPress debugging. A lot of times the error is being suppressed and enabling
debugging will cause your site to display the specific error. You could then use the error to
search for solutions. For example a blank page or white screen may be caused by a memory error.
Enabling debugging should result in the full memory error displaying on the page instead.
Another common cause of WordPress problems is due to third-party plugins.
Maybe they haven't been updated to work with the latest version of WordPress or another plugin is
interfering with how it works. I would first check that your plugins are updated then you can narrow
it down further by deactivating the plugins one by one and retesting until the issue is resolved.
Similar to plugins, third-party themes can often be the cause of WordPress issues.
Once again check that your theme is up to date. Since WordPress is updated
regularly your theme should also be updated regularly to ensure it remains compatible.
An easy way to rule the theme out is by switching to a default theme such as 2021
to see if the issue still occurs. If the problem is resolved then you know the theme was the cause.
Database errors can really vary but the most common are connection issues or corrupted
tables. Connection issues are usually resolved by checking the settings in the wp-config file.
If you're getting database corruption errors you can check and repair the tables in phpMyAdmin.
If you're having email issues, for example, you're not receiving emails from the forms or important
Admin emails aren't coming through. You can check your Administration email address in the general
settings of your WordPress Dashboard. Often issues can also be resolved by using an SMTP plugin.
This ensures that you're authenticating successfully with the SMTP server. If your problems
persist I recommend checking your server's mail log for records of the email transmissions.
If your WordPress site is experiencing 404 errors, redirect problems, or URL issues the first step
is often resetting permalinks. This rebuilds the site address rules in your .htaccess file.
The next step is to actually check the rules directly in the .htaccess file.
As a quick test, you can also rename the .htaccess file. Keep in mind that you typically don't want to
add rules directly to the .htaccess file since they can interfere with how WordPress works.
If you're getting memory or PHP errors it can be helpful to create a phpinfo
page. This will allow you to see all of your PHP settings.
Often you may just need to increase the value in your PHP settings. You can do this using
the MultiPHP INI Editor in cPanel or by directly editing the php.ini file using File Manager or FTP.
If you're getting errors about the version of PHP you're running
you have the ability to switch versions for your account.
But typically, you want to run the latest version that your WordPress site is compatible with.
Another major cause of problems is brute force attacks. This is when bots repeatedly try to
login to your Admin Dashboard by guessing the username and password. There are many security
plugins that can help reduce these attacks such as Jetpack, Loginizer, iTheme Security, and WordFence.
This has been John-Paul with InMotion Hosting and thanks for joining us for this video on WordPress
troubleshooting techniques. Feel free to like this video or comment below and let us know what
you think and check out our WordPress Education Channel for more articles and walk-through guides.
Check out our InMotion Hosting Support Center for help with your website.
We provide thousands of step-by-step guides, videos, and much more to lead you towards
making your online project a successful one. You can find us at www.inmotionhosting.com/support