Can’t Login to WordPress Admin After Changing Servernames

Hi @macmanx I was able to do what you suggested. I used filezilla, I delete and then replaced my copies of everything on the server?except?the wp-config.php file and the /wp-content/ directory with fresh copies from the download. But the problem is still there.

What do you mean with “replace with fresh copies”? You mean I have to download everything and delete everything – except?the wp-config.php file and the /wp-content/ directory. Then after I deleted the files I have to re-upload all those same files I downloaded two second before? Or do I have to upload only the .txt backup file or the .sql file from the database?

Please, truly, follow the steps at https://www.ads-software.com/support/topic/cant-login-to-wordpress-admin-after-changing-servernames/#post-16913815 I worry you’re trying to improvise or overthink this too much, and this not a process to improvise.

Here are the steps numbered out.

1. Download WordPress: https://www.ads-software.com/download/
2. Access your server via?SFTP or FTP, or a file manager in your hosting account’s control panel (consult your hosting provider’s documentation for specifics on these).
3. Delete every file in the WordPress directory on your server except?the wp-config.php file and the entire /wp-content/ directory.
4. Upload every file from that fresh WordPress download in step 1 to the WordPress directory on your server except?the wp-config.php file and the entire /wp-content/ directory.
5. If it asks if you want to replace anything, the answer is no, but revisit steps 3 and 4 because either you missed deleting a file in step 3 or you’re uploading something you weren’t supposed to in step 4.

Hi @macmanx , I appreciate your help. But yes, I did as you said. I downloaded WordPress, I did access through filezilla to the webspace. In deleted in the WordPress directory of my server all files except wp-config.php file and the entire /wp-content/ directory. After that I uploaded the fresh WordPress to the WordPress directory on my server?except?the wp-config.php file and the entire /wp-content/ directory, but the problem is still there.

I don’t know if this is relevant: in my server there are two wp-config files. One is called wp-config and the other is called wp-config-sample. In the fresh WordPress folder, there is only wp-config-sample. I didn’t upload the fresh wp-config-sample. Maybe is this my mistake? Should I delete in my server my wp-config-sample file and upload the fresh wp-config-sample file?

Hi @macmanx , I was able to log in the WordPress Admin after I renamed in FileZilla the directory “_plugins_old” to “plugins”. I was so happy BUT since I re-activated in the WordPress Admin the plugin by Automattic “WordPress.com Editing Toolkit” I cannot log again in the WordPress Admin. In FileZilla in the directory of the plugins, I cannot find the directoy of that plugin…

Another thing I noticed is that WordPress thinks that my theme name is “_Astra” and not “Astra”… In filezilla the directory of the theme is “_Astra”… I want that WordPress uses “Astra” and not “_Astra”. You know what I mean? But maybe first we need to solve the problem above.

Oh, is your site hosted on WordPress.com? If so, you should really contact them about this: https://wordpress.com/help

If not, you don’t need that WordPress.com Editing Toolkit plugin.

@macmanx my site is on wp.org. I just saw that plugin in my plugin list and at the moment I activated it I cannot log again to WordPress Admin. I cannot find that plugin in filezilla under “plugins”… So what can I do in order to delete this plugin from my site?

@macmanx and now all the pages of my site are offline except the home page ….! If I open a page on my site, it says: The requested URL was not found on this server.

Simply activating, deactivating, or deleting a plugin wouldn’t do that.

And, I can see your site just fine. Perhaps your hosting provider had a momentary issue.

Try logging in again and deleting the plugin from the Plugins section of your site’s Dashboard. Make sure you’re doing that through https://giuseppegovinda.com/wp-admin/ and not through WordPress.com.

@macmanx but I cannot log to WordPress Admin. It says: A critical error has occurred on your website. Check the site administrator’s mailbox for instructions.

If you received that email, click the link in it for a fast and easy fix.

If you did not, try manually resetting your plugins (no Dashboard access required). If that resolves the issue, reactivate each one individually until you find the cause.

If that does not resolve the issue, access your server via SFTP or FTP, or a file manager in your hosting account’s control panel (consult your hosting provider’s documentation for specifics on these), navigate to /wp-content/themes/ and rename the directory of your currently active theme. Hopefully, this will force the default theme to activate and rule out a theme-specific issue (theme functions can interfere like plugins).

And, to get the email next time, it sounds like your hosting provider has disabled PHP’s mail() function, which WordPress uses to send you email notifications and is also used by contact form plugins and more.

This is a common safeguard employed by hosting providers when they suspect that another customer on the same server is sending spam emails directly from the server.

Another alternative is that PHP’s mail() function is still active, but spammer activity from the server has already caused any email sent from it to be blocklisted. This would result in the emails being sent but never received by any email address with basic anti-spam capabilities.

You can check this by leaving a comment on your site and checking if you receive an email. Another alternative would be to use the Health Check plugin and send yourself a test email from the plugin’s Tools tab to see if it works.

If you didn’t receive a test email, you could try using an SMTP plugin to configure your WordPress site to use your email’s outgoing mail server instead of PHP’s mail() function.

@macmanx all the plugins are deactivated and I changed the directory of the theme but I am back with the same problem from the beginning.

and no, my website is not fine: only the homepage is online. The other sites are not online.

• This reply was modified 1 year, 3 months ago by govisola.

Who is your hosting provider, and what version of PHP are you running?

When you try to log in, are you still seeing the same critical error even with all plugins deactivated and the theme renamed?

@macmanx is ionos and I am running php version 8.0

If I deactivate my theme it doesn’t use the default theme but the website goes offline and I see the message “The theme directory “_astra” does not exist.”

all plugins are deactivated.

• This reply was modified 1 year, 3 months ago by govisola.

Ok, try manually installing Twenty Twenty-Three: https://www.ads-software.com/themes/twentytwentythree/

Download that, expand it, access your server via SFTP or FTP, or a file manager in your hosting account’s control panel (consult your hosting provider’s documentation for specifics on these), and upload the /twentytwentythree/ folder to /wp-content/themes/

Then, rename the directory of your currently active theme, that will force the site to use the Twenty Twenty-Three theme.

@macmanx I just did it but I still have the same error and the same message