FINAL FIX FOR ALL VERSIONS ABOVE 3.6.6

  • After several hours of trying to get the hide-backend part working, I could still not log in or out to the Dashboard. What a waste of time is this plugin. I have tried Victor’s solution (which I thought it would work), but no luck. I have asked for solutions and changes by creating topics. No reply from iThemes.

    It used to be a good plugin without any problems, but after iThemes took it over it is a complete disaster. If you want to have piece of mind, you should avoid this plugin and use Wordfence (what I’m doing now).

    But for everyone who would like to give it a last chance, here is a detailed instruction to fix all the problems you have with version 4+.

    INSTRUCTIONS
    1. Through FTP or cPanel file manager, go to /wp-content/plugins/
    2. Rename “better-wp-security” folder to something else like “better-wp-security2”
    3. Plugin is disabled and your admin is back working.
    4. Now, the fix. You need to access your database, ideally through phpMyAdmin interface in your control panel (cPanel).
    5. If you have many websites, locate your correct database for the website you’re working on. You can match database name to the name inside wp-config.php file.
    6. Click database name to select and load it.
    7. On the right side you will see a list of tables.
    NOTE: THIS IS A GOOD TIME TO BACKUP/EXPORT YOUR DATABASE. YOU’VE BEEN WARNED.
    8. Delete tables with “itsec” – see screenshot
    https://i.imgur.com/PHLITDW.png
    9. Go to your “options” table, click it.
    10. Sort by “option_name” by clicking the header, and making sure you got rows sorted A-Z.
    11. Find option_name rows starting with letter I.
    12. Look for “itsec” options. See screenshot.
    https://i.imgur.com/MTqTn4h.png
    13. Select all of them. If you’re at the end of the current page, make sure you delete options and check next page to make sure you get them all.
    14. Once you delete these options. Go back to the WP Dashboard.
    15. Click on Plugins in the menu on the left. Scroll down until you see iThemes Security and delete this plugin.
    16. Next, download this version of the plugin to your computer: Better WP Security 3.6.6
    17. Go to Plugins and click on the Add Plugin button at the top of the screen.
    18. Click on the link ‘Upload’ and install the freshly downloaded working version of this plugin.
    19. Activate the plugin and in the next screen, remove the big blue banner at the top because it is totally useless: you are never going back to that version again anyway!
    20. You’ll HAVE TO GO THROUGH SETTINGS AGAIN and set it up to protect your website. We deleted all settings and crap that made our website not working properly.
    21. Carry on WordPressing.
    22. For the PRO’s. Here is to get rid of the update message in the Dashboard.
    23. Under the Plugins tab in the Dashboard menu, click on Editor.
    24. Sellet Better WP Security plugin in the top right corner.
    25. Look for ‘Version 3.6.6’ and change it into ‘Version 53.6.6’.
    26. Click on ‘Update File’ and life is good again!

    ??

    https://www.ads-software.com/plugins/better-wp-security/

Viewing 12 replies - 1 through 12 (of 12 total)

  • Thanks for your input. Just saved me a lot of time.

    You have to keep in mind, using 3.6.6 version will eventually break WP since it is not updated and some compatibility issue will show up. Just FYI.

    WTF when are these guys going to get their act together.

    Am I the only one upset that Ithemes has taken a great working plugin and broke it.

    In addition they are hoping to SELL it !!!!

    Thread Starter Wendihihihi

    (@wendihihihi)

    I know what you mean Victor, but right now we are talking about a plugin that might not work in the future versus a plugin that doesn’t work at all.

    I’ll update the plugin and I might even have a serious look why it is that the back-end hiding doesn’t work with the current plugin since iThemes doesn’t have the time for it.

    Luckily, I was able to safely set it up on new websites. Upgrading has also been without issues since that first incident.

    I considered having one of my developers turn 3.6.6 into 1.0 version, and keep it updated. I gave iThemes last chance before doing it, no headaches yet.

    Crossing my fingers.

    Yea, I spoke too soon ??

    Thread Starter Wendihihihi

    (@wendihihihi)

    Which means? Version 1.0 is coming? You have already one customer!

    Thread Starter Wendihihihi

    (@wendihihihi)

    Btw, I did an install whereby I uninstalled the plugin and data from the database first before installing a fresh version.

    I could not only log in but I also got the message that the plugin couldn’t write to the htaccess. It’s getting funnier every day.

    I guess it’s their strategy to earn some extra money.

    Everything was working fine until last upgrade on one site, and wp-admin is 404ing. I have no patience nor do I want to waste time anymore on this, not until it becomes stable. After such major rewriting, it should’ve been in alpha and beta for a good portion of time before making it into public use. Probably at least a year. This seems to have happened within the last 4-5 months.

    I doubt it was iThemes intention to break things, they did/do want to make money with premium version and support – but I highly doubt it was their intention to break it to get premium support.

    Problem is, each WP is unique with its combination of plugins, themes and custom code. So little testing they did on their end did not suffice for what the reality is.

    I started cleaning up 3.6.6 to use it on our sites.

    You should try out All in One WP Security, it seems promising but their cookie based brute force always makes us clear our cache – too much hassle.

    Viktor,

    Are you using 3.6.6 for new installs or the Ithemes latest version.

    Thanks for all your other helpful posts.

    Andrew

    Hi WaldenPondDesign,
    Well, I’m still using ithemes. I just installed it on new site we launched yesterday, and it was fine. My previous comment was about our own new site that’s not live. After ithemes was working, I upgraded to latest version and admin began giving me 404.

    Something tells me there might be conflicts with other plugins. It works fine on a simple WP install with a few basic plugins, but on our site that has some complex setups it’s giving me issues.

    From what I was reading, new version manages redirects in a different way, so I’m guessing it’s conflicting with some other plugins. My 2 cents.

    I cleaned up 3.6.6 version, and will most likely use it on our own site since I have more freedom to break it. So far, however, a few dozen of client sites we manage have not had issues with latest upgrades. We test them when upgrading. Crossing my fingers again.

    Thread Starter Wendihihihi

    (@wendihihihi)

    Although it doesn’t seem important to iThemes and I have already reported it, some paths are also wrong.

    I get problems when I install WP in it’s own directory.

Viewing 12 replies - 1 through 12 (of 12 total)
  • The topic ‘FINAL FIX FOR ALL VERSIONS ABOVE 3.6.6’ is closed to new replies.