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Normally, you can log in to the WordPress backend via wp-admin or wp-login.php. However, both are not available in your case. Apparently you are using a plugin to hide the backend. Therefore, only you can know how this should be accessible. The URL you mentioned generates a 404 error, i.e. “Page not found”.

If you no longer know this, you would have to remove the plugin that changes the URL of the backend via FTP and, if necessary, remove any changes made by the plugin in the .htaccess file. Since we do not know which plugin you are using for this, we cannot give you any more precise tips.

Interesting, but I’m not seeing a 404 error with the URL I normally use and gave you. (I do get that error if I go to, say, https://www.haberarts.com/wp-admin.) And yes, with considerable assistance, I renamed the URL deliberately when I set up the WordPress installation. I don’t know how; perhaps the co-designer knew how to edit an .htaccess file. But no, I never installed a plug-in. And again, be aware that the URL I gave you has worked for years. I see no reason to reset it to the default. Something must have changed the login URL yesterday other than a plug in or me personally! In any case, obviously I can’t reach a plugin if I can’t log in.

Since renaming the wp-admin is a customisation, it’s impossible to tell you how it was done. Only you can determine this yourself by checking the above-mentioned files. If you can’t do that, contact your hosting support or look for help e.g. here: https://jobs.wordpress.net

Plugins can also be deactivated/removed without accessing wp-admin. It is sufficient to delete the directory via FTP, as already written above. You can find instructions on how to do this here: https://www.ads-software.com/support/article/faq-troubleshooting/#how-to-deactivate-all-plugins-when-not-able-to-access-the-administrative-menus – your hosting support can also help you here if necessary.

Thanks. But I think you’re pointing to the wrong problem, and it may help to straighten that out.

It’s good to know that it’s possible to remove a plugin without logging in, but there is no plugin here, so no folder to delete. And I’m sure you’re right that you can’t know how the login URL was changed in setting up the site.

Still, you’re starting from a wrong premise. You’re saying that the problem is that I’ve changed the URL from the default, so there’s no recourse but to restore the default. But that can’t be true. First, I’ve been logging in from the custom URL for years. Second, plenty of online advice urges changing the URL from the default for security reasons. It’s a feature, not a bug. In any case, if the problem is that I have a custom URL, why can’t I use it? The only conceivable answer is that something else has changed the URL without my doing so and without a custom plugin. We have to pin down what actually went wrong, no? My remembering or learning the past is irrelevant!

I know I’ve asked for help in that I have lost access to the login URL. Maybe the URL has changed. As I posted, from my bookmark to logging in I don’t get the generic 404 file not found message, but rather a page display in my WordPress style, with header and sidebar, but its body just ‘sorry, no posts matched your criteria.’ The rest of my site displays quite normally; I just can’t add to it! You weren’t comfortable with my question, so let me approach it another way, if I may.

I’ve read that one can get error messages of files not found because of a corrupt .htaccess file. I’ve read too that this can occur when a plugin updates, and in fact my problem began Thursday right after a plugin updated. (I forget which, but I don’t have many. Really just backup and anti-spam plugins.) Now, I don’t know if this is true, but I looked through my site for such a file. Turns out I have two.

I mentioned that my WordPress installation is not in my root folder (which holds new content in static html as well as old static html content that preceded my using WordPress). It’s in its own folder. While I can’t swear how this was implemented when I started with WordPress, as I had help then, I know that you can set the folders from Settings, General. No special plugin for that is required. In any case, the two .htaccess files are in both these folders, the root and the blog folder.

I’ve read that one can rename or delete the old file and let WordPress generate a new one, that takes logging in, going to Settings, Permalinks, and saving the settings. Of course I can’t log in. I’ve also ready that one can write over the file with a default. Anyhow, first, though, let me ask about my two files. Should I have both? Thank you.

.htaccess files can be located in any folder that exists. Whether you have to have them or not is decided individually – depending on which web server service you use (only Apache supports .htaccess files, others do not) and whether you want to use “nice URLs”. So without knowing the content of the two files, I can’t tell you anything about that. WordPress generates an .htaccess file in the main directory of the project. An example of its content can be found here: https://www.ads-software.com/support/article/htaccess/.

As already written above, my strong guess is that the manipulation of the wp-admin URL is done in one of them. This must have been done by some plugin you use, because WordPress does not do this by itself – it is not a feature included in WordPress. Hence my reference to a plugin that would have to be responsible for this. Your hint now that the problem has arisen since the installation of plugin updates also reinforces this reason.

Therefore, once again the advice: look for someone who can help you directly with your project. I have already posted a link for this: https://jobs.wordpress.net – your hosting support should also be able to help you with this.

Thanks. That makes sense. I’ll just have to keep working and seeking advice. If a generic file can restore login, perhaps from a simple [domain].wp-login, I guess I can always restore a custom “nice” login by downloading a new plugin. But first things first.

FWIW, I’ve been waiting since Thursday for a callback from my Web host. While it makes no sense to me, I’m told that person must charge for help and the ordinary support person couldn’t answer. He claimed that he couldn’t because my site has so much html, rather than WordPress. My problem is with WordPress setup, html is relatively easy, and surely they host plenty of html sites. They did mine before I added a home-page blog in WordPress. But never mind . . . .