Permalinks explanation – Hard to get support

If you want real-time help, visit the IRC channel

https://codex.www.ads-software.com/IRC

I’ve never seen them grayed out…. will have to research.

Thank you for your reply sterndata!! There are many threads in this forum about permalinks being grayed out. Look at your own to see if they are grayed out. If you’ve had your site up and running for a while they probably are. I had a request to change the permalinks to reflect page link instead of the WordPress default which was what I chose during install and design of this site.

I know I can change them in wp-config but would like to know why and how they get grayed out.

Nope mine are not grayed out.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/1/view/lgsxor59ihyp4qr/Apps/Shutter/Selection_01_2016_05_19_11%3A45%3A30.png

Are you using multisite, perhaps?

Or have you entered URL info your wp-config.php file? I believe that will disable things under settings.

sterndate I don’t know what mulitsite is but I only have one site and one domain name for this site.
I haven’t configured any urls in wp-config. I know I can configure “WP_SITEURL” and the “WP_HOME” values in the wp-config but haven’t. I just checked. I can send you a copy but wouldn’t put it up here.

This is what my “Custom Structure” looks like in Permalinks:
https://www.mydomainname.com.php53-23.dfw1-2.websitetestlink.com if I add the %postname% to the end of that it looks like: https://www.mydomainname.com.php53-23.dfw1-2.websitetestlink.com\%postname%

I can’t change the “Custom Structure” at all. I’m trying not to change it in the wp-config because if someone else comes in after me then they won’t know what I did. That’s if I get hit by a bus or something tomorrow and someone had to come in and take my place. I’d like to know why it’s grayed out. Yours is also grayed out. If you click on any of your items in permalinks you can’t change them you can just add to the end of custom structure.

No mine are not grayed out. There are some parts that are set because they’re defined as the domain. If I want to change the parts in gray, that’s not really a permalink issue.

Is there anyway I can change mine “Custom Structure” to point to “www.mydomainname.com/%postname% and not https://www.mydomainname.com.php53-23.dfw1-2.websitetestlink.com\%postname%without having to do it in wp-config?
Thank you for your help!! ??

You need to change your domain, have it point to the right place, then update your site to use it.

https://codex.www.ads-software.com/Changing_The_Site_URL

sterndata –

What do you mean by change my domain? Change the permalink??
Thank you!!

It looks like your domain is something like https://www.mydomainname.com.php53-23.dfw1-2.websitetestlink.com

You want it to be https://example.com, correct?

sterndata –

I got it. I’ll try to do it later tonight and let you know how I made out. Unfortunately I was trying to avoid changing the wp-config so that if someone came in after me they wouldn’t know that it was changed. I’ll do it anyway until I find a different solution. Now, have you ever done this before? What happens to the code I have in all my links (broken code)?
Thanks!! ??

this has nothing to do with wp-config.php

read the codex article carefully.

Okay sterndata. I told you I’d come back and update so here’s what happened. I changed the url via the wp-config.php. per article https://codex.www.ads-software.com/Changing_The_Site_URL I ended up with no background, my theme was missing from behind. Then I changed it in functions.php just for the heck of it. I received error 400. So rather than restore my site from backup I went into the database and changed it back to just https://www.mydomainname.com in the wp_options table under the field option_name, I scrolled down and looked for siteurl and changed it back to https://www.mydomainname.com. Then I went into the same table and had to go to the next page with the arrow down at the bottom of my database page and looked for option_value and also changed that back to https://www.mydomainname.com. Then I tested my site to see if all was back to the way it should be and noticed that my url was now changed from https://www.mydomainname.com.php53-23.dfw1-2.websitetestlink.com\ to https://www.mydomainname.com/?p=123. So now I knew that something changed in the permalinks under Settings in my WP dashboard. I went into the Permalinks settings and just for the heck of it I tried to change the “Custom Structure”to https://www.mydomainname.com/%postname%. It was no longer grayed out and would accept the change. I have my site exactly as I intended to do in the first place without having to modify the wp-config.
All I needed to do was change it in the database. If the database already has the https://www.mydomainname.com take it out and reenter it so that it’ll accept that change then go back into Permalinks in you WP dashboard and change it there.
sterndata I have to thank you for pointing me in the right direction. I’m also not afraid to change anything in the database or WP application because I always have my “Backup” to restore from.
Thanks again!!