User profile edits result in error page

Try deactivating all plugins. If that resolves the issue, reactivate each one individually until you find the cause.

If that does not resolve the issue, try switching to the Twenty Fifteen theme to rule-out a theme-specific issue (theme functions can interfere like plugins).

I’ve been deactivating each plugin and trying, but there are no changes. I switched to a default theme and tried, still no difference. I also uploaded my theme to a test server and tried to recreate the same environment with the same plugins installed, but I don’t see the error there.

Try downloading WordPress again and delete then replace your copies of everything except the wp-config.php file and the /wp-content/ directory with fresh copies from the download. This will effectively replace all of your core files without damaging your content and settings. Some uploaders tend to be unreliable when overwriting files, so don’t forget to delete the original files before replacing them.

What’s strange is that user info appears to be saving – so if I change the user nickname and hit Update, it will direct me to the plaintext page showing the user info array, with the updated nickname displayed. I’ve uploaded fresh copies of the wp-admin and wp-includes folders, reinstalled WP 4.1, downgraded (with no luck there), re-upgraded, still nothing so far, same error every time I try to save a user profile. I’ve checked all file and folder permissions on my install, all folders are set to 755 and files are set to 644.

I replaced the root files except wp-config.php as well as the wp-admin and wp-includes folders, still no change.

And are you absolutely sure you tried with *all* plugins deactivated while using the 2015 theme?

Not to pry again, but I’d be rich if I had $5 every time it turned out to be the 1 “must use” plugin that wasn’t deactivated the first time. ??

it’s a production level e-commerce site so I can’t take it offline at the moment to completely go through each and every plugin. Some plugins are sensitive to API info and disabling/re-enabling them in the past has caused issues before. I will have to try some time tomorrow if I can find a window of time to take it down for a short while.

However, in my test WP setup, I’m not seeing this problem at all, with my custom theme activated and most of the same plugins installed. I can’t tell if it was a recently updated plugin or a corrupt file somewhere but re-uploading fresh copies of the core files doesn’t seem to work, nor does doing an update using WP update. I am positive at the very least the profile.php and user-edit.php files are from a fresh download, those seem to be the offending files. I don’t understand what is happening once I click Update on a user profile.

I enabled debugging and that wasn’t too helpful. Most of the error messages have to do with plugins not adhering to Strict Standards, but this is the only one that jumped out at me:

Notice: load_plugin_textdomain was called with an argument that is deprecated since version 2.7 with no alternative available. in /home/[my site]/public_html/wp-includes/functions.php on line 3497

I’ve re-uploaded a fresh copy functions.php but that didn’t help.

it’s a production level e-commerce site so I can’t take it offline at the moment to completely go through each and every plugin . . . in my test WP setup, I’m not seeing this problem at all, with my custom theme activated and most of the same plugins installed.

Ok, please let us know when you do try with all plugins deactivated. If you do see no errors with *all* plugins deactivated, reactivate each one individually until the problem re-appears.

This is how we’ll find out what the problem is.

The whole process should take 10 minutes at the most.

Enabled only Twenty Fifteen theme and disabled all plugins, tried updating a user account, same error.

ok, finally figured it out. The Constant Contact API plugin I’ve had installed was hooking into user profiles in an odd way. I’m going to remove it completely and find something new, this particular plugin by Katz has shown nothing but problems lately. Thanks for your help!

You’re welcome!