Unable to login or can’t login to your wordpress dashboard, because you changed URL settings, and your blog home page is broken. Usually it will have white blackground without style. This step by step tips is going to fix this dashboard error problem by resetting your wordpress URL in database.
This is common wordpress blog problem if you just changed in dashboard “Settings” then “General” URL settings. What can happen is your blog has white page without css style. And the worst, you can not login to your dashboard with the warning error messages.
I strongly recommend that you do quick database backup before following this Tutorial.
This post is going to fix login problems to your wordpress dashboard because URL changes, the common error message would be;
1. "Warning: is_writeable() [function.is-writable].."
2. "Warning: Cannot modify header information-.."
Here are the fix steps if you have this dashboard error problem:
1. Login to your cPanel, open phpMyAdmin. Choose the database you used to install wordpress.
2. If you are not sure which database you use (in case you have many databases) you may want to go to “File Manager” and open “wp-config.php” file, and see this line:
define ('DB_NAME', 'kimi_wp3db');
Obviously your database name is different than kimi_wp3db.
3. We are back to phpMyAdmin and select the database. Click the database and look for wp_options. You might have different table prefix but in this demo, it is in wpsammy_options.
4. After you click that table, navigate to the first line, “siteurl”. Click the pencil icon to edit.
5. Switch the URL to original URL. In this tutorial, i added “blog” in dashboard URL settings, so i delete “blog” folder name. It goes otherwise if you have original in yourdomain.com/wordpress, for example, then you must add /wordpress in the end.
Click “Go”.
6. Next step is to click the arrow button. (see image).
8. Now, you will look for the 7th line, where it says “home”. Same as the previous method, click “pencil” icon to edit.
9. Do the same with step 6. Don’t forget to click “Go”.
10. If you done all the steps correctly, you should be able to fix your broken dashboard, by typing yourdomain.com/wp-admin in the browser.
Video Tutorial:
Hey Kimi,
Things like this scare me and show me how little I know about blogs!
Thanks for sharing it, even though I have not had this problem I am sure many blog owners have.
Sally 🙂
@Sally, Yes, lots of people have this problem, even i am scared too lol. But if we always religiously do backup, it’s already saved 😀
Thanks for coming by Sally.
Thanks for this, I was starting to have a major stress out! All fixed now thanks to your clear instructions.
@Merrin, I am glad you got it fixed!
You know, i am so happy and get encouraged whenever people comment and tell me if it works out for them.
Thanks for commenting.
I didn’t fix my main problem though – I am trying to remove ‘/wordpress’ from my site URL. It is driving me crazy. I have tried following the codex instructions but I just get lost. And cannot find any kind of video tutorial on the subject. My WP account is hosted with GoDaddy, and I have no idea what a FTP program is or why I would need one.
Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Thanks
@Merrin, I have made a video tutorial how to move wordpress to the root: https://www.wpvidz.com/move-wordpress-to-the-root/
I recommend you watch the video till the end, if the result is what you want to achieve for your blog.
If you then want to follow the tutorial, don’t forget to back up your database, this is how: https://www.wpvidz.com/backup-wordpress-database/
I hope this will help.
Kimi, This was a lifesaver!!! Thanks so much! I will definitely recommend this blog!
@oren, So glad it was a help! You’re welcome.
That is awesome and nice of you to recommend this blog Oren, thank you for this.
Hi VEry nice posts i’sure i’sts nice..
@Helleasip, Thanks, hope it also helps 😉
This works WAAAY faster:
1. Locate your “functions.php” (in your theme folder)
2. Directly under “<?php" in the first line, paste this:
update_option('siteurl','http://yoursitename.com');
update_option('home','http://yoursitename.com');
Save it, log in to your admin. Your site now works!
3. Back in your functions.php, delete this code once it is fixed. Your site should still work fine.
You're welcome 🙂
Hello Miguel,
I have never tried that, but maybe that works too. In this blog, i only give my readers tips that i have ever tried myself.
Thanks for the great input and nice words.
Anytime, Kimi. I like your blog. I actually found it for this same problem. I tried your method and it worked great, but I had a few co-workers help me find this 3-step technique and found it works as well. Keep up the great work!
thak you so much
great site go on … !
You’re most welcome! Thanks for the nice words.
Hey Kimi..
I never usually comment on any site…
..But ive never been so stressed about losing something as important as my website.
your instructions were clear and concise.
you helped me immensely.
i only hope those who run into this situation find this tutorial asap!!
i wish you all the best karma.. 🙂
anwar
Hey Anwar,
I am glad you got it fixed, and i hope the same too 🙂
Thanks so much for the encouraging comments and your nice words,
Best,
Kimi.
hello there
i can’t express how thankful i am to you
i just messed with the site url of my site. and i got really anxious about it then i hurriedly googled about that and found your article and quickly recovered it. It’s a new site that my brother gave to me.
Thank you very much once again.
Hey Sajan,
Glad it was fixed! I know how you feel.
Good luck for your new blog, and thanks for your nice words =D
Hi – Chris Garrett recommended this link to me and it definitely works and saved my sanity after hours of total defeat!
Thanks so much!!! I’ll definitely be reading your blog to avoid my many pitfalls in blogging trail and error!
Kimi,
Thank you for this post!
You just saved me few hours of trying to fix my stupid URL change.
Thank you again!
Harry,
I am glad it helped.
Thanks for the comment!
True lifesaver. Thank you!
Most welcome!
YOU SAVED MY WEBSITE. thank you for the clear and concise instructions!
Most welcome! Thanks
Thank you so much for this! Great clear instructions. Keep up the good work!
You are kinda my favorite person in the world right now. By far most helpful blog post I have ever read, this saved my blog without a doubt. Youre a total stud!!!
Oh and 1 question: My blog and dashboard went back to normal, but when I click ones of the months in my archives or one of my categories, the links are still broken. Any ideas of why that still is?
thanks this was really helpful and worked superbly
hey..you’re the boss!!! thanks. I thought I had to reinstall and rebuild the site all over again…you saved precious time for me. I really appreciate your helpful tutorial!! Thanks again.
thanks very much! You saved me!
Thanks a lot!
I thought my website would be gone forever.
That solution is totally brilliant and fast to do!
Thank you SO MUCH ! A clear, well explained tutorial to recover access to database and blog…
You saved me as well !
THANK YOU !
Thanks man this saved my arrss!
Well, this website is great. Thank-you for taking the time to provide both written and video instructions (I liked the video as it was very clear). I chose a wordpress site as I do not want to know much about websites early on and so I like the way you taught the user to repair the problem with basic knowledge.
I will take the time to watch your other videos and as I am sure that I will save some time doing so. Once again, thanks for taking the time to broadcast this information.
This Post is absolutely wonderful. I really appreciate it.
Thanks for this fix, I thought I had lost access to my site for ever and that I would have to rebuild my site all over again.
Thank you again.
Your guide was easy and very helpful
🙂
Thanks so much!! Just had my issue fixed with your instructions.
HELP, i am desperate!! I have tried both of the things listed here, the post and the suggestion in the comments. It is still rather confusing for me, and it is not working. I think i may not be understanding something clearly. I am trying my hardest to not have to reinstall wordpress and lose all my content! Please help!!!!
Where is your site link? without telling the link, it is hard to help unfortunately.
Hi, this tutorial has helped me somewhat but I still can’t access my dashboard. I still get the error404. However the site itself has gone back to normal.
any suggestions.
Cheers
Hi Thom,
I have checked your URL; I noticed you installed wordpress inside “wordpress” directory, therefore, your admin is in this address:
stonewoodworks.co.uk/wordpress/wp-admin
Kimi.
Many thanks for making this video. It was the only way I could get my blog back online after breaking the url by changing my blog.
Thank you for making this video. It was very helpful in getting my blog back together after breaking the url when I renamed it. Btw, this is the second time I had write this message because I put only my first name in the first time. It would be good to tell users that both a first and last name are required.
Hi
I have followed all your steps but still have below error message:
Parse error: syntax error, unexpected T_STRING in /home/mysite/public_html/blog/wp-config.php on line 1
Would you have any idea, it is driving me mad!!
Thank you so much
Followed these instructions and it more or less saved my life (a little over the top maybe). I had been working on a site for a client for some months when all of a sudden – just as we were about to have a sign off / go live meeting – the site went nuts.
Tried everything to get it back to a functioning state with no joy. Then I googled and found your solution to what I now know is a ‘common’ problem.
Thanks so much for this post and tut. For ever in your debt.
Stephen