Whenever you work with WordPress websites, you will likely encounter this type of error. I have encountered this error on several WordPress websites I have built or now maintain.
Here is how you can resolve this error on your WordPress website. This is the same approach I now use after several attempts to fix this type of error, and it works every time.
Based on my experiences, I have identified some of the reasons behind this type of error, and we can then take a step-by-step approach to addressing it.
Ok, below are 3 possible reasons why you can get this error:
WordPress Version Upgrade Compatibility:
WordPress's latest version may not be compatible with one or some of your plugins or the theme currently being used on the website. This usually occurs when your plugins or theme is using a deprecated API, function, or even approach that's no longer supported in the latest WordPress upgrade.Plugin version upgrade compatibility: this is usually when one or several of your plugins are updated but are no longer compatible with either your theme or other plugins or even your current WordPress version.
Theme version upgrade compatibility: you can get this error when your current theme version is upgraded, but now one of your plugins is no longer compatible with the latest theme version.
So the next step is to troubleshoot the website to know which of these 3 is actually the cause of the error, and that ultimately determines how we would solve it.
Step 1:
- Turn on debug mode:
Turn on debug mode from your cPanel from the Softaculous WordPress manager.
Or in the wp-config.php file, paste this code there. And remember to reset to false once the issue is fixed.
define( 'WP_DEBUG', true);
define( 'WP_DEBUG_DISPLAY', true );
The error can be identified by either visiting the website or reviewing the error log file. If you receive a helpful error message, it may provide instructions on how to resolve the issue; otherwise, please proceed to the next step.
Scenario 1:
Rename your plugin folder to old_plugins and visit the site admin dashboard.
Go to the /wp-content/plugins/ folder in your WordPress installation's root directory.
Note that if you can access the admin dashboard, it means that one of your plugins is causing the problem. We are now one step closer to resolving the issue.
Next step:
Rename the folder back to "Plugins" and disable all the plugins for the next.
Detecting the culprit plugin:
Enable each plugin one at a time to determine which one causes the initial error.
Fix (Solution to fixing the problem):
When you identify the specific plugin causing the problem, I recommend rolling back to an older version that is compatible with your site. This is a quick fix for live websites that need to be up and running as soon as possible, while you take your time fixing the plugin code based on the error message displayed on a test or local server.
Scenario 2:
If you renamed the plugin folder to old_plugin and you are still unable to access the admin panel. Then, from the cPanel WordPress manager, switch from your current theme to any other one to test.
However, if the admin panel or site loads after changing the theme, the issue is with the theme.
Follow the same fix approach used for scenario 1 for a quick fix or long-term fix.
Scenario 3:
If after changing the theme, you still can't access the site or admin panel, then roll back the WordPress version from cPanel back to an older version.
Another thing you can also do is to contact the authors of these plugins or themes to update their tools by providing the current version of the WordPress plugin or theme you use that's not compatible, which is helpful to easily simulate the error and figure out the fix.
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