How to Access WordPress Admin With a Fatal Error Warning

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You’re not alone if you can’t access WordPress admin with a fatal error warning. Website fatal error that locks you out of your WordPress admin login can be a daunting experience. 

However, a systematic approach can often resolve the issue and regain access to your site’s administrative dashboard.

A fatal error typically signifies a critical problem within your WordPress installation, often caused by plugins, themes, or underlying code conflicts. Understanding the potential causes is essential for effective troubleshooting.

In today’s WordPress error tutorial, we’ll explore common solutions to rectify this issue and restore access to your WordPress dashboard. From identifying potential culprits like conflicting plugins to restoring your site from backups, we’ll cover the essential steps to fix WordPress admin with a fatal error warning.

Let’s dive in.

6 Troubleshooting Tips to Recover WordPress Admin Access

There are several WordPress troubleshooting tips or steps you can take to resolve the issue and regain access to your site admin.

In this section, we will start with the easiest solution and up to the most challenging task. 

1. WordPress Recovery Mode

The first step you should consider is the automated WordPress Recovery Mode email link. 

WordPress now has built-in features that automatically detect plugin or theme conflicts that result in critical errors on your website. This feature automatically sends an error log and recovery mode link to the site admin email. 

The email subject line is usually “Your Site is Experiencing Technical Issue.” It includes the main culprit, error details, and the recovery link, which expires 24 hours after being sent. 

Clicking on the WordPress error Recovery Mode link in the email logs you back into your WordPress admin, allowing you to diagnose and fix the issues safely. 

Here is how one of those emails reads and looks.

So, click the recovery mode link to log back to your site. Next, based on the information in the email, you should deactivate the identified plugin or theme that causes the problem. 

This step should resolve the critical error on your WordPress site in most cases. However, if it does not, try the other steps on this list. 

2. Deactivate All Plugins

If you didn’t receive the WordPress Recovery Mode email, you can try deactivating all WordPress themes or plugins to discover the main culprit. You’ll need access to your WordPress database via an FTP program. 

The most popular open-source FTP (File Transfer Protocol) software is Filezilla. You can download and install the free version, which is sufficient for our task.

Sometimes, a simple fix like this is what you need to recover an inaccessible WordPress admin with a fatal error notice.

To isolate the issue, follow these steps.

• Access Your Files – Use FTP or your hosting control panel’s file manager to navigate to the wp-content/plugins directory. If you’re on a hosting plan using cPanel, you can access your website files through the file manager. 

• Rename Plugin Folder – Next, locate the plugin folder and rename the entire folder to something like plugins_old. This action effectively deactivates all plugins on your site.

• Access Admin—After completing the above step, Try accessing your WordPress admin again. If one of the plugins is the culprit, you should be able to access your WordPress dashboard. 

Now that you’re in the WordPress admin area navigate your site to check if the issue has been resolved while plugins have been deactivated. If it has, activate the plugins one by one. 

Test your site after activating a plugin to see if it reproduces the issue. If the issue resurfaces after a plugin has been activated, you have already found the cause of the problem.

You can delete the plugin if it’s not needed for your site to function, or you can look for an alternative solution. Your choice depends on your specific situation.

3. Switch to a Default WordPress Theme

A conflicting theme can cause the WordPress admin to receive a fatal error notice and prevent access to the admin section. 

If you recently installed and activated a theme before the incident, consider switching to the default WordPress theme. Doing this might help you identify the cause of the problem.

Since you’re logged out of WordPress admin, you must access your WordPress site using a File Transfer program. I already discussed FileZilla above. 

Here is how to access your active themes and activate the default theme. 

• Navigate to Themes Folder – Use FTP or your hosting control panel to access the wp-content/themes directory. 
• Rename Active Theme – Next, rename your active theme folder to theme_old. This will deactivate the theme from your site’s live view. 
• Activate Default Theme—You don’t need to activate the WordPress default theme; WordPress will automatically switch to a default theme.
• Access Admin—Once active, try accessing your WordPress admin again. If you can log into the admin dashboard this time, the theme is the root cause of the problem. 

However, in some cases, the theme might not be the cause. The issue might be a temporary glitch in the system, but it has been resolved automatically. So, you can try activating the current theme again to see if the problem reproduces. 

If you do this and the problem occurs again, you must choose another theme or seek assistance from the theme’s developer.

4. Check for PHP Errors

PHP errors are a common culprit behind WordPress critical errors. You can identify and rectify these issues by enabling debugging and examining error logs.

Understanding PHP Errors

PHP errors occur when syntax mistakes, resource limitations, or conflicts occur within your WordPress code. These errors can prevent the website from loading correctly, resulting in a critical error message.

Enabling Debug Mode

You’ll need to enable debug mode in your wp-config.php file to reveal PHP errors. Add the following PHP code to the end of the line:

PHP
define('WP_DEBUG', true);
define('WP_DEBUG_DISPLAY', true);
define('WP_DEBUG_LOG', true);

Note: These settings should only be used for troubleshooting and should be disabled once the issue is resolved.

Checking Error Logs

With debug mode enabled, PHP errors will be displayed on your website and logged to a file named debug.log in your WordPress root directory. This log file contains detailed information about the errors, including error messages, line numbers, and file locations.

Resolving PHP Errors

Once you’ve identified the PHP errors, you can start troubleshooting. Common issues include syntax errors, resource limitations, and conflicts with plugins or themes. You may need to consult a developer or refer to online resources for specific error solutions.

If you’re unfamiliar with debugging or troubleshooting a website file, don’t attempt to do this alone. You may unknowingly cause more havoc to your site than the initial fatal WordPress admin error warning. 

However, by carefully examining PHP error logs and making necessary corrections, you can effectively address the root cause of the critical error and restore your website’s functionality.

Remember: Always back up your website before changing the wp-config.php file.

5. Restore from Current Backup

In a critical situation, such as WordPress white screen of death, where you’ve tried all possible solutions and nothing seems to recover the site, restoring your site to an earlier time is the only practical solution left.

Most web hosts provide accessible automatic backup in case of WordPress emergency recovery situations like this. This is why you must host your website with a reputable hosting company offering daily automatic backup and advanced web security features.  

You never know when the unexpected might happen, and access to the most current website database backup will be required. This allows you to roll back to the last known configuration of your site’s files.

Log into your hosting provider and access the backup feature.

For example, Cloudways offers daily automatic backups for up to 14 days. This means you will always have the most recent version of your site available as a backup for two weeks in case of unexpected issues. 

In addition to the daily backup, Cloudways also offers schedule and on-demand server-level backup. This feature backs up all applications installed on a Cloudways server. So, even if you have multiple applications (websites) on a server, you can backup and restore them in one click.

6. Contact Your Hosting Provider

If none of the above solutions work, contact your hosting provider for assistance. They can check server-side hosting issues or provide more specific troubleshooting advice.

Before returning your site to an earlier configuration from the backup folder, you should contact your web host support for guidance. If they’re competent enough, your host should be able to guide you on how to fix fatal WordPress admin error warnings. 

Though some web hosts don’t offer support for website or application-related issues, they can provide tips or direct you to helpful resources. If the issue is server-side related, your host will be happy to assist directly. 

By following these steps systematically, you should be able to identify and resolve the cause of the fatal error and regain access to your WordPress admin.

Conclusion

Losing access to your WordPress admin can be a frustrating experience and something you can’t leave for another day. It has to be fixed as soon as possible. 

However, you can proactively protect your site from future occurrences of WordPress administration fatal error warnings. 

Consider the best WordPress maintenance practices, such as setting up automatic updates for plugins, themes, and the WordPress Core version. Use plugins and themes from reputable developers, activate security measures, and use CDN and powerful hosting features. 

Following the above steps can prevent your site from getting the fatal WordPress admin error notice.