In that location are few situations more alarming than being locked out of your ain WordPress admin dashboard. If you've encountered a message reading "Pitiful, y'all are not allowed to admission this page" when trying to log in, you know the feeling starting time mitt.

Fortunately, in that location are several solutions at your disposal for troubleshooting this fault. With a footling patience, you tin can clear upwards the mistake and get dorsum to managing your WordPress site in no time.

In this post, nosotros'll dig into the "Sorry, you are non allowed to access this page" error and what causes it to occur. So nosotros'll walk you through the many potential solutions to aid you detect the one that addresses your specific situation.

Let'due south jump right in!

Understanding the "Sorry, You Are Not Allowed to Admission This Folio" Mistake

Although we're referring to it as an "error" for the purposes of this mail service, the "Sorry, y'all are not allowed to access this page" message in WordPress is meant to be a helpful security measure.

Ultimately, seeing this notification but means there's a permissions setting that'south blocking you lot from a sure area.

This becomes a problem when y'all're locked out of a function of your site that you should have permission to enter which, equally an Administrator, is anywhere on the backend. When this situation arises, it is often following a contempo update to a theme, plugin, or WordPress core.

You may come across the "Sorry, you are not immune to admission this page" message for a variety of reasons. Information technology might be that WordPress doesn't recognize you every bit an Administrator. In other situations, the information independent in your site'due south core code or in a theme or plugin may not lucifer what's in your database.

Additional causes include incorrect information in your wp-config.php file or a site that'southward running an outdated version of PHP. Whatsoever the source, this error may forestall you from accessing the entire admin area or just a portion of information technology.

Since it'south likely that yous volition not be able to admission key settings via the dashboard, you'll demand to use File Transfer Protocol (FTP) or phpMyAdmin to resolve this issue. Make sure to back up your site and castor upwardly on using these platforms earlier you dive into the troubleshooting process.

The near frustrating thing about encountering the "Sorry, yous are not allowed to access this page" notification is that it tin can exist difficult to pivot down which of its causes are at play. Fortunately, there are many solutions y'all can exam out to find the root of the trouble.

How to Prepare the "Sorry, You lot Are Not Immune to Access This Page" Mistake in WordPress (eleven Potential Solutions)

Due to its many possible causes, the "Sorry, you lot are non allowed to access this page" mistake takes quite a bit of patience to resolve. This long list of solutions may exist intimidating only information technology also covers a variety of situations to assist y'all discover the right one for your site.

1. Restore a Previous Version of Your Site

The simplest and often the fastest style to get back into your WordPress dashboard is to restore your site to an earlier version. A recent modify, such equally an update, might be the cause of the error you're seeing. Undoing your latest modification should enable y'all to access your site again.

Kinsta clients take it easy in this regard. You lot can restore a WordPress backup in your hosting account with a unmarried click:

Restoring a backup in MyKinsta
Restoring a backup in MyKinsta

The drawback to this solution is that you lot may lose your recent changes and will take to find a way to accomplish your goals without causing the aforementioned fault again.

For this reason, you may desire to restore your fill-in to a staging site instead. You tin can then test different modifications to decide what caused the problem. After uncovering the root of the issue, you can undo the troublesome change to regain access to your site.

2. Disable All of Your Plugins

A specific change that may be causing the "Sorry, you lot are not allowed to access this folio" message on your site is the contempo addition or upgrade of a plugin. If you suspect that this is the instance, your all-time course of action is to disable your plugins one past i.

In the upshot that yous disable a plugin and the message goes away, you've institute the source of the trouble. Yous can then troubleshoot the issue with that plugin (or do without information technology, if information technology'south not crucial to your site'southward functionality).

Of course, if you're locked out of your dashboard entirely, this process gets a little tricky. You'll demand to admission your site using SFTP via a client such as FileZilla. Once you lot've washed so, navigate to wp-content and find the sub-directory labeled plugins:

Disable all plugins by renaming the folder
Disable all plugins past renaming the binder

Enter this folder, and then rename your about recently-added plugin to something like "plugin-name_old". Get back to your site and bank check to see if the error is resolved. If non, change the plugin's name back and echo the process with the next one.

3. Activate a Default Theme

Nonetheless another potential cause of this mistake is that you've recently updated or installed a theme. Your all-time bet for resolving this problem is to actuate a default WordPress theme such as Twenty Twenty or Twenty Nineteen.

To do and so without admission to your admin area, you lot'll demand to use FTP again. Connect to your server with FileZilla so navigate to wp-content > themes:

Disable your current theme by renaming the folder
Disable your electric current theme by renaming the folder

The rest of the procedure is fairly similar to the one described above for disabling your plugins.

Rename the binder for your active theme, and so render to your site and log in. You should see a notification telling you that the agile theme is cleaved, and a default theme has been reactivated.

Then y'all tin can troubleshoot the theme. Your site should at least be accessible, albeit with the wrong theme activated.

four. Brand Sure Y'all're an Administrator

Another possibility is that your user function has been inadvertently changed and yous are no longer listed as an Administrator. This is a common problem with multisite installations. To make up one's mind if this is the instance, you'll need to access phpMyAdmin and look for the wp_users table:

The WP users table
The wp_users table in phpMyAdmin

Find your username and notation your ID. Then, navigate to the wp_usermeta tabular array and detect the wp_capabilties row:

The wp_usermeta table in phpMyAdmin
The wp_usermeta table in phpMyAdmin

If you have Administrator privileges, the meta_value in this row volition read:

a:1:{s:13:"administrator";southward:i:"1";}

If your wp_usermeta table says something else, y'all can click on the Edit link and change it. Alternatively, you can also create an entirely new Administrator account from phpMyAdmin. To have this route, return to the wp_users table and click on the Insert tab at the tiptop of the table:

Change user information in wp_users table
Change user information in wp_users table

And so, fill in the fields with your new user data. Once you're done, click on the Become button and your new user should announced in the table. Side by side, yous'll need to brand a notation of the ID for this account and head back to the wp_usermeta tabular array.

Click on Insert over again, and make full in the resulting fields with the following data:

  • Unmeta_id: Go out this field blank; it volition be filled in automatically for you.
  • User_id: Use the ID from the WP Users tabular array.
  • Meta_key: Set this value every bit "wp_capabilities".
  • Meta_value: Add the line mentioned in a higher place.

You lot should now be able to use your new credentials to log in to your WordPress admin area. Delete your old account or change its user role back to Administrator from the dashboard and delete the new one instead.

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5. Bank check Your Error Log to Pinpoint the Cause

A smart way to streamline troubleshooting any problem on your site is to check your server'due south error log. This may indicate plugin or theme compatibility issues, database errors, or bug with your site'southward files that are causing the "Sorry, you lot are not allowed to admission this folio" bulletin to appear.

How yous view your server's error log will vary depending on who your hosting provider is. For Kinsta customers, this process is as simple as logging into your MyKinsta dashboard. There, select the site that's experiencing problems and navigate to Logs:

MyKinsta logs tab
MyKinsta logs tab

Choose error.log from the drop-down menu. If you run into one of the causes of the alert in your log, then y'all can get almost fixing it. Otherwise, y'all'll demand to endeavour another solution on this list.

six. Ensure That Your Database Prefix Is Correct

Every MySQL database has a prefix. If this ane listed in your website'due south files doesn't match the i listed in phpMyAdmin, then yous may see the "Sorry, you are non allowed to access this page" message.

This can occur when migrating your site, including if you lot've used a local staging site for development and are now moving to a live server. To cheque for discrepancies, you'll need to access your wp-config.php file.

You can do this via SFTP as we've described in previous solutions. Once yous're in your wp-config.php file, yous should look for your database's prefix (the default is "wp_"):

Database prefix
Database prefix

Then, log in to phpMyAdmin and look at the prefixes for your database's tables. They should match the ones listed in your wp-config.php file, like in the image below:

Prefixes should match those in your wp-config.php file
Prefixes should lucifer those in your wp-config.php file

If they don't match the prefix in your wp-config.php file, then you lot'll need to edit information technology so that they exercise.

7. Look for Changes in Your wp-config.php File

On a similar note, you should also look for whatever changes to your WordPress configuration file. This is especially true if you were editing this file shortly earlier you received the "Sorry, you are not allowed to access this folio" message or if y'all suspect that your WordPress site has been hacked.

Yous can access your wp-config.php file using SFTP and await for anything that seems amiss. Even so, this process is much easier if you have some kind of file integrity monitoring or modify detection characteristic in identify.

8. Upgrade to the Latest Version of PHP

If your WordPress site is running an outdated version of PHP, this could be the source of your troubles. With that said, even if upgrading PHP doesn't solve this event for you lot, it should improve your site's overall security and functioning.

Before you commencement the upgrade process, create a backup of your site. Y'all can do this manually or from your MyKinsta dashboard, even if you're locked out of your admin expanse. In one case y'all've saved your backup, you'll want to test to meet whether your account is uniform with the latest version of PHP. One mode to do this is with a WordPress staging site.

Assuming that all goes well, y'all can run the update. Kinsta customers tin hands do then by logging into the MyKinsta dashboard and navigating to the relevant site. Then go to Tools > PHP Engine > Alter, and select the newest version from the drib-downwards menu:

How to upgrade PHP version in MyKinsta
How to upgrade PHP version in MyKinsta

If you're with another provider, you may exist able to follow a similar process via your ain command panel. It's recommended that you contact your web host for more than information.

ix. Evaluate Your File Permissions

It's likewise possible that your site's file permissions have been tampered with. In this instance, WordPress may consider you lot unauthorized to view sure areas of your site, even if you're notwithstanding listed as an Administrator.

To cheque your site's file permissions, you lot'll need to use SFTP to admission your server. Once you're logged in, enter the public_html directory and majority-select wp-admin, wp-content, and wp -includes. Right-click on these folders and cull File Permissions:

Checking file permissions
Checking file permissions

In the resulting window, make sure the post-obit options are selected:

  • The Numeric Value is set to 755.
  • Recurse into subdirectories is checked.
  • Apply to directories only is selected.

Click on OK when yous're done. And then, highlight all the other files in public_html, right-click on them, and select File Permissions again:

Setting new file permissions
Setting new file permissions

This fourth dimension, set the options in the permissions window to the following:

  • The Numeric Value should be 644.
  • Recurse into subdirectories should still exist checked.
  • Apply to files just should be selected.

And so, render to your site to run across if this solves the trouble and the "Sad, you are not allowed to admission this page" message is gone.

10. Create a New .htaccess File

If none of the above strategies have worked, you lot may need to reset your .htaccess file. To practice so, launch FTP and navigate to your public_html folder. You should see your .htaccess file there, but if y'all don't, follow instructions for showing hidden files in FileZilla.

Next, you'll need to rename your existing .htaccess file, similar to how we renamed plugin and theme files in before solutions. Something recognizable such as .htaccess_original or .htaccess_backup is ideal.

Then, correct-click on the file and select Download. Open the file in a text editor and replace its contents with the following:

          #BEGIN WordPress  RewriteEngine On  RewriteBase /  RewriteRule ^index\.php$ - [L]  RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f  RewriteCOnd %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d  RewriteRule . /index.php [Fifty]  #End WordPress        

Rename this file .htaccess and upload it to your server. If this file was the source of the "Sorry, you are not allowed to access this page" mistake, so it should now be fixed.

xi. Reset Your WordPress Site

In the worst-example scenario, there may be an installation issue. To fix it, yous'll accept to reset your WordPress site. Information technology's vital that y'all have a recent backup y'all can restore after this process is complete, every bit resetting your site volition crusade you lot to lose all posts, pages, and user comments.

In that location are several methods for doing this, including via your MyKinsta dashboard, using a WordPress plugin, and past using WP-CLI (the WordPress command line). It'due south best to save this route as a last resort, and so you don't adventure losing your site'due south content.

Are yous getting the clumsily alarming *Sad, You lot Are Non Allowed to Access This Folio* bulletin? Try one of these methods to become your access back! 🙅‍♂️🔑 Click to Tweet

Summary

Beingness locked out of your admin dashboard in WordPress is nerve-wracking, to say the to the lowest degree. Quickly finding the right solution to the "Sorry, you lot are not immune to access this page" error is vital to both your site and your peace of mind.

In this postal service, we covered a wide range of possible causes and fixes for this issue. Let'southward epitomize them chop-chop:

  1. Restore a previous version of your site.
  2. Disable all of your plugins.
  3. Activate a default theme.
  4. Make sure you're an administrator.
  5. Check your error log to pinpoint the cause.
  6. Ensure that your database prefix is correct.
  7. Expect for changes in your wp-config.php file.
  8. Upgrade to the latest version of php.
  9. Evaluate your file permissions.
  10. Create a new .htaccess file.
  11. Reset your WordPress site.

Happy fixing!


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