At that place are few situations more than alarming than existence locked out of your own WordPress admin dashboard. If you've encountered a message reading "Sorry, you are not allowed to access this page" when trying to log in, yous know the feeling outset paw.

Fortunately, at that place are several solutions at your disposal for troubleshooting this error. With a trivial patience, you tin can articulate up the error and get back to managing your WordPress site in no time.

In this mail, we'll dig into the "Sorry, you are not allowed to access this page" error and what causes it to occur. Then we'll walk you lot through the many potential solutions to aid you notice the i that addresses your specific situation.

Let's jump right in!

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

Although we're referring to it as an "mistake" for the purposes of this postal service, the "Deplorable, you lot are not immune to access this page" message in WordPress is meant to be a helpful security measure out.

Ultimately, seeing this notification merely ways there's a permissions setting that's blocking you from a certain area.

This becomes a problem when you're locked out of a part of your site that you lot should accept permission to enter which, as an Ambassador, is anywhere on the backend. When this situation arises, it is oftentimes post-obit a recent update to a theme, plugin, or WordPress core.

You may see the "Pitiful, you are not allowed to access this folio" bulletin for a diverseness of reasons. It might be that WordPress doesn't recognize you as an Administrator. In other situations, the data contained in your site'south cadre lawmaking or in a theme or plugin may not match what'southward in your database.

Additional causes include wrong information in your wp-config.php file or a site that's running an outdated version of PHP. Any the source, this fault may prevent you from accessing the entire admin area or just a portion of information technology.

Since it's likely that yous will not be able to access fundamental settings via the dashboard, yous'll demand to employ File Transfer Protocol (FTP) or phpMyAdmin to resolve this event. Make sure to back up your site and brush upwards on using these platforms before y'all dive into the troubleshooting process.

The most frustrating thing nigh encountering the "Sorry, you are not allowed to access this page" notification is that it can be difficult to pivot down which of its causes are at play. Fortunately, there are many solutions y'all can test out to find the root of the problem.

How to Ready the "Sorry, Y'all Are Not Allowed to Access This Folio" Error in WordPress (11 Potential Solutions)

Due to its many possible causes, the "Distressing, yous are not immune to access this folio" mistake takes quite a bit of patience to resolve. This long list of solutions may exist intimidating but it also covers a variety of situations to help yous find the right ane for your site.

ane. Restore a Previous Version of Your Site

The simplest and often the fastest fashion to go back into your WordPress dashboard is to restore your site to an earlier version. A recent change, such equally an update, might be the cause of the fault you're seeing. Undoing your latest modification should enable yous to access your site once again.

Kinsta clients have it piece of cake in this regard. You can restore a WordPress backup in your hosting business relationship with a single click:

Restoring a backup in MyKinsta
Restoring a backup in MyKinsta

The drawback to this solution is that y'all may lose your recent changes and will take to find a way to accomplish your goals without causing the same error once again.

For this reason, you lot may want to restore your fill-in to a staging site instead. Yous tin then test different modifications to determine what acquired the problem. After uncovering the root of the issue, you tin 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 "Distressing, y'all are not allowed to access this page" bulletin on your site is the recent addition or upgrade of a plugin. If you lot doubtable that this is the instance, your best course of activeness is to disable your plugins one past one.

In the event that you lot disable a plugin and the message goes away, you lot've found the source of the problem. You can then troubleshoot the result with that plugin (or practice without information technology, if information technology's non crucial to your site's functionality).

Of course, if you lot're locked out of your dashboard entirely, this procedure gets a niggling tricky. You'll need to access your site using SFTP via a client such as FileZilla. Once yous've done so, navigate to wp-content and observe the sub-directory labeled plugins:

Disable all plugins by renaming the folder
Disable all plugins by renaming the folder

Enter this folder, and and then rename your near recently-added plugin to something like "plugin-name_old". Go back to your site and check to see if the fault is resolved. If non, change the plugin'due south name back and repeat the process with the adjacent one.

3. Activate a Default Theme

Yet another potential cause of this error is that you lot've recently updated or installed a theme. Your all-time bet for resolving this problem is to activate a default WordPress theme such equally Twenty Twenty or Twenty Nineteen.

To do so without access to your admin surface area, you'll need to apply FTP again. Connect to your server with FileZilla and then navigate to wp-content > themes:

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

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

Rename the folder for your active theme, and then return to your site and log in. You should come across a notification telling y'all that the active theme is broken, and a default theme has been reactivated.

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

4. Make Sure You're an Administrator

Some other possibility is that your user function has been inadvertently changed and you are no longer listed every bit an Administrator. This is a common trouble with multisite installations. To determine if this is the case, 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 table and observe the wp_capabilties row:

The wp_usermeta table in phpMyAdmin
The wp_usermeta table in phpMyAdmin

If you accept Ambassador privileges, the meta_value in this row volition read:

a:1:{due south:xiii:"administrator";s:1:"ane";}

If your wp_usermeta table says something else, you tin can click on the Edit link and change it. Alternatively, yous can as well create an entirely new Administrator account from phpMyAdmin. To have this road, return to the wp_users tabular array and click on the Insert tab at the pinnacle of the table:

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

Then, fill in the fields with your new user information. Once you lot're done, click on the Get push and your new user should appear in the table. Next, you'll need to make a note of the ID for this business relationship and caput dorsum to the wp_usermeta tabular array.

Click on Insert once again, and fill up in the resulting fields with the post-obit information:

  • Unmeta_id: Leave this field blank; it will be filled in automatically for you.
  • User_id: Use the ID from the WP Users table.
  • Meta_key: Ready this value equally "wp_capabilities".
  • Meta_value: Add together the line mentioned above.

You 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 office back to Administrator from the dashboard and delete the new one instead.

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five. Check Your Mistake Log to Pinpoint the Cause

A smart way to streamline troubleshooting any problem on your site is to bank check your server'south error log. This may indicate plugin or theme compatibility issues, database errors, or problems with your site's files that are causing the "Sorry, you are non allowed to access this page" message to announced.

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

MyKinsta logs tab
MyKinsta logs tab

Choose fault.log from the driblet-down menu. If you see ane of the causes of the warning in your log, then you lot can go near fixing it. Otherwise, you lot'll demand to try some other solution on this listing.

six. Ensure That Your Database Prefix Is Correct

Every MySQL database has a prefix. If this one listed in your website'south files doesn't match the ane listed in phpMyAdmin, then you may run into the "Sad, you are non immune to access this page" message.

This can occur when migrating your site, including if you'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 tin do this via SFTP every bit nosotros've described in previous solutions. Once you're in your wp-config.php file, yous should await 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, similar in the image beneath:

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

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

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

On a similar note, y'all should besides expect for whatever changes to your WordPress configuration file. This is specially truthful if yous were editing this file shortly earlier you received the "Distressing, you are non allowed to access this page" bulletin or if you doubtable that your WordPress site has been hacked.

Yous can admission your wp-config.php file using SFTP and look for anything that seems awry. Yet, this process is much easier if yous have some kind of file integrity monitoring or alter detection feature in place.

eight. Upgrade to the Latest Version of PHP

If your WordPress site is running an outdated version of PHP, this could exist the source of your troubles. With that said, even if upgrading PHP doesn't solve this issue for you, information technology should improve your site's overall security and performance.

Before you lot outset 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 area. Once you've saved your backup, you'll want to exam to see whether your business relationship is compatible with the latest version of PHP. One way to exercise this is with a WordPress staging site.

Assuming that all goes well, y'all tin run the update. Kinsta customers can hands do so by logging into the MyKinsta dashboard and navigating to the relevant site. Then go to Tools > PHP Engine > Modify, and select the newest version from the drop-down carte du jour:

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

If you're with some other provider, you may be able to follow a similar process via your own command panel. It's recommended that you contact your web host for more information.

9. Evaluate Your File Permissions

It's too possible that your site's file permissions take been tampered with. In this instance, WordPress may consider you unauthorized to view certain areas of your site, even if you're withal listed equally an Ambassador.

To cheque your site'southward file permissions, you lot'll need to employ SFTP to access your server. Once you're logged in, enter the public_html directory and bulk-select wp-admin, wp-content, and wp -includes. Right-click on these folders and choose File Permissions:

Checking file permissions
Checking file permissions

In the resulting window, make sure the following options are selected:

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

Click on OK when you lot're done. Then, highlight all the other files in public_html, correct-click on them, and select File Permissions again:

Setting new file permissions
Setting new file permissions

This time, set the options in the permissions window to the following:

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

Then, return to your site to see if this solves the problem and the "Sorry, you are not allowed to access this page" message is gone.

10. Create a New .htaccess File

If none of the above strategies have worked, you may need to reset your .htaccess file. To exercise so, launch FTP and navigate to your public_html folder. You should run across your .htaccess file at that place, but if you don't, follow instructions for showing hidden files in FileZilla.

Adjacent, you'll need to rename your existing .htaccess file, like to how we renamed plugin and theme files in earlier solutions. Something recognizable such every bit .htaccess_original or .htaccess_backup is ideal.

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

          #Brainstorm WordPress  RewriteEngine On  RewriteBase /  RewriteRule ^alphabetize\.php$ - [L]  RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f  RewriteCOnd %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d  RewriteRule . /alphabetize.php [L]  #Terminate WordPress        

Rename this file .htaccess and upload it to your server. If this file was the source of the "Lamentable, you are not allowed to access this folio" fault, then it should now exist stock-still.

xi. Reset Your WordPress Site

In the worst-case scenario, there may exist an installation effect. To fix it, yous'll accept to reset your WordPress site. It's vital that you have a recent backup you tin can restore afterwards this process is consummate, as resetting your site will cause you 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 by using WP-CLI (the WordPress command line). It's best to salve this road as a last resort, so you don't risk losing your site's content.

Are you getting the awfully alarming *Lamentable, You Are Non Immune to Access This Page* message? Try one of these methods to get your access back! 🙅‍♂️🔑 Click to Tweet

Summary

Being locked out of your admin dashboard in WordPress is nerve-wracking, to say the least. Quickly finding the right solution to the "Sorry, you lot are non immune to access this folio" error is vital to both your site and your peace of listen.

In this mail, nosotros covered a wide range of possible causes and fixes for this consequence. Let'southward recap them chop-chop:

  1. Restore a previous version of your site.
  2. Disable all of your plugins.
  3. Actuate a default theme.
  4. Make certain you're an administrator.
  5. Check your error log to pinpoint the cause.
  6. Ensure that your database prefix is right.
  7. Look 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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