WordPress stuck in maintenance mode

The site shows one dry sentence saying it is “briefly unavailable for scheduled maintenance”, and it will not go away. This happens when an update is interrupted halfway: WordPress put the site into maintenance and never took it out. Your content is untouched. The fix is deleting a single file.

How to take it out of maintenance mode

1 Open File Manager, in the Files section of cPanel, and go to the folder where WordPress is installed (the one holding wp-config.php).
2 Show hidden files. In File Manager’s settings, tick the option to show files that start with a dot. Without it you will not see what you are looking for.
3 Delete the .maintenance file. It is a small file that WordPress creates at the start of an update. It is what keeps the site in maintenance. Deleting it damages nothing.
4 Reload the site, preferably in a private window. It should open as before.
5 Sign in to the dashboard and see what was left to update. Go to Dashboard, Updates. Whatever was interrupted shows up again as pending, and you can redo it calmly, one item at a time.

If it stays the same

What you see What to do
The same sentence, after deleting the file Cache. Empty the plugin’s and the browser’s. See cache rules for a WordPress site.
A maintenance page in your own colours Not WordPress: a maintenance plugin. Deactivate it from the dashboard or, if you cannot get in, by renaming its folder.
A critical error or a blank page The interrupted update left files half-written. See common WordPress errors.
The dashboard asks you to update the database Accept: it is the last step of a core update that was left unfinished.
If a plugin or theme was left halfway, do not leave it like that. An interrupted update can leave files from two versions mixed together, and that produces strange errors. Reinstall the item from the dashboard, or replace its folder with a clean copy. And if it was WordPress core, launch the update again from the dashboard.

Why it happens, and how to avoid it

1 You ran several updates at once. Update one item at a time, especially when there are many plugins.
2 You closed the tab or lost the connection halfway. Let the update finish before you leave the screen.
3 The server cut the process for lack of memory or time. If it always happens with the same plugin, see giving WordPress more memory.
Take a backup before updating, every time, and check that it exists. If luck turns, restoring takes minutes. See updating themes and plugins without breaking anything and making and keeping your own backup.

Deleted the file and the site is still unavailable? Tell us the address and what you were updating when it stopped.

Open a support ticket

SEE ALSO

WordPress hosting

Support Policy

Frequently asked questions

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