How To Fix Your WordPress Site After A Plugin Update Goes Wrong
How To Fix Your WordPress Site After A Plugin Update Goes Wrong
Wanna know how to fix WordPress after a plugin update went wrong? Search no more.
In this video, I’m going to give you a detailed step by step tutorial on how to fix your site after a WordPress or plugin update failed.
Subscribe to the channel: http://bit.ly/subnowDaveFoy
So you’re prompted to update WordPress to the latest version, or maybe some plugins have updates available. You hit update…
Most of the time, these updates run without a hitch and you get on with your day. But sometimes… just occasionally… an update GOES WRONG. Maybe something broke on your site after the update, or even suddenly no site at all, just the blank white screen of death where your website used to be.
However, this is not a cause for panic! In this video, I show you exactly how to troubleshoot and fix your WordPress site after a plugin update goes wrong.
PLUGINS AND ARTICLES MENTIONED IN THE VIDEO:
****************************************************
UpdraftPlus—restore Wordpress without admin access:
https://updraftplus.com/faqs/i-want-t…
Plugin Detective:
https://wordpress.org/plugins/plugin-…
WP Rollback:
https://www.wordpress.org/plugins/wp-…
WP Downgrade:
https://www.wordpress.org/plugins/wp-…
Elementor:
https://www.designbuildweb.co/recomme…
How to switch ON Debug Mode:
https://kinsta.com/blog/wordpress-whi…
How to fix the maintenance error issue:
https://kinsta.com/knowledgebase/brie…
How to increase PHP memory:
https://kinsta.com/knowledgebase/word…
Subscribe to the channel: http://bit.ly/subnowDaveFoy
MORE FROM US:
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Music by: David Cutter Music
http://www.davidcuttermusic.co.uk
#WordpressUpdate #SiteDown
Content
0.03 -> in this video I'm gonna show you how to
1.829 -> easily fix your WordPress website if an
4.41 -> update breaks it so you're prompted to
6.569 -> update WordPress to the latest version
8.37 -> or maybe some plugins have updates
10.44 -> available uhit updates and most of the
12.87 -> time these updates run without a hitch
14.7 -> sometimes just occasionally something
17.07 -> will go wrong
18.15 -> maybe something broke it on your site
19.83 -> after the up day or even suddenly no
22.56 -> site at all just a blank white screen
24.269 -> where your website used to be don't
26.699 -> panic I'm Dave Foy and in this video I'm
29.4 -> going to show you exactly how to
30.929 -> troubleshoot and fix problems caused by
33.239 -> WordPress and fuggin updates if you find
36.059 -> this video helpful hit the subscribe
37.5 -> button and then the little notification
39.09 -> bell below okay let's get on with this
43.22 -> [Music]
45.829 -> if you've got a problem caused by an
48.36 -> update well the ideal thing to do is
50.219 -> diagnose what's caused it and then fix
52.23 -> it you might not have time for that
53.91 -> right now you just want to get your site
55.949 -> back up and running quickly and then
57.989 -> come back to it when you've got more
59.46 -> time if it's an emergency just restore
61.739 -> your site from the most recent backup
63.08 -> you do have automated backups running
66.21 -> don't you now if your host takes backups
68.549 -> it's easiest just to log into your
70.08 -> hosting control panel and hit restore
71.7 -> job done or it might be you hit restore
74.46 -> in your backup plug-in instead if you're
77.369 -> restoring from a backup plug-in what if
79.47 -> you can't access the WordPress admin
81.03 -> panel well all decent bucket plug-ins
83.729 -> provide a way around this
85.049 -> for example here's how to do this in up
87.36 -> draft plus now later when you have time
90.329 -> you can maybe copy your site over to a
92.46 -> staging version if your hosting company
94.65 -> has a staging feature and then run the
96.81 -> updates there again safely so you can
99.72 -> fix the problems without your live site
102.03 -> being down in the meantime but of course
104.13 -> just reverting to a recent backup is a
106.47 -> quick emergency fix in a pinch at some
109.32 -> point you've got to figure out what's
111.36 -> causing the problem you're seeing so
113.7 -> that you can fix it so let's now look at
115.74 -> some detective work to narrow down what
118.59 -> might be causing your problem the vast
121.38 -> majority of problems after updates are
123.21 -> caused by plugins a plug-in might clash
125.31 -> with something in the WordPress core it
127.02 -> might clash with your theme you might
128.399 -> clash with another plug-in it might even
130.2 -> just introduce a whole new problem all
131.97 -> on its own
133.2 -> I'm gonna show you in a moment a really
135.27 -> easy way of very quickly narrowing down
137.37 -> the culprit however just quickly just
140.879 -> let me say that the usual way that
142.56 -> you're advised to narrow down the
144.209 -> problem is well deactivate all your
146.94 -> plugins then activate each plug-in back
149.37 -> again one by one
150.84 -> check esight every time after you've
152.7 -> activated each one to see if your issue
154.319 -> has come back and is really time
156.69 -> consuming and well it's a total pain in
159.209 -> the you-know-what if you can't access
162.12 -> your admin panel at all then well you
164.94 -> usually would have to access your server
166.53 -> via FTP and rename your plugins folder
170.099 -> and well all kinds of messing about so
173.069 -> what we have instead is a fantastic
175.29 -> little plug-in called plug-in detective
177.329 -> boolean detective is very very clever
179.7 -> indeed it uses a system of gradual
182.04 -> deduction and process of elimination
184.17 -> that I'm not smart enough to understand
186.15 -> but it very quickly narrows down the
188.04 -> plug-in causing the problem and it is
189.87 -> super friendly and easy to use as well
192.269 -> it works even if you have a white screen
195.15 -> of death on the front end of your site
197.16 -> and even if you can't access your
199.53 -> WordPress admin panel at all it is
202.019 -> amazing now it's definitely best if you
204.12 -> already have it installed on your site
205.53 -> before you have a problem it's a great
208.139 -> idea to just install it in your site now
210.389 -> but even if you don't have it installed
212.04 -> at the time that you have an update
213.359 -> issue you can still install it at that
216.359 -> point if you can access your WordPress
218.7 -> admin area then just install plug-in
221.1 -> detective and activate it there as you
223.709 -> would any other plug-in and then run it
225.569 -> but if you can't even access the
227.519 -> WordPress admin area at all you can
230.069 -> still install and use it yep now I'm not
232.95 -> gonna go into all the details here but
234.78 -> there are instructions on the plugins
236.609 -> page here for how to do that
238.709 -> the link to the plug-in is below this
241.019 -> video ok let's see how to use it to
243.9 -> simulate a problem with the plug-in I've
245.78 -> purposefully broken a line of code in
248.37 -> the elements or plug-in so imagine
250.5 -> you've updated the Elementor plug-in on
252.359 -> the site and now oops now we can't even
255.75 -> access the admin panel to use plug-in
257.639 -> detective if we could at least access
259.62 -> the admin panel we could just run
261.239 -> plug-in detective there but we can't
263.28 -> even access the admin area here at all
265.14 -> but it's all good
266.63 -> because for these situations plug-in
268.46 -> detective gives us a special URL that we
270.98 -> can use as here on their plugin page so
273.98 -> I'm just going to copy that and then pop
275.63 -> that into my browser note that we'll
277.64 -> have to replace this bit that says your
279.23 -> site comm with our own domain name I've
282.14 -> copied that to the clipboard let's come
284.33 -> back across to our error page so it's
286.7 -> this bit here that's gonna have to stay
288.11 -> and it's gonna replace your site com
290.99 -> let's get rid of all of this here let's
293.24 -> delete that and I'll paste in plug-in
295.31 -> Detectives URL remember again we only
297.74 -> need to use this special URL because we
299.72 -> can't access our site's admin panel at
301.91 -> all if we could we could just run plug
304.07 -> in detective from there I'm gonna get
306.26 -> rid of your site comm and that space
309.17 -> this is now the URL I'll hit return on
312.29 -> my keyboard and I've been prompted for
314.63 -> our WordPress username and password it's
316.91 -> just your standard login password and
318.68 -> login and now we have friendly detective
321.98 -> Autobot on the case which is great so
324.56 -> just click the button to open a new case
326 -> and get started
327.32 -> it says here's your site but you
329.51 -> navigate to where you're seen the
331.16 -> problem let me know when you're there
332.96 -> and for us this is the page we're seeing
334.88 -> the problem because we can't access the
336.92 -> site at all so I'll click I'm there now
340.13 -> we're being asked for key witnesses
341.36 -> which basically means which plugins are
343.88 -> absolutely required for this site to
346.43 -> work correctly you want to take as few
348.62 -> of these as possible because in real
350.48 -> life all of these plugins could be
352.61 -> potential culprits of course in this
354.95 -> case we know I've actually broken
357.11 -> elements or on purpose but in real life
359.3 -> that wouldn't be the case but I'm going
361.43 -> to leave all of them unchecked I'm done
363.32 -> so now our plugin detective is gonna
365.24 -> interrogate 15 suspects that means that
367.88 -> all 15 plugins that we have installed so
370.25 -> click start interrogation now what it's
372.62 -> essentially done here in the background
374.42 -> is just deactivated all the plugins and
376.61 -> it's showing us our site but of course
379.49 -> understand that this is actually the
380.93 -> home page content just without elemental
383.24 -> design so as far as we can see here yes
385.61 -> it's fixed meaning we're not seeing the
388.01 -> error message anymore so yeah it's fixed
390.44 -> now it's gonna interrogate roughly half
393.17 -> of the suspects to try and narrow it
395.21 -> down really quickly and the remaining
397.22 -> eight are currently in the holding cell
399.95 -> start interrogation here's your site
402.08 -> again is the problem fixed well as far
405.26 -> as that we're not seeing the error
406.31 -> message yet be it's fixed so when he
408.98 -> interrogated roughly half of the
410.45 -> suspects just now and the site was fine
412.67 -> plug in detective was able to clear all
414.95 -> of those seven suspects in one sweep so
418.76 -> now it's time to split them up again so
420.77 -> now it's interrogating four of the
422.96 -> suspects
423.53 -> so start interrogation okay back to our
426.83 -> problem
427.52 -> so here's your site again is the problem
430.16 -> fixed no it's broken
431.99 -> now it's interrogating another four
434 -> start interrogation is the problem fixed
436.94 -> yep it's fixed so now it's super quickly
440.48 -> narrowed it right down to code snippets
442.46 -> or elements or start interrogation and
444.8 -> now it's broken start the interrogation
447.65 -> again and yep it's fixed
450.44 -> so now super quickly plug in detective
453.05 -> is now ready right down to one suspect
455.02 -> elements or start the interrogation and
457.96 -> yet it's broken culprit found when
462.2 -> you'll agree that is so much quicker
463.76 -> than deactivating all the plugins
465.26 -> manually and then manually activating
467.75 -> them again one by one elementals
469.82 -> surprisingly tall actually nearly six
471.74 -> foot five okay so how would you like to
475.28 -> deal with this culprit you can
476.96 -> deactivate it here or you can leave it
479.39 -> activated and sort out the problem on
481.37 -> your own now with it activated of course
484.34 -> we can't even access our control panel
486.17 -> at all so we'll have it deactivated
488.63 -> please okay so now click return to
491.21 -> WordPress dashboard excellent so now we
493.7 -> can log-in come to plugins and all our
496.73 -> plugins are now activated back again
498.56 -> apart from element saw so we know that
500.33 -> element saw has got a problem so off
502.58 -> screen now I'm actually just going to go
504.23 -> back in fix the code in the elements or
506.96 -> plugin that I broke on purpose alright I
511.28 -> fixed that code let's activate elements
513.74 -> are again fingers crossed and there we
516.11 -> go our site is back up and running let's
519.14 -> have a look at the home page excellent
521.3 -> now do know also that if you do have a
523.099 -> problem with an update and you can still
525.47 -> access the WordPress admin panel there
527.45 -> are a couple of ways that you can run
528.77 -> plug-in detective one of them is just to
530.87 -> navigate to the page where you see in
532.31 -> the issue and click trouble
533.93 -> I will jump you straight into the
535.85 -> plug-in detective interrogator oh if we
538.85 -> come back into the dashboard you can
540.44 -> either come into the plugins menu and
543.019 -> hit troubleshoot plug-in conflicts or a
545.41 -> third option still way to come to tools
549.019 -> and then bug in detective that is how to
552.47 -> really quickly narrow down a rogue
554.36 -> plug-in causing problems on your site
556.19 -> we'll look at how to fix problems next
559.07 -> but before that you might also in some
561.47 -> cases suspect that your theme is the
563.779 -> problem or at least you just want to
565.699 -> rule the theme out in your process of
567.889 -> elimination one way to know for sure if
570.26 -> your problem is caused by your theme is
571.97 -> just temporarily activate the most
574.1 -> recent default WordPress theme instead
576.17 -> and you do that in appearance and themes
578.959 -> and basically if you switch the
580.85 -> activated theme and your problem goes
582.769 -> away well you know that it's a problem
584.899 -> with your usual theme somewhere on the
587 -> other hand if you switch and the problem
588.8 -> is still there and you know it can't be
591.23 -> an issue with your usual theme one other
594.529 -> tip for narrowing down problems
595.94 -> especially if you have a white screen of
598.31 -> death is to put your site in debug mode
600.41 -> now this is a bit more advanced and you
602.81 -> will need to know how to access your
604.579 -> server either via FTP or via your
607.76 -> Hosting's file manager feature which is
610.339 -> pop cpanel if your host uses cpanel i'll
613.85 -> give you an overview of how to enable
615.56 -> debug mode in a moment when in debug
618.41 -> mode wordpress will display error
620.029 -> messages on the page in the browser to
622.22 -> try to at least give you a clue as to
623.75 -> what's causing the problem I want to see
625.579 -> these error messages are often
626.81 -> gobbledygook and they don't make a lot
628.67 -> of sense but they do sometimes at least
630.709 -> give you some clue as to the culprit for
632.839 -> example once you've turned debug mode on
635.69 -> I'll explain how to do that in a moment
637.699 -> the error message in your browser might
639.949 -> mention a plug-in by name so you can see
642.319 -> here in this example that the plug-in is
644.06 -> my test plug-in or it might be an error
646.88 -> about running out of memory so here's an
648.74 -> example it says fatal error sounds
652.04 -> alarming aloud memory size of however
655.43 -> many bytes that is exhausted I just
658.339 -> means there's a process on your site
660.139 -> that's try to use a certain amount of
661.579 -> memory and it just isn't enough
663.11 -> available a more on memory issues in a
665.99 -> moment
666.86 -> look at fixing the problems that you
668.18 -> found here's how to turn debug mode on
670.31 -> first log into your server via FTP if
672.98 -> you know how to do that you will have to
675.17 -> check your own hosting documentation on
677.08 -> accessing your server with FTP or if you
680.33 -> with a host that has cPanel then you can
682.28 -> also use the file manager option in
684.41 -> cPanel but however you do it once you in
687.23 -> your server you would edit a file in
689.12 -> there called WP config dot PHP is just a
692.93 -> file that's in the root of your
694.1 -> WordPress site you find this particular
696.2 -> line define WP debug false all you need
700.25 -> to do is change the word false to true
701.69 -> save that file and then reload your
704.48 -> white screen of death page on your site
706.7 -> and that'll then show you the error
709.01 -> message and then hopefully fingers
711.05 -> crossed once you've fixed the error you
713.33 -> would edit the WP config file again and
715.64 -> switch the word true back to the word
718.19 -> false and save the file
720.23 -> if you leave debug mode on when you
722.6 -> don't need it it can be a security risk
724.31 -> because it gives naughty people out
726.17 -> there clues as to the file paths on your
728.33 -> server and you don't want to be helping
730.58 -> these people out to you so those are the
733.01 -> ways to diagnose what's causing the
734.72 -> problem and once you know how do you fix
737.18 -> it well it's really hard if not
738.77 -> impossible for me to give you absolute
741.41 -> concrete advice here because well the
743.63 -> range of potential problems that you
745.43 -> might be experiencing is pretty endless
747.83 -> but here are some common-sense basics to
750.71 -> try to at least get you moving again one
753.8 -> obvious thing to do is just deactivate
755.42 -> the offending plug-in at least that way
757.25 -> you just take it out of the equation so
759.11 -> it can't cause problems it might be that
761.24 -> you don't need the plug-in anyway but if
762.95 -> you do well you might need to contact
764.93 -> the plug-in developer and ask for help
766.61 -> either their support help desk or log a
769.34 -> support to get on their plugin page in
771.29 -> the wordpress plug-in repository in any
773.63 -> case they'll hopefully be glad of the
775.31 -> tip-off so then can fix the problem for
777.32 -> others also check the plugins changelog
779.57 -> for clues
780.38 -> it's just a list of all the recent
782.03 -> changes might be something in there that
784.46 -> gives you a clue as to what changed in
786.59 -> the latest version do bear in mind that
789.26 -> the plug-in that seems to be the center
791.69 -> of the problem might not actually be
794.36 -> causing the problem
795.53 -> I know mind-blowing right let me explain
797.9 -> for example let's say you update
800.15 -> elements
800.779 -> and now a particular feature doesn't
802.459 -> work there is a possibility it might not
805.069 -> actually be elementals fault
806.66 -> but instead a problem with the
807.92 -> third-party elements our add-on so if
810.079 -> that add-on if they haven't updated
812.149 -> their code to be compatible with the
814.73 -> latest changes in elements or itself
816.529 -> well then the problem might manifest
818.329 -> itself while you're using elements or
821.089 -> even though it's not alimentos fault I
823.43 -> just mentioned this because I've had
825.35 -> that at least once before I mentioned
827.899 -> earlier that a quick emergency fix is
830 -> just to roll your entire site back to a
831.829 -> recent backup and that is a bit
833.48 -> all-or-nothing you can actually roll
835.879 -> back individual plugins individual
838.189 -> themes or even WordPress itself without
841.61 -> rolling the entire site back so if a
844.639 -> plug-in up day or a theme update for
846.29 -> example causes an issue and you need to
848.329 -> roll back to a previous version you can
850.31 -> find the plugins page or the themes page
852.589 -> in the WordPress repository you just
855.139 -> click advanced view on the right and
857.12 -> then scroll to the bottom of the page
859.04 -> and you'll see an option there to
861.11 -> download previous versions and then once
863.569 -> you've downloaded the zip file for the
865.16 -> previous version you upload it in
867.019 -> plugins at new or if it's the theme you
869.569 -> do that in appearance themes and add new
872.42 -> in there and activate it but actually
875.029 -> easier than that just install another
876.949 -> plug-in called WP rollback WP rollback
880.25 -> does exactly the same thing as the
882.079 -> manually finding and uploading the
884.329 -> previous version like I've just
885.529 -> mentioned except it just gives you a
887.389 -> nice interface to do so right there in
889.73 -> WordPress and you can install this
891.379 -> plugin
891.769 -> after you've experienced a problem it
893.72 -> doesn't have to have been installed
895.009 -> already here comes another safety
897.079 -> announcement please be very careful when
900.199 -> rolling back individual plugins or your
902.48 -> theme to a previous version sometimes
904.61 -> during an update a plug-in or theme
906.339 -> might add new things to the WordPress
908.839 -> database and then when you install the
911.36 -> old version again you rollback it gets
913.699 -> confused and messes things up and breaks
915.86 -> things further it's not always the case
917.6 -> I've rolled back to previous versions of
920.72 -> individual plugins before just fine but
923.149 -> please please please make sure you have
927.949 -> a manual backup ready to go whenever
930.35 -> rolling back anything be a wordpress
932.99 -> theme or
934.4 -> individual plugins WP rollback handles
937.25 -> reversing back to previous versions of
938.87 -> themes or plugins but you can also
940.49 -> easily roll back to previous versions of
942.44 -> WordPress itself the WordPress core with
945.2 -> this plug-in WP downgrade and again the
947.9 -> exact same warning about having a recent
949.97 -> solid backup applies you have been
952.64 -> warned if you need to roll back to a
954.53 -> previous version of element or itself
956.12 -> elements are actually provides a way to
957.83 -> do that directly that is under elements
959.96 -> or and tools
963.41 -> control and finally if you get the out
966.859 -> of memory error that I mentioned earlier
968.269 -> you'll need to increase the amount of
970.399 -> memory allocated to PHP for your site
973.489 -> there are various methods for doing this
975.649 -> and how you actually do it does depend a
977.779 -> bit on your hosts and their setup it's
979.759 -> best to just check your host support
981.279 -> documentation there is a great article
983.72 -> all about it here and I'll link to it
986.479 -> below this video one last thing that I
988.729 -> haven't mentioned so far one possible
990.679 -> error is that you perform a plug-in
992.569 -> update for example and then this
994.819 -> maintenance message sticks around on
997.309 -> your site and outstays his welcome if
1000.129 -> you've not seen this before this is when
1001.539 -> your site has this message briefly
1003.549 -> unavailable for scheduled maintenance
1005.079 -> check back in a minute this is the
1007.179 -> message of visitors see briefly anyway
1009.459 -> during an update now he's so brief you
1012.789 -> probably don't even notice what causes
1015.249 -> this message to stay there why it's
1017.169 -> because an update doesn't complete for
1018.849 -> some reason maybe there was a server
1021.039 -> timeout because you're updating way too
1023.739 -> many things all at once if you have a
1026.409 -> lot of updates ready like months and
1028.659 -> months worth actually best to update
1031.089 -> just a few at a time so that you're not
1033.459 -> gonna run into server timeout issues
1035.23 -> sometimes you might accidentally close
1037.72 -> the browser tab while the updates are in
1040.029 -> progress I've done that loads of times
1042.129 -> by accident to fix this you have to
1044.289 -> remove a file from your server
1045.759 -> well press temporarily creates a file
1047.98 -> called dot maintenance and that is in
1050.799 -> the root of your WordPress site on the
1052.57 -> server it usually gets removed
1054.19 -> automatically as soon as the update is
1056.259 -> done but in situations like this you
1058.509 -> have to delete it yourself again for
1061.33 -> speed here I'm just gonna link below to
1063.009 -> an article which walks you through the
1065.08 -> steps if you need any help with this
1066.61 -> drop me a comment below and I will try
1068.649 -> to help you out now if in the very very
1070.75 -> rare chance removing the maintenance
1072.61 -> file still doesn't fix things it might
1075.34 -> be that the update really did stop
1077.049 -> midstream and you need to recover your
1079.09 -> site as I say this is very very rare but
1082.21 -> in that case well it's best to then just
1084.039 -> recover the site from a recent backup us
1086.74 -> either via your hosting control panel or
1088.84 -> via your backup plug-in and update going
1091.539 -> wrong can feel a bit scary and cause
1093.61 -> some panic and stress
1095.259 -> although problems like this
1097.24 -> less likely to happen you just keep on
1099.07 -> top of updates on a weekly basis usually
1101.26 -> though it's a relatively easy fix so
1103.63 -> pause take a deep breath and work
1106.81 -> through the steps that I've showed you
1108.07 -> in this video whatever the problem is
1110.44 -> never a complete disaster especially if
1113.14 -> you have backups and you do have backups
1115.69 -> don't you so over to you drop me a
1117.97 -> comment below to let me know if you have
1120.43 -> ever had any WordPress update horror
1122.83 -> stories you know is there anything from
1124.57 -> this video that will help you if it
1126.37 -> happens in the future I'd love to know
1128.17 -> drop me a comment if you found this
1130.24 -> video helpful hit the subscribe button
1131.86 -> below and also hit the little
1133.63 -> notification bell so you don't miss more
1136.03 -> videos from me to help you build
1137.8 -> websites more quickly and more
1139.66 -> profitably with WordPress and elements
1141.52 -> or while you're at it thumbs up on this
1143.56 -> video will be appreciated too I'll catch
1146.05 -> you soon
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vd9IDCOyis