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

Fortunately, there are several solutions at your disposal for troubleshooting this error. With a little patience, y'all tin can clear up the fault and get back to managing your WordPress site in no fourth dimension.

In this post, nosotros'll dig into the "Deplorable, you are not allowed to access this page" mistake and what causes it to occur. And then we'll walk yous through the many potential solutions to help y'all detect the ane that addresses your specific state of affairs.

Let's spring right in!

Understanding the "Sorry, You lot Are Not Immune to Access This Page" Mistake

Although we're referring to information technology equally an "fault" for the purposes of this post, the "Sorry, you are non allowed to access this page" bulletin in WordPress is meant to be a helpful security mensurate.

Ultimately, seeing this notification simply ways there's a permissions setting that's blocking you lot from a certain surface 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 Ambassador, is anywhere on the backend. When this state of affairs arises, it is often following a contempo update to a theme, plugin, or WordPress core.

You lot may encounter the "Sorry, you are non allowed to access this folio" message for a variety of reasons. It might be that WordPress doesn't recognize you as an Administrator. In other situations, the information contained in your site's core code or in a theme or plugin may non match what'southward in your database.

Additional causes include incorrect information in your wp-config.php file or a site that'due south running an outdated version of PHP.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

Since it's likely that you will not exist able to admission cardinal settings via the dashboard, you lot'll need 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 before you lot dive into the troubleshooting process.

The well-nigh frustrating thing about encountering the "Sad, y'all are non allowed to access this page" notification is that it can be hard to pivot down which of its causes are at play. Fortunately, there are many solutions yous can test out to find the root of the trouble.

How to Ready the "Deplorable, You Are Not Allowed to Access This Folio" Error in WordPress (11 Potential Solutions)

Due to its many possible causes, the "Deplorable, you are not immune to access this page" error takes quite a bit of patience to resolve. This long list of solutions may exist intimidating merely it besides covers a diversity of situations to help you find the correct one for your site.

1. Restore a Previous Version of Your Site

The simplest and often the fastest manner to get back into your WordPress dashboard is to restore your site to an before version. A recent change, such as an update, might be the crusade of the error you're seeing. Undoing your latest modification should enable you lot to access your site again.

Kinsta clients accept it like shooting fish in a barrel in this regard. You tin can restore a WordPress fill-in in your hosting account with a single click:

Restoring a backup in MyKinsta
Restoring a backup in MyKinsta

The drawback to this solution is that yous may lose your contempo changes and will have to discover a fashion to accomplish your goals without causing the same error once more.

For this reason, yous may desire to restore your fill-in to a staging site instead. You tin then exam different modifications to determine what caused the problem. Later uncovering the root of the issue, you lot can undo the troublesome change to regain admission to your site.

2. Disable All of Your Plugins

A specific change that may be causing the "Deplorable, you lot are non allowed to access this page" message on your site is the recent addition or upgrade of a plugin. If y'all doubtable that this is the case, your best course of action is to disable your plugins ane by one.

In the event that you disable a plugin and the bulletin goes abroad, you've institute the source of the problem. You lot tin and then troubleshoot the issue with that plugin (or do without information technology, if it's not crucial to your site's functionality).

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

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

Enter this folder, and then rename your well-nigh recently-added plugin to something like "plugin-name_old". Become back to your site and bank check to see if the error is resolved. If not, change the plugin's name dorsum and repeat the process with the next one.

iii. Actuate a Default Theme

All the same some other potential cause of this error is that yous've recently updated or installed a theme. Your all-time bet for resolving this problem is to actuate a default WordPress theme such equally 20 Twenty or Twenty Nineteen.

To do so without access to your admin area, y'all'll need to use 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 residue of the process is fairly similar to the ane described above for disabling your plugins.

Rename the folder for your active theme, and then render to your site and log in. You should see a notification telling you lot that the active theme is broken, and a default theme has been reactivated.

And so you tin can troubleshoot the theme. Your site should at least be accessible, admitting with the wrong theme activated.

4. Make Sure You lot're an Administrator

Another possibility is that your user part has been inadvertently changed and you are no longer listed as an Ambassador. This is a common trouble with multisite installations. To determine 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

Detect your username and note your ID. Then, navigate to the wp_usermeta table and notice 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 will read:

a:1:{s:thirteen:"ambassador";s:i:"1";}

If your wp_usermeta table says something else, you can click on the Edit link and change it. Alternatively, you tin also create an entirely new Administrator business relationship from phpMyAdmin. To take this route, return to the wp_users table and click on the Insert tab at the top of the table:

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

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

Click on Insert again, and fill up in the resulting fields with the following information:

  • Unmeta_id: Leave this field blank; information technology will be filled in automatically for you lot.
  • User_id: Use the ID from the WP Users table.
  • Meta_key: Set this value as "wp_capabilities".
  • Meta_value: Add the line mentioned above.

You should now exist able to use your new credentials to log in to your WordPress admin surface area. Delete your old account or change its user office back to Administrator from the dashboard and delete the new i instead.

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5. Check Your Error Log to Pinpoint the Cause

A smart way to streamline troubleshooting whatsoever trouble on your site is to check your server'south error log. This may indicate plugin or theme compatibility bug, 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 y'all view your server's error log will vary depending on who your hosting provider is. For Kinsta customers, this process is as simple equally logging into your MyKinsta dashboard. There, select the site that's experiencing issues and navigate to Logs:

MyKinsta logs tab
MyKinsta logs tab

Cull error.log from the driblet-downward menu. If you lot encounter 1 of the causes of the alert in your log, then you tin can get about fixing it. Otherwise, you'll demand to try another solution on this list.

half dozen. Ensure That Your Database Prefix Is Correct

Every MySQL database has a prefix. If this one listed in your website's files doesn't lucifer the ane listed in phpMyAdmin, then you may come across the "Sorry, you are not immune to access this page" bulletin.

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 check for discrepancies, you'll demand to access your wp-config.php file.

You tin can do this via SFTP as we've described in previous solutions. Once you lot're in your wp-config.php file, you should expect 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 friction match the ones listed in your wp-config.php file, like in the image beneath:

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

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

vii. Expect for Changes in Your wp-config.php File

On a similar notation, you should also expect for whatsoever changes to your WordPress configuration file. This is especially true if you were editing this file shortly before you received the "Sorry, y'all are not immune to access this page" bulletin or if you lot suspect that your WordPress site has been hacked.

You tin can access your wp-config.php file using SFTP and look for anything that seems awry. Yet, this procedure is much easier if yous take 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, fifty-fifty if upgrading PHP doesn't solve this issue for you, it should amend your site'due south overall security and performance.

Before you starting time the upgrade process, create a fill-in of your site. Yous can do this manually or from your MyKinsta dashboard, even if you're locked out of your admin surface area. In one case you lot've saved your backup, you'll desire to examination to meet whether your account is compatible with the latest version of PHP. I fashion to do this is with a WordPress staging site.

Assuming that all goes well, you tin run the update. Kinsta customers can easily exercise so by logging into the MyKinsta dashboard and navigating to the relevant site. Then become to Tools > PHP Engine > Alter, and select the newest version from the driblet-down 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 procedure via your own command panel. It's recommended that you contact your spider web host for more information.

9. Evaluate Your File Permissions

It'south besides possible that your site'south file permissions accept been tampered with. In this case, WordPress may consider you unauthorized to view sure areas of your site, fifty-fifty if you're however listed as an Ambassador.

To bank check your site's file permissions, you'll need to utilize SFTP to access your server. One time 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, brand certain the following 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 you're done. 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 time, gear up the options in the permissions window to the following:

  • The Numeric Value should be 644.
  • Recurse into subdirectories should notwithstanding be checked.
  • Apply to files but should be selected.

So, return to your site to see if this solves the problem and the "Distressing, you are not allowed to access this folio" message is gone.

10. Create a New .htaccess File

If none of the higher up strategies accept worked, you may need to reset your .htaccess file. To practice and so, launch FTP and navigate to your public_html folder. You should run across your .htaccess file there, simply if you don't, follow instructions for showing hidden files in FileZilla.

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

Then, right-click on the file and select Download. Open up the file in a text editor and supervene upon its contents with the following:

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

Rename this file .htaccess and upload it to your server. If this file was the source of the "Sorry, yous are not allowed to access this page" fault, and then it should now exist fixed.

11. Reset Your WordPress Site

In the worst-example scenario, in that location may exist an installation issue. To set it, you'll have to reset your WordPress site. Information technology's vital that you accept a recent backup you can restore after this process is complete, equally resetting your site volition cause you lot to lose all posts, pages, and user comments.

There are several methods for doing this, including via your MyKinsta dashboard, using a WordPress plugin, and by using WP-CLI (the WordPress control line). It's best to save this road every bit a last resort, so you don't risk losing your site's content.

Are you getting the clumsily alarming *Pitiful, Y'all Are Not Allowed to Access This Folio* bulletin? Endeavor 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 to the lowest degree. Speedily finding the right solution to the "Pitiful, y'all are not allowed to admission this folio" error is vital to both your site and your peace of listen.

In this post, we covered a wide range of possible causes and fixes for this issue. Let's recap them quickly:

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