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

Fortunately, there are several solutions at your disposal for troubleshooting this mistake. With a lilliputian patience, you tin can clear upward the mistake and get back to managing your WordPress site in no fourth dimension.

In this post, we'll dig into the "Lamentable, yous are non allowed to access this folio" error and what causes it to occur. Then we'll walk you lot through the many potential solutions to help y'all find the one that addresses your specific situation.

Let's spring correct in!

Understanding the "Lamentable, Y'all Are Not Allowed to Admission This Page" Mistake

Although we're referring to it as an "error" for the purposes of this mail, the "Sorry, you are non allowed to access this page" bulletin in WordPress is meant to be a helpful security measure.

Ultimately, seeing this notification simply means there's a permissions setting that's blocking yous from a certain area.

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

Y'all may see the "Lamentable, you lot are not immune to access this page" bulletin for a variety of reasons. It might be that WordPress doesn't recognize you lot as an Administrator. In other situations, the information contained in your site's core code or in a theme or plugin may not match what'due south in your database.

Additional causes include incorrect information in your wp-config.php file or a site that's running an outdated version of PHP.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

Since it's likely that yous will not be able to admission key settings via the dashboard, you'll need to use File Transfer Protocol (FTP) or phpMyAdmin to resolve this result. Make sure to support your site and castor upwardly on using these platforms earlier you dive into the troubleshooting procedure.

The about frustrating thing about encountering the "Sad, you are non allowed to access this page" notification is that it can exist hard to pivot downwards which of its causes are at play. Fortunately, there are many solutions you lot can exam out to detect the root of the trouble.

How to Fix the "Sorry, You Are Not Allowed to Access This Page" Mistake in WordPress (11 Potential Solutions)

Due to its many possible causes, the "Sorry, you lot are not allowed to access this folio" fault takes quite a scrap of patience to resolve. This long listing of solutions may be intimidating but it as well covers a variety of situations to assist you notice the right one for your site.

one. Restore a Previous Version of Your Site

The simplest and often the fastest fashion to get dorsum into your WordPress dashboard is to restore your site to an earlier version. A contempo change, such every bit an update, might be the cause of the error yous're seeing. Undoing your latest modification should enable you to access your site once again.

Kinsta clients accept it easy in this regard. Y'all can restore a WordPress backup 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 you may lose your recent changes and will have to find a style to accomplish your goals without causing the same error once again.

For this reason, you may want to restore your backup to a staging site instead. You can so test different modifications to determine what caused the problem. After uncovering the root of the issue, you can disengage the troublesome modify to regain access to your site.

2. Disable All of Your Plugins

A specific change that may exist causing the "Sorry, you are not allowed to access this page" message on your site is the recent addition or upgrade of a plugin. If y'all suspect that this is the case, your all-time form of activeness is to disable your plugins 1 by i.

In the event that y'all disable a plugin and the message goes abroad, you lot've establish the source of the problem. You can then troubleshoot the issue with that plugin (or exercise without it, if it's not crucial to your site'southward functionality).

Of course, if you're locked out of your dashboard entirely, this process gets a piddling tricky. Y'all'll need to access your site using SFTP via a client such as FileZilla. Once you'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 then rename your nearly recently-added plugin to something like "plugin-name_old". Get back to your site and check to see if the error is resolved. If not, change the plugin's name back and repeat the procedure with the adjacent 1.

3. Activate a Default Theme

Yet some other potential crusade of this fault is that y'all've recently updated or installed a theme. Your best bet for resolving this problem is to activate a default WordPress theme such as Twenty Twenty or Twenty Nineteen.

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

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

The rest of the process is adequately similar to the ane described above for disabling your plugins.

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

So yous can troubleshoot the theme. Your site should at to the lowest degree be attainable, albeit with the wrong theme activated.

four. Make Sure Y'all're an Ambassador

Some other possibility is that your user office has been inadvertently changed and you 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 example, yous'll need to admission phpMyAdmin and look for the wp_users table:

The WP users table
The wp_users table in phpMyAdmin

Find your username and note your ID. So, navigate to the wp_usermeta table and find the wp_capabilties row:

The wp_usermeta table in phpMyAdmin
The wp_usermeta table in phpMyAdmin

If you lot have Ambassador privileges, the meta_value in this row will read:

a:ane:{southward:13:"ambassador";south:ane:"1";}

If your wp_usermeta table says something else, y'all can click on the Edit link and alter it. Alternatively, you can also create an entirely new Administrator account 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 tabular array

Then, fill up in the fields with your new user information. In one case you're washed, click on the Get button and your new user should appear in the table. Next, you'll need to make a notation of the ID for this account and head dorsum to the wp_usermeta table.

Click on Insert once more, and fill up in the resulting fields with the following data:

  • Unmeta_id: Exit this field blank; it will be filled in automatically for you.
  • User_id: Use the ID from the WP Users table.
  • Meta_key: Fix this value as "wp_capabilities".
  • Meta_value: Add 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 role dorsum to Administrator from the dashboard and delete the new one instead.

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v. Check Your Error Log to Pinpoint the Crusade

A smart way to streamline troubleshooting whatsoever problem on your site is to check your server'southward error log. This may indicate plugin or theme compatibility issues, database errors, or problems with your site's files that are causing the "Lamentable, you are not immune to access this page" bulletin to appear.

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

MyKinsta logs tab
MyKinsta logs tab

Choose error.log from the driblet-down menu. If y'all meet one of the causes of the alert in your log, so y'all can go near fixing it. Otherwise, you lot'll demand to endeavor another solution on this list.

6. Ensure That Your Database Prefix Is Correct

Every MySQL database has a prefix. If this one listed in your website's files doesn't match the 1 listed in phpMyAdmin, then you lot may see the "Sorry, you are not allowed to access this page" message.

This tin 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, y'all'll need to access your wp-config.php file.

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

Database prefix
Database prefix

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

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, and then you lot'll need to edit it so that they do.

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

On a like annotation, you should also look for any changes to your WordPress configuration file. This is specially true if you were editing this file soon earlier yous received the "Sorry, you lot are not allowed to access this page" message or if you suspect that your WordPress site has been hacked.

You lot tin can access your wp-config.php file using SFTP and look for anything that seems amiss. Yet, this procedure is much easier if you have some kind of file integrity monitoring or modify detection feature in identify.

8. 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 operation.

Before you beginning the upgrade process, create a fill-in of your site. Yous tin can practice this manually or from your MyKinsta dashboard, fifty-fifty if you lot're locked out of your admin expanse. Once you've saved your backup, y'all'll want to test to see whether your account is uniform with the latest version of PHP. One fashion to do this is with a WordPress staging site.

Bold that all goes well, yous can run the update. Kinsta customers can easily exercise and so past logging into the MyKinsta dashboard and navigating to the relevant site. And so go to Tools > PHP Engine > Modify, and select the newest version from the drop-down menu:

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

If y'all're with another provider, y'all may be able to follow a similar process via your own control panel. It's recommended that you contact your spider web host for more data.

9. Evaluate Your File Permissions

It's also possible that your site'south file permissions accept been tampered with. In this case, WordPress may consider you unauthorized to view certain areas of your site, even if you're notwithstanding listed as an Administrator.

To check your site's file permissions, you'll demand to use SFTP to access 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, brand sure 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. And 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 be 644.
  • Recurse into subdirectories should nevertheless be checked.
  • Apply to files only should be selected.

So, return to your site to see if this solves the problem and the "Sorry, you are non allowed to access this folio" bulletin is gone.

ten. Create a New .htaccess File

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

Next, you lot'll need to rename your existing .htaccess file, similar 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 the file in a text editor and replace its contents with the post-obit:

          #Brainstorm WordPress  RewriteEngine On  RewriteBase /  RewriteRule ^index\.php$ - [Fifty]  RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f  RewriteCOnd %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d  RewriteRule . /alphabetize.php [50]  #Stop WordPress        

Rename this file .htaccess and upload it to your server. If this file was the source of the "Sorry, y'all are not allowed to admission this folio" mistake, then it should now be stock-still.

11. Reset Your WordPress Site

In the worst-case scenario, there may be an installation effect. To fix it, yous'll have to reset your WordPress site. It'south vital that yous have a contempo backup yous tin restore after this process is complete, 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 control line). It's best to save this route as a last resort, so yous don't risk losing your site's content.

Are yous getting the awfully alarming *Pitiful, You lot Are Not Immune to Access This Page* message? Endeavour one of these methods to get your access dorsum! 🙅‍♂️🔑 Click to Tweet

Summary

Being locked out of your admin dashboard in WordPress is nervus-wracking, to say the least. Quickly finding the right solution to the "Sorry, you are non allowed to admission this page" mistake is vital to both your site and your peace of mind.

In this mail service, nosotros 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. Activate a default theme.
  4. Brand sure you lot're an administrator.
  5. Check your error log to pinpoint the crusade.
  6. Ensure that your database prefix is correct.
  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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