WordPress stuck in maintenance mode on upgrade

By    John Garner on  Thursday, September 25, 2014
Summary: Is your site stuck in maintenance mode and you can't get out of it. You may find the reason is a file that hasn't been deleted by your server.

I just came across a situation where on upgrading 3 plugins on WordPress the system got stuck on the first plugin upgrade and after 30 secs had not moved at all. This was the first time it had happened to me and I have upgraded WP sites, plugins and themes hundreds of times so it is rare in my experience.

So it took me by surprise and also I didn't have a clue what to do. I came across this post on the WP forums that was the perfect answer:
https://wordpress.org/support/topic/30-stuck-in-maintenance-mode-after-failed-plugin-upgrade

You basically need to delete a file called .maintenance in the root of your site's web folder, via FTP or a web file management system that allows you to see and delete files starting with a dot: ".maintenance"

For example in CuteFTP you would need to select "enable server side filtering" by clicking on the filter button in Actions (right click on site properties of the site to get this) and add the following command "-a" as a filter (without quote marks).

Article written by  John Garner

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recent Posts

Check out the most recent posts from the blog: 
Sunday, September 24, 2023
The reliability & accuracy of GenAI

I question the reliability and accuracy of Generative AI (GenAI) in enterprise scenarios, particularly when faced with adversarial questions, highlighting that current Large Language Models (LLMs) may be data-rich but lack in reasoning and causality. I would call for a more balanced approach to AI adoption in cases of assisting users, requiring supervision, and the need for better LLM models that can be trusted, learn, and reason.

Read More
Saturday, September 23, 2023
From Chatbots to Reducing Society's Technical Debt

I discuss my experience with chatbots, contrasting older rules-based systems with newer GenAI (General Artificial Intelligence) chatbots. We cannot dismiss the creative capabilities of GenAI-based chatbots, but these systems lack reliability, especially in customer-facing applications, and improvements in the way AI is structured could lead to a "software renaissance," potentially reducing society's technical debt.

Read More
Friday, June 16, 2023
The imbalance of power in the AI game: in search of the common good

The article discusses the contrasting debate on how AI safety is and should be managed, its impact on technical debt, and its societal implications.
It notes the Center for AI Safety's call for a worldwide focus on the risks of AI, and Meredith Whittaker's criticism that such warnings preserve the status quo, strengthening tech giants' dominance. The piece also highlights AI's potential to decrease societal and technical debt by making software production cheaper, simpler, and resulting in far more innovation. It provides examples of cost-effective open-source models that perform well and emphasizes the rapid pace of AI innovation. Last, the article emphasises the need for adaptive legislation to match the pace of AI innovation, empowering suitable government entities for oversight, defining appropriate scopes for legislation and regulation, addressing ethical issues and biases in AI, and promoting public engagement in AI regulatory decisions.

Read More
Thursday, June 1, 2023
Japan revises copyright laws for AI

Japan has made its ruling on the situation between Content creators and Businesses. Japanese companies that use AI have the freedom to use content for training purposes without the burden of copyright laws. This news about the copyright laws in Japan reported over at Technomancers is seen as Businesses: 1 / Content Creators: 0 The […]

Read More
crossmenuarrow-down