Have you ever tried to open one of your WordPress posts only to be greeted by a 404 error? At times, we experience that when we’re working on our own WordPress sites or helping our users
This error occurs when you can access your WordPress admin area and blog, but when you try to open a specific post, you’re met with a “404 Not Found” message.
It can be frustrating to see your content seemingly disappear, but we’ve found some workarounds to fix this issue. In this complete guide, we’ll show you how to fix WordPress posts returning 404 errors.
Why Are My WordPress Posts Returning a 404 Error?
There are several reasons why your posts might be showing a 404 “Page Not Found” error in WordPress. These can include:
- Plugin or theme conflicts: Sometimes, plugins or themes you’ve installed on your site can interfere with how WordPress handles permalinks. This can lead to broken links and 404 errors.
- Custom code issues: If you’ve added custom code to your website, there might be errors in the code that are affecting permalinks or causing other conflicts, resulting in 404 errors for your posts.
- Issues with your .htaccess file: The .htaccess file plays a role in how WordPress structures URLs. If this file is corrupted or missing, it can lead to 404 errors for your posts or pages.
How to Find All WordPress Posts With 404 Errors
Before we get to the solutions, it’d be good to figure out if this error is just happening to one or two posts or multiple posts. This way, you can determine the scope of the problem and choose the most appropriate solution.
One easy way to figure this out is to use Google Search Console. If you haven’t submitted your site to Google Search Console already, then read our guide on how to add your WordPress site to Google Search Console.
Once the Google bot has crawled and indexed your site, Google Search Console will then provide you with detailed information about your site’s performance, including any 404 errors it encounters.
To find out which posts are returning 404 errors, you can log in to the Search Console dashboard. Then, navigate to the ‘Pages’ report, and you will see a detailed list of all the errors.
For more information, you can read our list of tips for using Google Search Console to grow website traffic, which includes some tips on how to fix 404 errors with the tool.
That being said, let’s look at how to fix WordPress posts returning 404 errors. You can use the links below to jump straight to different solutions:
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Method 1: Check for Plugin or Theme Conflicts and Custom Code Issues
Sometimes, plugins, themes, or custom code you’ve added to your WordPress website can interfere with permalinks or cause conflicts, leading to 404 errors. We’ve even experienced it ourselves when we’re testing tools on our demo site.
One way to solve this problem is to temporarily deactivate plugins. Plugins can sometimes disrupt how WordPress handles links.
Once you’ve deactivated the plugins, you can reactivate them one by one while checking if the 404 error reappears after activating each plugin. If the error shows up after activating a specific plugin, that might be the culprit.
You can then do a quick Google search for solutions related to that plugin or contact the plugin developer for support.
Similarly, your WordPress theme might be causing the conflict.
To check, you can temporarily switch to a default WordPress theme like Twenty Twenty-Three or Twenty Twenty-Four. All you need to do is go to Appearance » Themes and click ‘Activate’ on a default theme.
If the 404 error disappears with the default theme, it indicates a potential conflict with your current theme. You can then try troubleshooting the theme or consider using a different theme.
You can check out our expert pick of the most popular WordPress themes for recommendations.
If you’ve recently inserted code snippets to your website, there might be errors in the code causing the 404 errors. Take a close look at the code you added and see if you can identify any mistakes.
The safest way to add code snippets to WordPress is with the WPCode plugin. This plugin lets you insert custom code without directly working with the theme files, reducing the risk of breaking your website.
Plus, whenever WPCode spots an error in your code, it will automatically deactivate the snippet and ask you to check it. You can also use the testing mode to check if your code works before pushing it to your live website.
If none of these solutions work, move on to the next method where we’ll troubleshoot your permalink settings.
Method 2: Fix Your Permalink Settings
WordPress posts can return 404 errors because of problems with rewrite rules in your .htaccess file. In most cases, you can fix the problem by updating your permalink settings.
Simply go to Settings » Permalinks in your WordPress admin, and click on the ‘Save Changes’ button.
There is no need to make changes to the permalink settings themselves. This will update your permalink settings and flush the rewrite rules.
In most cases, this solution fixes the WordPress posts 404 error. However, if it does not work for you, then you probably need to update your .htaccess file manually.
Method 3: Update the WordPress .htaccess File
Before you start, make sure to back up your WordPress .htaccess file first. If something goes wrong, you can easily restore the original file.
Now, you will need to connect to your server using an FTP client like FileZilla or the File Manager app in your WordPress hosting dashboard.
Next, you will need to find and edit the .htaccess file, which is located in the same location as folders like /wp-content/ and /wp-includes/.
Simply right-click on the file and select ‘File permissions.’
You can make the file writeable by changing its permissions to 666.
Simply enter ‘666’ into the ‘Numeric value’ box and then click on ‘OK’.
Then, you need to repeat the steps in the first method of our tutorial. Once you have done this, don’t forget to change the permissions back to 660.
You can also edit the file and add code to it.
Once you have opened the .htaccess file with a text editor, simply insert this code:
# BEGIN WordPress
<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
RewriteRule ^index\.php$ - [L]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule . /index.php [L]
</IfModule>
# END WordPress
Method 4: Contact Your Hosting Provider
If neither of the solutions above has fixed the WordPress posts returning 404 error, then we recommend contacting your WordPress hosting provider. There may be an error on their end, or they might be able to help you troubleshoot the problem.
Please also see our guide on how to properly ask for WordPress support and get it.
Method 5: Enable mod-rewrite (Local WordPress Installation)
If you are using a local server for testing purposes, then you will need to enable mod_rewrite in the Apache configuration of your MAMP, WAMP, or XAMPP site.
This will allow WordPress to generate clean URLs and prevent the 404 error for posts and pages on your local server.
How you do this will differ by the platform you use. People using XAMPP can open their control panel and click the ‘Config’ button within Actions. Then, select ‘Apache (httpd.conf).’
Next, you will need to find this line #LoadModule rewrite_module modules/mod_rewrite.so and remove the ‘#’ to uncomment it.
This will load the mod_rewrite.
Then, find all instances of AllowOverride None and change them to AllowOverride All.
The ‘All’ value means that all directives can be overridden.
Once done, you can save the httpd.conf file and close it. After that, in the XAMPP control panel, click ‘Stop’ on the Apache module and ‘Start’ again to restart it.
Then, go back to your admin dashboard to see if your permalinks are working.
Video Tutorial
If you need visual instructions, then just watch the video below.
We hope this article helped you resolve the posts returning 404 errors in WordPress. You may also want to see our guide to the most common WordPress errors and how to fix them, along with our expert picks for the best WordPress plugins to grow your site.
If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.
Farid
Thank you very much for precious article that is useful to fixed my website problem.. i always prefer your web solution regarding in problem in wordpress cms.
Thank you..;.
WPBeginner Support
You’re welcome, glad our guides have been helpful
Admin
Ben
Just wanted to leave a thank you comment! Your guides on WordPress are second to none! I have learnt so much reading your blog and every time I Google a problem..I am looking for your website and that is where I will click! Great and simple instructions even on the most complicated WordPress issues…you are awesome! Thanks.
WPBeginner Support
You’re welcome, glad you like our content and hope our guides continue to be helpful
Admin
David Naugle
This totally worked! I just updated my PHP and dashboard and home pages was accessible but not any of my post pages.
Thx
WPBeginner Support
You’re welcome, glad our guide was helpful
Admin
Vivian S.
Thank You so much it saved my life! I had to move my WordPress website to a new server and it took me a whole day to fix everything. I wish WP had an easy way to do this.
WPBeginner Support
Glad our guide was helpful, for transferring your content you would want to take a look at our article below:
https://www.wpbeginner.com/wp-tutorials/how-to-move-wordpress-to-a-new-host-or-server-with-no-downtime/
Admin
Gustavo
Thank you guys, you’re AWESOME, ALLWAYS!
WPBeginner Support
You’re welcome
Admin
Don Current
I tried everything in the article with no success. What I ended up doing was choosing a different Permalink structure and saving it, and then going back to the structure I wanted and saving it. Then all was well.
WPBeginner Support
Thanks for sharing the method that worked for you
Admin
James
I accidentally deleted .htaccess file when doing 301 and got the 404 not found error. Your tutorial came to my rescue. Just by saving the permalinks and it worked. Thank you.
WPBeginner Support
You’re welcome, glad our guide could help
Admin
Ivan
Saved me! I am dealing with forces I cannot comprehend, and this explanation and tip was really helpful!
WPBeginner Support
Glad our guide was helpful
Admin
Uwemedimo Usa
Wow, I’m shocked at how fast this worked. I recently migrated my site from a subdomain to the root domain and none of my links were working. All I did was go to permalinks in settings and click “save changes.” That was all. Wow. And I was really scared I’d broken something. Thank you.
WPBeginner Support
You’re welcome, glad we were able to help
Admin
DNNY
What do you do if you cant even get into your WP
dashboard
WPBeginner Support
For that, you would want to take a look at our article below:
https://www.wpbeginner.com/beginners-guide/beginners-guide-to-troubleshooting-wordpress-errors-step-by-step/
Admin
Katie
Hi, thanks for the tips. I still can’t seem to fix the error. Have reset Permalinks, installed a redirect plugin (doesn’t help if wanting to redirect to the homepage). I can’t work out how to alter the .htaccess and not really confident to do it. Any other suggestions?
WPBeginner Support
If you are using a static page ensure it is published, for the htaccess you would need to use FTP or your host’s file manager, otherwise, you would want to follow our troubleshooting guide below:
https://www.wpbeginner.com/beginners-guide/beginners-guide-to-troubleshooting-wordpress-errors-step-by-step/
Admin
Fola
Thanks You saved me a lot of hassles
WPBeginner Support
You’re welcome
Admin
Jill
THANK YOU for this post! I had a primary domain that I let go and needed to move two sites on my hosting plan…. 1 to the primary domain position and 1 to an addon domain position which was formerly a subdomain position. I broke a lot of stuff. With some logical thought, I got most of it all back… EXCEPT all the pages on the primary domain site couldn’t be viewed on the live site once you clicked on them or the menu links. The home page loaded beautifully, but when you clicked a post or link… the errors popped up. This trick resolved those issues… so THANK YOU again! You saved the day!
WPBeginner Support
You’re welcome, glad our guide was helpful
Admin
umesh
I just change the permalink directly and it shows 404 error I couldn’t access my website it redirects me to another site which is not mine
WPBeginner Support
You would want to reach out to your hosting provider to ensure your domain is set up properly and there isn’t any malicious code on your site.
Admin
faheem
404 Not Found
nginx/1.10.3 (Ubuntu)
please give me solution for that
WPBeginner Support
For nginx, at the moment you would want to reach out to your hosting provider and they should be able to assist.
Admin
Carene
I’m busy building a website via wordpress & cpanel. I by accident deleted the url in my dashboard. Now I don’t get even access. Is their any way to fix it.
WPBeginner Support
You would need to edit your site via phpMyAdmin similar to the article below. Instead of the users table you would need to edit the options table where you can readd your site address and url.
https://www.wpbeginner.com/beginners-guide/how-to-reset-a-wordpress-password-from-phpmyadmin/
Admin
Long Nguyen-Vu
Just want to let you know that you’ve helped me save a lot of time searching.
Thanks so much.
WPBeginner Support
You’re welcome, glad our guide was able to help
Admin
Jim
OMG I LOVE YOU
updating the permalinks and all is gold
THANK YOU
WPBeginner Support
Glad our guide was able to help
Admin
Brandon G.
Updating permalinks fixed my 404 errors. Thanks!
WPBeginner Support
You’re welcome
Admin
Musthafa
Updating the permalink worked perfectly. Thanks guys!
WPBeginner Support
You’re welcome, glad our guide was helpful
Admin
ami
thanks its is working
WPBeginner Support
You’re welcome, glad our guide was helpful
Admin
Heather
Simply saving changes in my permalinks did the trick. Thank you!
WPBeginner Support
You’re welcome, glad our guide was helpful
Admin
Ekemini Robert
After saving changed for the permalink, it still returned the 404 error. Then I used the clear cache WP button at the top and the problem was solved.
WPBeginner Support
Glad you were able to resolve the issue
Admin
Didar
Thank you so much !
WPBeginner Support
You’re welcome
Admin
Ashish Agarwal
Thanks so much for this post. You are a lifesaver. Clicking ‘Save Changes’ on Permalinks under Settings did the job for me.
WPBeginner Support
Glad our recommendation was able to help
Admin
Alex
I have issues on 404 Page not found.
I tried updating the permalinks but still not working and I also checked the .htacess file in our server and it’s the same on the above sample. But still not working.
WPBeginner Support
You may want to reach out to your hosting provider to ensure there are no issues on their end that could be a part of the issue
Admin
Luiz Felipe
This simple solution saved me! thanks!!!!!!!
WPBeginner Support
You’re welcome
Admin
Steve Dzwonczyk
The 2nd method worked for me (FTP and edit of the .htaccess file). Thank you very much.
WPBeginner Support
You’re welcome, glad our recommendation was helpful
Admin
Pranesh
Thank you very much
WPBeginner Support
You’re welcome
Admin
Anas
Thank you so much for this helpful tip. Was really bugging me a lot
WPBeginner Support
You’re welcome, glad our guide was helpful
Admin
Michelle Kwok
thanks a lot.. it’s weird.. works at step one =)
WPBeginner Support
You’re welcome, glad our recommendation was able to help
Admin
Steph
This worked at step 1. Thank you!
WPBeginner Support
You’re welcome, glad our guide could be helpful
Admin
Ishmael
Many thanks, solved my problem.
WPBeginner Support
You’re welcome, glad our guide was helpful
Admin
Shiraz
This article helped me bring my website back on. Thank you.
WPBeginner Support
You’re welcome
Admin
mariam
Thanks for this post,it really solved my 404 error problems
WPBeginner Support
Glad our recommendations were able to help
Admin
Tim
Just a quick note to say thank you so much! I had just activated a CDN (learning as I go) and thought I had broken my site and went searching everywhere but here was the answer…phew!
WPBeginner Support
Glad our guide could help
Admin
Lou Sarmiento
Hi!
I’ve added the htaccess script, updated my wordpress but still I need to resave the permalinks. Any other solution?
Thanks!
WPBeginner Support
If these solutions are not working, you would likely need to ensure there isn’t an error on your host’s end or you could try the recommendations in our troubleshooting guide here:
https://www.wpbeginner.com/beginners-guide/beginners-guide-to-troubleshooting-wordpress-errors-step-by-step/
Admin
Ayesha
i have 404 error but cannot acces neither the site or the wordpress. how can you access wordpress admin to solve the problem??
WPBeginner Support
If you’re unable to access your admin area, you would want to go through our guide below or reach out to your hosting provider:
https://www.wpbeginner.com/beginners-guide/beginners-guide-to-troubleshooting-wordpress-errors-step-by-step/
Admin
Nera
Lifesaver! It worked! Flushing permalinks! Haleluja… THANKS!
WPBeginner Support
Glad our recommendation could help
Admin
wajid virk
on clicking save changes my problem Resolved, WP beginner is a part of my journey to learn WordPress more and more.
WPBeginner Support
Glad we can be here to help
Admin
Safa
You just saved me, Thanks
WPBeginner Support
You’re welcome
Admin
Nora
Thank you so much! This saved our corporate website
WPBeginner Support
Glad our article was helpful
Admin
Mary Ann
Will it work in 404 error of Wordpress Multisite once I visit the admin dashboard of the sub-sites?
WPBeginner Support
It would depend on the source of the error but this can certainly be one solution.
Admin
beginner
Thank you, it solved the issue straight away!
WPBeginner Support
Glad our article could help
Admin
Civali
.htaccess example worked for me, tks!
WPBeginner Support
Glad our recommendation could help
Admin
Vishwajeet
So I checked all solutions and comments. I have same issue with a twist. I can see the pages when I am changing it to use the Page ID but not when I am selecting the Post-Name? Any solution to this? I know its weird.
WPBeginner Support
You may want to delete the current htaccess file and if that does not fix the issue, reach out to your host to ensure there isn’t an underlying error causing the problem.
Admin
Mireille
Hello,
I just wanted to let you know that your website is of such great help ! I built my first Wordpress website and I managed to resolve many issues thanks to your articles. Thank you !
WPBeginner Support
Thank you, glad our articles have been helpful
Admin
Benson Kanyi
Hello Guys,
I have been facing this issue for the last three days after migrating a new site from my localhost to an online CPanel server. Having tried a million and one option from various forums, none of them could work at all. The only solution that seems to work is disabling Mod_Security in the CPanel. I just did it and it works like a champ. Thanks
WPBeginner Support
Thanks for sharing the solution that worked for you
Admin
hüseyin
I worked for days. It happened. cpanel mod security disable. solved the problem. Thanks BENSON
Christopher
Worked! Thanks!
WPBeginner Support
Glad our recommendation worked for you
Admin
Peter
you blog saved me from disaster thanks so much. im learning so much now
WPBeginner Support
Glad our recommendation could help
Admin