{"id":1965512,"date":"2025-06-04T16:10:23","date_gmt":"2025-06-04T20:10:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theeventscalendar.com\/knowledgebase\/?p=1965512"},"modified":"2026-04-21T11:21:22","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T15:21:22","slug":"what-to-do-if-wordpress-is-stuck-in-maintenance-mode-after-update","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theeventscalendar.com\/knowledgebase\/what-to-do-if-wordpress-is-stuck-in-maintenance-mode-after-update\/","title":{"rendered":"What to Do if WordPress Is Stuck in \u201cMaintenance Mode\u201d After Update"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

When you update a plugin, WordPress temporarily puts your site into maintenance mode<\/strong>. This mode prevents visitors from seeing incomplete or broken pages during the update process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sometimes, if the update process is interrupted or doesn\u2019t finish properly, due to a slow server response, a plugin conflict, or a timeout, WordPress can get \u201cstuck\u201d in maintenance mode. When this happens, your site displays a message like:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u201cBriefly unavailable for scheduled maintenance. Check back in a minute.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

And the site remains inaccessible to visitors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Why Does This Happen?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

During an update, WordPress creates a temporary file named .maintenance<\/code> in your site\u2019s root directory. Normally, this file is deleted automatically once the update finishes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If the file remains (because the process was interrupted), WordPress continues to show the maintenance mode message.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How to Fix It<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Fixing this is quick and simple, you just need to delete the .maintenance<\/code> file.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Steps to Delete the .maintenance<\/code> File<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
    \n
  1. Access your site files<\/strong>
    Use FTP (via FileZilla, Cyberduck, etc.) or your hosting control panel\u2019s file manager.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Locate the .maintenance<\/code> file<\/strong>
    It\u2019s in the root directory of your WordPress installation, the same folder that contains wp-config.php<\/code> and the wp-content<\/code> folder.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. Delete the .maintenance<\/code> file<\/strong>
    Simply delete this file. This will immediately take your site out of maintenance mode.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  4. Refresh your website<\/strong>
    Visit your site to confirm it\u2019s loading normally again.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n
    \"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    Pro Tip: Preventing This in the Future<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
      \n
    • Always ensure plugin updates complete fully without interruptions.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Avoid updating multiple plugins simultaneously on slow or busy servers.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Consider updating plugins one at a time.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Do not leave the update page before the Maintenance is deactivated.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

      <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      When you update a plugin, WordPress temporarily puts your site into maintenance mode. This mode prevents visitors from seeing incomplete or broken pages during the update process. Sometimes, if the update process is interrupted or doesn\u2019t finish properly, due to a slow server response, a plugin conflict, or a timeout, WordPress can get \u201cstuck\u201d in…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":71,"featured_media":1955565,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_swpsp_post_exclude":false,"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[93,108],"tags":[341,198,259,109],"stellar-product-taxonomy":[],"class_list":["post-1965512","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-errors","category-wordpress","tag-general","tag-support","tag-troubleshooting","tag-wordpress"],"acf":[],"taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":93,"label":"Troubleshooting"},{"value":108,"label":"WordPress"}],"post_tag":[{"value":341,"label":"general"},{"value":198,"label":"support"},{"value":259,"label":"Troubleshooting"},{"value":109,"label":"WordPress"}]},"featured_image_src_large":["https:\/\/images.theeventscalendar.com\/kb\/uploads\/2023\/02\/social-share-1024x538.png",1024,538,true],"author_info":{"display_name":"Luan Luta","author_link":"https:\/\/theeventscalendar.com\/knowledgebase\/author\/luanluta\/"},"comment_info":0,"category_info":[{"term_id":93,"name":"Troubleshooting","slug":"errors","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":93,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":47,"filter":"raw","term_order":"0","cat_ID":93,"category_count":47,"category_description":"","cat_name":"Troubleshooting","category_nicename":"errors","category_parent":0},{"term_id":108,"name":"WordPress","slug":"wordpress","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":108,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":9,"filter":"raw","term_order":"0","cat_ID":108,"category_count":9,"category_description":"","cat_name":"WordPress","category_nicename":"wordpress","category_parent":0}],"tag_info":[{"term_id":341,"name":"general","slug":"general","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":341,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":79,"filter":"raw","term_order":"0"},{"term_id":198,"name":"support","slug":"support","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":198,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":2,"filter":"raw","term_order":"0"},{"term_id":259,"name":"Troubleshooting","slug":"troubleshooting","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":259,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":9,"filter":"raw","term_order":"0"},{"term_id":109,"name":"WordPress","slug":"wordpress","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":109,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":5,"filter":"raw","term_order":"0"}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theeventscalendar.com\/knowledgebase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1965512","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theeventscalendar.com\/knowledgebase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theeventscalendar.com\/knowledgebase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theeventscalendar.com\/knowledgebase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/71"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theeventscalendar.com\/knowledgebase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1965512"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/theeventscalendar.com\/knowledgebase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1965512\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1965567,"href":"https:\/\/theeventscalendar.com\/knowledgebase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1965512\/revisions\/1965567"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theeventscalendar.com\/knowledgebase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1955565"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theeventscalendar.com\/knowledgebase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1965512"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theeventscalendar.com\/knowledgebase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1965512"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theeventscalendar.com\/knowledgebase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1965512"},{"taxonomy":"stellar-product-taxonomy","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theeventscalendar.com\/knowledgebase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/stellar-product-taxonomy?post=1965512"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}