This is What You Need to Do When Your WordPress Website Crashes on HTTPS
As a WordPress website owner, few things can be more frustrating than your site crashing after you've switched it to HTTPS. This can be a particularly tricky issue to troubleshoot, as the cause can often be hidden deep within your website's code or database.
However, don't worry – with the right steps, you can usually get your WordPress site back up and running on HTTPS without too much hassle. In this article, we'll walk you through a comprehensive process to diagnose and fix the issue, step-by-step.
Step 1: Backup Your WordPress Site
Before you do anything else, it's crucial that you make a complete backup of your WordPress site. This includes your database, media files, and all your theme and plugin files. This backup will act as a safety net in case anything goes wrong during the troubleshooting process.
You can use a plugin like UpdraftPlus or BackupBuddy to make a full site backup, or you can export your database manually using a tool like phpMyAdmin.
Step 2: Identify the Issue
The first step in fixing your WordPress website crash on HTTPS is to identify the root cause of the problem. There are a few common reasons why this can happen:
-
Incorrect Database URLs: If your site's URLs in the database are still set to "http" instead of "https", this can cause issues when trying to access the site via HTTPS.
-
Theme or Plugin Conflicts: Some WordPress themes and plugins may not be fully compatible with HTTPS, leading to conflicts and crashes.
-
Server Configuration Issues: Problems with your web server's HTTPS configuration, such as missing SSL certificates or incorrect redirects, can also cause WordPress to crash on HTTPS.
To start troubleshooting, try accessing your site's admin area or front-end via HTTPS. If you encounter a blank page, a 500 Internal Server Error, or any other kind of crash, that's a good indication that the issue is related to the HTTPS transition.
Step 3: Replace All HTTP URLs with HTTPS
One of the most common causes of WordPress crashing on HTTPS is outdated URLs in the database. To fix this, you'll need to replace all instances of "http://" with "https://" in your WordPress database.
Here's how you can do it:
- Export your entire WordPress database to a SQL file using a tool like phpMyAdmin.
- Open the SQL file in a text editor and perform a global search and replace, replacing all instances of "http://" with "https://".
- Save the edited SQL file.
- Import the updated SQL file back into your WordPress database, overwriting the old tables.
This should ensure that all your site's URLs are correctly using HTTPS, which should resolve any URL-related issues causing the crash.
Step 4: Check Your Theme and Plugin Compatibility
If the database URL fix doesn't work, the issue may be related to your WordPress theme or plugins not being fully compatible with HTTPS.
Start by deactivating and re-activating your current theme. This will force WordPress to reload the theme's files and settings, which may resolve any HTTPS-related conflicts.
Next, go through your list of installed plugins and deactivate any that you suspect might be causing issues. Try accessing your site via HTTPS again and see if the problem persists.
If one or more plugins are indeed the culprit, you'll need to either find updated versions that are HTTPS-compatible, or replace them with alternative plugins that serve the same function.
Step 5: Verify Your Web Server Configuration
In some cases, the issue may be related to your web server's HTTPS configuration, rather than anything within your WordPress installation.
Check the following server-side settings:
- SSL Certificate: Ensure that a valid SSL certificate is installed and correctly configured on your web server.
- Redirects: Make sure that your server is properly configured to redirect all HTTP traffic to HTTPS.
- .htaccess File: Verify that your WordPress .htaccess file is correctly set up to handle HTTPS requests.
If you're not comfortable making these kinds of server-level changes, you may want to reach out to your web hosting provider for assistance.
Get a Free AI Website Audit
Automatically identify UX and content issues affecting your conversion rates with Flowpoint's comprehensive AI-driven website audit.
Step 6: Reinstall WordPress (as a Last Resort)
If you've tried all the above steps and your WordPress site is still crashing on HTTPS, your last resort may be to completely reinstall WordPress from scratch.
Here's how you can do this:
- Backup your entire WordPress installation, including the database, files, and any custom code or configurations.
- Delete your existing WordPress installation, including all files and database tables.
- Download a fresh copy of the latest WordPress version from the official website.
- Upload the new WordPress files to your web server.
- Create a new database and user for your WordPress installation.
- Run the WordPress installation wizard to set up your site from scratch.
- Restore your backed-up files and database, making sure to update any URLs from "http" to "https".
- Reactivate your theme and plugins, testing each one to ensure they're HTTPS-compatible.
This complete reinstallation should ensure that your WordPress site is set up correctly for HTTPS from the ground up, resolving any underlying issues that were causing the crash.
Conclusion
Transitioning your WordPress site from HTTP to HTTPS can be a tricky process, but with the right troubleshooting steps, you can usually get it back up and running without too much difficulty.
Remember to always start by making a full backup of your site, then methodically work through the potential causes – from database URLs to theme and plugin conflicts to server configuration issues. If all else fails, a fresh WordPress installation can often be the best solution.
By following the steps outlined in this article, you should be able to get your WordPress website functioning perfectly on HTTPS in no time. Good luck!
Flowpoint.ai can help you identify all the technical errors that are impacting conversion rates on your website and directly generate recommendations to fix them.