error establishing a database connection

ERROR ESTABLISHING A DATABASE CONNECTION HOW TO

To do so, sign in to your control panel and navigate to Domains > Websites. You can use a Secure File Transfer Protocol (SFTP) client to access it.Īlternatively, if your site is hosted with DreamHost, you can access the file system from the DreamHost Control Panel. This information is stored in your site’s wp-config.php file. The first thing you’ll need to do is locate the credentials WordPress is currently using to access your database. Since this is the most likely cause of the error, it should also be the first step in your troubleshooting. Step 1: Check Your WordPress Database Credentials Note that you should try each step in order, only moving to the next if one doesn’t work. Below, you’ll find step-by-step instructions for troubleshooting and fixing the problem.

ERROR ESTABLISHING A DATABASE CONNECTION HOW TO

How to Fix the Error Establishing a Database Connection in WordPress (In 4 Steps)Īlthough this is a serious error, it’s fortunately fairly easy to resolve.

For that reason, fixing the error can involve some troubleshooting.

These problems can include outages, data loss, and hardware failures.Īs we said, incorrect credentials are the most common cause of the error, but any of these could be the culprit.

Problems with the web server or hosting provider. If problems arise with your host or server (if you’re self-hosting) and WordPress can’t reach it to query the database, it will throw this error.

Even though these files are outside the database, they may sometimes result in the same error. Similarly, corruption can occur in the core WordPress files that make up your site. Although MySQL is quite robust, nothing is perfect, and errors do occur. Corruption can result from manually tinkering with the database, but it can also just happen as a consequence of normal use. If any part is deleted or corrupted, the result can be the error in question. A WordPress MySQL database contains a lot of information. Remember, these login details are different from the ones you use to access your site. This could be either the database name, username, or password.

Incorrect database login credentials. Possibly the most common cause of the Error Establishing a Database Connection is simply that WordPress has incorrect login credentials for your database.

There are four typical causes of the database connection error: Related: How to Implement Caching on Your WordPress Website Common Causes of the Error Establishing a Database Connection The most common cause, by far, is just a mismatch of login credentials for the database. Therefore, if you catch the error early and resolve the problem before your site’s cache refreshes, you can avoid too many interruptions to your site and business.įortunately, as WordPress errors go, a database connection error is usually pretty simple to resolve. If your site uses caching, visitors may still see stored copies of your pages. In fact, you won’t even be able to access the WordPress dashboard (your site’s back end). This error prevents the entire page from loading. If, for whatever reason, WordPress can’t access your site’s database or it isn’t working properly, the result is an Error Establishing a Database Connection message. When a visitor comes to your site, WordPress uses PHP to query the database and pull the correct information, which is then displayed as the complete page. Nearly all website information - including post data, plugin settings, login credentials, and more - is stored and organized in a MySQL database. Check Out Plans Understanding the Error Establishing a Database Connection in WordPressīefore we dig too much into this particular error message, let’s have a brief lesson on how WordPress sites work.

Error establishing a database connection