Unable to login to WordPress admin area is quite a common phenomenon faced by users working on WordPress. White screen of death, error establishing a database connection and internal server errors are some of the causes of this error.

If you are unable to login to the admin area or if the login page gets automatically refreshed and redirected back to the same page, then we have a list of solutions for you to try.

Clear cookies to resolve login issues

Clearing browsers cookies is a piece of cake. Follow the simple steps below:

• Check if the browser cookies are enabled.
• If they are not enabled, enable them.
• Clear your browser cookies and cache.
• Restart your browser.
• Login to your account.

The main reason behind clearing the cookies and cache is that WordPress uses cookies for login authentication. The solution mentioned above works for the majority of people, if it doesn’t for you then keep on reading.

Deactivate all plugins

If you have WordPress plugins which conflict each other, then this could potentially result in login error. Try these instructions and check if deactivating the plugins resolves your issue:

1. Use FTP and connect to the web hosting.
2. Rename /wp-content/plugins/directory to plugins_backup
3. Login to your website.

See how simple and easy this was? Just renaming the plugins can cause them to deactivate. If this worked for you then great! If it doesn’t stay tuned for more solutions below.

Revert back to default theme

Sometimes updating to the latest version can generate multiple errors. Whether the version of WordPress or plugin is updated, both can be a root source of this problem. The solution is pretty much the same as deactivating the plugins. All you need to do is:

1. Use an FTP client to connect to the website.
2. Go to /wp-content/themes/directory.
3. Rename the current theme directory to the name of your choice.
4. WordPress will automatically set it to the default theme.
5. Login to your account.

If the theme you are using is already set to a default theme, rename it and check if it works by logging in to your account.

After renaming, upload a new copy of default theme to your website, by downloading it from WordPress theme repository. If you succeed then it means that the default or current theme was definitely corrupted.

Delete .htaccess File

Due to any reason, if the.htacess file gets corrupted, it can easily cause login and redirecting errors. To fix this corrupted file:

1. Use FTP and connect to your website.
2. Backup the .htaccess file.
3. Delete the file from the root directory of the website.
4. If there is a .htacess file in the wp-admin directory, delete that too.
5. Login to your website.
6. Go to Settings >> Permalinks
7. Press the Save button.

This whole process will generate a new .htacess file, and hopefully that will solve the error.

Update the Site’s URL

If nothing else works, the last solution will be to define the site URL. It can be done by:

1. Using FTP, login to your website.
2. Edit the wp-config.php file.
3. Add the following lines of code in the same file.

define('WP_HOME','http://example.com');
define('WP_SITEURL','http://example.com');

4. Example.com should be replaced by your own URL.
5. If the website has www in it, add that too.
6. Save the changes made.
7. Login to your account.

We sincerely hope that the methods mentioned in the article, has helped you in resolving the error. If not, then let us know, so we can come up with more effective solutions in the future.