WordPress is a popular open-source CMS Content Management System that is used by many developers across the globe. The evolving software of WordPress keeps coming up with several updates and changes in the existing WordPress version. With many different sources, WordPress is actively updated with new features, bug-fix issues, and other vulnerability detection. Thus, keeping your WordPress updated with all the latest WordPress updates is important to avoid any underlying issues. How to fix “Briefly Unavailable For Scheduled Maintenance is one such issue that might uphold your site for a long if not fixed immediately.
Today, we will explore the best ways to fix the “Briefly Unavailable For Scheduled Maintenance” error and study the reasons behind it to keep your site away from such cases.
Understanding “Briefly Unavailable for Scheduled Maintenance”
There are times when you update your WordPress site, and it goes under maintenance mode. This occurs while your WordPress site is still under updating process. WordPress goes into maintenance mode when there is an attempt to manually update the site’s themes, plugins, or software.
Thus, this message pop displays in order to prevent your site from appearing broken on the front end. While WordPress is updating, it creates a temporary maintenance file on your website and puts your website in maintenance mode. This is when it displays the “Briefly unavailable for scheduled maintenance. Check back in a minute.” text.
Typically, as the maintenance process is over, the message is automatically removed from your site. However, there are times when it can get stuck on your site, and thus, the error still may persist.
Related: Fix “An Error Occurred In The Upload…” In WordPress
What Causes The Error?
During the updates, WordPress downloads all the essential update files to your server to extract and install the update later. While the update is operating, WordPress puts your site on maintenance mode identifying “Briefly unavailable for scheduled maintenance. Check back in a minute.”
If the update runs smoothly and finishes without any issues, then the notification is removed on its own. However, minor issues can sometimes cause the error to remain on your site. Below are some reasons:
- Low memory: PHP scrips run every process on WordPress site, including the updates. So, if there is an issue of low storage, the script running installation might not be able to delete the .maintainnace file.
- Compatibility issues: Sometimes, the theme and plugins used on the site are not updated or compatible with the current version of WordPress. This can cause bug issues and stall the update process early.
- Slow server: WordPress has a certain limit on running a script. If the site server responds slowly, it might run out of time before turning off the maintenance error.
Related: Why Is Your WordPress Slow
- The update was interrupted midway: Disabling the maintained mode is the last step of the update method. If the mode is not disabled, the chances are that the update was interrupted mid-way and wasn’t completed.
Read: How To Update WordPress PHP Version?
How To Fix “Briefly Unavailable For Scheduled Maintenance”?
To fix the “Briefly unavailable for scheduled maintenance” error on your WordPress, all you need to do is delete the .maintaince file from your root folder. You can do this by using FTP ( File Transfer Protocol) and following the below steps:
- Connect to your website’s file and find the .maintaince file there. Right-click on it and then select “Delete.”
- In case you are not able to access to .maintainace file, make sure to check if your FTP client is carefully set to show hidden files
- You can use FileZilla to command the client to display the hidden files. Click on server> Force showing hidden files from the menu.
Now that the .maintaince file has been removed from your root folder, the “Briefly Unavailable For Scheduled Maintenance” error should be removed from your site.
Note: If you are not using FTP, another way is to remove and delete the file from the manager app in your WordPress hosting control panel.
Read: 10 Best WordPress Maintenance Service Providers For 2023
How To Prevent The Error In The Future?
Now that you understand the issues and the possible reasons behind them, you can prepare yourselves to avoid such errors in the future with the following:
Upgrade your hosting plan
Most of these errors are caused by low storage issues causing WordPress to be stuck in maintenance mode. When you are low on storage, it can cause PHP to stop running before finishing the update. Thus, the maintenance mode gets stuck on the website.
To resolve this, you must upgrade your hosting plan with increased space to avoid this issue in the near future. Also, always have some extra space on your site to let WordPress function smoothly.
Keep the browser tabs open during the updates
When you are beginning with the update on your WordPress from the admin dashboard, keep a check n the screen.
You will be notified once the process is started and when it’s finished.
Once it’s completed, you will get a message “Disabling maintenance mode. All the updates have been completed.”
Ensure to keep that tab open until the update is duly completed. Else there can be a server issue timeout, and the update will be interrupted.
Avoid updating plugins and themes in bulk
Updating plugins and themes is a good way to keep all the features up to date. However, updating them all at once can cause the server to overload and thus slow down your site. This leads to delaying the overall updating process and causing maintenance errors to get stuck on the site.
To avoid this, make sure all your updated themes and plugins are compatible with the existing version of your WordPress. You can check the details on your WordPress directly.
Additionally, you can also check the compatibility issues using the WordPress staging environment. With this, you can test and run any update without breaking down the live site.
Know: Best WordPress Backup Plugins 2023
How To Customize Maintenance Mode Page Using Plugins
When your WordPress site is under maintenance mode, it will always display a plain HTML page message “Briefly unavailable for scheduled maintenance. Check back in a minute.”
If you want a more engaging appearance for the site during the process, you can manually put your WordPress site on maintenance mode before installing any updates.
You can do this by installing maintenance mode plugins like SeedProd or Minimal Coming Soon & Maintenance Mode plugin.
These plugins help you customize every aspect of your maintenance mode page. From uploading a logo to writing custom HTML, You can modify the age as per your requirement. Moreover, you can also preview the customized page before the actual activation.
Also Read: How To Create A Custom Page Template In WordPress
Looking to maintain your WordPress Website?
Connect with us for the best WordPress Maintenance and Care Services for your WordPress site
Conclusion
WordPress tends to encounter several issues during the updating process, and “Briefly Unavailable For Scheduled Maintenance. Check back in a minute.” is one of them. If left unchecked, it can cause a negative user experience and hinder your WordPress overall interface.
Thus, detecting and resolving these issues as soon as possible is crucial. We hope that our article above helps you resolve the issues and avoid future errors for a seamless WordPress interface.
So, keep a check on your site and continue delivering a happy user experience!
