Have you ever encountered the frustrating problem where WordPress keeps logging you out? Recently one of our users encountered this issue. She followed all the normal troubleshooting tips like deactivating plugins, emptying cache, clearing browser cookies, and even restoring WordPress from backups. None of the above worked for her. If you’re facing this issue, then we have a solution for you. In this article, we will show you how to fix WordPress keeps logging out problem also known as WordPress session timeout issue.
Why WordPress Keeps Logging Out?
In order to understand why WordPress keeps logging you out, you need to understand how the WordPress login process work.
WordPress sets a cookie in your browser to authenticate a login session. This cookie is set for the WordPress URL stored in your settings section. If you are accessing from a URL that does not match the one in your WordPress settings, then WordPress will not be able to authenticate your session.
As you can see in the settings screenshot above, the WordPress URL and the Site Address are two different URLs (notice one has www. and the other doesn’t).
Video Tutorial
If you don’t like the video or need more instructions, then continue reading.
Fixing The Login Issue
A simple fix for this login issue is to make sure that you have the same URL in your Site Address and WordPress Address fields in your WordPress settings. This means that you need to choose either www or a non-www URL in the both fields.
Login to your WordPress dashboard and go to Settings » General.
If you can’t access the admin area, then you can update these fields by editing the wp-config.php file.
Connect to your website using an FTP client, and locate the wp-config.php file in your site’s root directory. You need to download this file to your Desktop and open it in a text editor like Notepad. Add this code just above the line That’s all, stop editing! Happy blogging.
define('WP_HOME','http://example.com');
define('WP_SITEURL','http://example.com');
If you prefer to use www in URL, then use this code instead
define('WP_HOME','http://www.example.com');
define('WP_SITEURL','http://www.example.com');
Don’t forget to replace example.com with your own domain name.
Why does this solution work?
Technically speaking, www is a subdomain itself. This means that URLs with www and without it are actually two different domains.
By changing and updating the URLs to the same address, it will fix the issue.
A more detailed technical explanation of www vs naked domain is here.
Also it’s important to note that incorrect settings in WordPress Address and Site Address fields may also result into too many redirect issue in WordPress.
We hope this article helped you fix WordPress session timeout issue. If it doesn’t then checkout how to fix WordPress login page refreshing and redirecting issue.
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How about multisite? There’s no such place to enter the URL. And then, after logging in many times, the login will eventually “stick”, without changing anything …
You would want to try the wp-config method and that should still work for multisite
It worked for me….Thanks for the post.
Glad it was helpful
This did not fix my issue. Are there any other solutions?
I cannot even get to that settings page. I’m using safari and have only started having the problem with a site I comment on regularly, and have had no problems with for almost a decade.
I would try another browser to see if it’s a browser issue.
hi…thanks for sharing this informative article
but i am finding issue in my website when i entered into dashboard i saw network admin and my website name as given when i go into network admin it will logout automatically. Please give me some solution or what i can do for logging into admin network.
Thanking You…!!!
Hi: I was using hostgator hosting for about 8 years with many websites. I had no problems installing wp and uploading paid templates in .zip from my computer.
I switched to godaddy hosting and commenced to creating wp-real-estate 7 pro from theme forest. But after trying multiple times to upload the template, I had to give up. First tried uploading direct into the wp installation. Then tried direct into my file manager in CP. it would take about 20 minutes each time and then say : “are you sure you want to do this…and a box saying try again.
site and url are both . I always used just in the past. Being they are the same, I never thought to change them to should I? Also I was signing in at:. I paid someone to help me and they tried signing in at:
and said failed. So I had to change the passcode to get in that url. He has not done anything since and wonder if I should cancel the order and try again after I know why the .zip file won’t load. Maybe you can enlighten me.
Hi Seaira,
Please check out our WordPress troubleshooting tips. It will help you locate the problem.
I had the same problem, caused by the Chrome extension WordPress Site Manager. When I turned it off the problem disappear.
My site has https in front-end and in the admin panel its only http. Both has www in it. But the site keep logging out. Can this http protocol be a cause?
I had to change http:// to https:// since I am using an SSL certificate and that solved the issue. The article showed me the correct path… Thanks.
Hey, Dimitrios,
Glad it helped
You may also want to subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials.
It worked for me and I learned something new :). Thanks a lot.
Hey Elena,
Glad you found it useful
You may also want to subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials.
It did not work for me.
The URLs are the same and again it gives me the same error.
Any suggestion plz?
I have same problem, did u find any solution???
My settings match and I’m still having the issue. It is horribly frustrating, it happens a couple of times a minute.
I’ve tried
-changing both settings to www
-different browsers
-clearing cookies
-clearing cache
-changing themes
-now working through plugins one by one. The issue goes away if I disable all plugins.
My settings match and I’m still having the issue. It is horribly frustrating, it happens a couple of times a minute.
worked a treat thank you very much!
Similar to Julie G above I have my wordpress installation in its own directory (to avoid conflict with an existing site in root) as described here
therefore
my wordpress address is
my site address is
The logging out problem is particularly annoying with the Appearance/Themes/Live Preview option which essentially will not work due to continued timeout/logout
Has anyone solved this for this kind of situation?
I just noticed the site name which I had in ” has gotten lost in translation, it should read:-
my wordpress address is
my site address is
Visit the Settings page and make sure that your WordPress Address and Site Address fields are correct.
I don’t know what happened with my attempts to quote example urls and the information on how to have wordpress run from a sub-directory but essentially my wordpress installation is in a sub-directory called wordpress & so my urls have to be:
WordPress Address URL http://wordpress.example.com
Site Address URL http://example.com
Is there a fix that solves this situation short of re-installing wordpress in root
Thank you, worked a treat..
Wow….. that’s great……… thank’s…..
Hi,
I have the same URL in my Site Address and WordPress Address fields in the WordPress settings. Have never changed these settings.
So what would be causing my issue?
Thanks
Hey thanks a lot. Your solution fixed my website logout issue.
Just one word: THANKS!!!!
i have setting URL without www and all working fine.
i Have a subdomain www, do u think it better setting both url with WWW or without?
Thank u very much
Please take a look at our guide: WWW vs non-WWW – Which which is better for WordPress SEO?
I keep having this problem but it’s with HTTPs…. Anyone experienced that?
I have my URL set in the config file. Maybe I should unset it…
Spent 3 days trying to fix this, then found your article & it worked, thanks!!!
I keep being asked to log in on my blog. I checked Settings/General in my admin and do not see W/P address or Site Address.
What am I missing ?
I use my iPad for my blog and checked that cookies are enabled in the iPad Safari.
Is there anything else I should do?
This is a recent problem and I don’t know why it has happened.
I swear every time I have a problem with WP, you guys solve it. WP should just redirect here
Thanks as always and keep up the great work.
great topic.. fixed my problem. I cloned the my site to a other server. On the VPS the admin is available on example.com:8080/wp-admin. I changed it and now the admin works like a charm!
Thnks again
Thanks for this web site. I am a brand new user of WordPress, so I appreciate having access to your tutorials. I have been working on this web site for a couple of weeks, and until a couple of days ago, I had not seen the “Your session has expired” comment. Both the site address and the WordPress address are the same (and have been since the beginning). So, what else could be causing this problem?
Make sure that your browser settings are allowing the cookies to be stored permanently.
Is there a variable in a config file I can update? The above solution doesn’t apply to me.
What if I purposefully have my admin page in a different file for security reasons? For example, my WordPress Address URL is http://example.com/wp and my Site Address URL is http://example.com. Is there a work-around?
This solution applies to WordPress without MultiSite? When activating MultiSite WordPress gives the following message:
Server Address:
We recommend you change your siteurl to mydomain.org.uk before enabling the network feature. It will still be possible to visit your site using the www prefix with an address like http://www.mydomain.org.uk but any links will not have the www prefix.
The effect of using www. in WPMS is that accessing http://mydomain.com/sample-page/ redirects users to the hompage, rather than WordPress self-correcting and redirecting to http://www. … … .