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How to Fix WordPress Login Page Refreshing and Redirecting Issue

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Does your WordPress login page keep refreshing and redirecting when you try to log in to your website?

This issue locks you out of the WordPress admin area, making you unable to work on your website.

In this article, we will show you how to fix the WordPress login page refreshing and redirecting issue.

Fixing the login page redirect and refresh issue in WordPress

What Causes the Login Page Refresh and Redirect Issue in WordPress?

The WordPress login page refresh and redirect error is usually caused by incorrect WordPress URL settings or failure to set login cookies.

Normally, when you log in, WordPress validates your username and password and then sets a login cookie in your browser. After that, it redirects you to the WordPress dashboard.

If WordPress fails to set the login cookie correctly or your WordPress admin area URL is incorrect, then you will be redirected back to the login screen instead of the admin dashboard.

Login page redirect issue in WordPress

Login issues can also be caused by different WordPress errors, such as the error establishing database connection, internal server error, or the white screen of death.

With that in mind, let’s troubleshoot and fix the WordPress login page redirect and refresh issue. You can use these quick links to jump to a specific method:

Note: If you want to try the advanced steps in this WordPress tutorial, then please create a backup of your site first. See our guide on how to manually create a WordPress database backup.

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If you don’t like the video or prefer the written version instead, then please continue reading.

Method 1: Clear Cookies to Resolve Login Issues

WordPress uses cookies for login authentication, so the first step in troubleshooting WordPress login issues is the simplest one. You will need to clear your browser cookies and cache.

In Google Chrome, simply click on the browser settings menu and then select More Tools » Clear Browsing Data.

Clear browsing data in Google Chrome

This will launch the Chrome Settings page with a ‘Clear Browsing Data’ popup displayed on the screen.

From here, you need to select the ‘Clear cookies and other site data’ and ‘Cached images and files’ options.

Clear cookies and cache in Google chrome

Next, click on the ‘Clear data’ button, and Google Chrome will clear the browser cache.

Also, make sure that your browser has cookies enabled. After doing that, restart your browser and then try to log in. This should fix the issue for most folks.

We have a complete guide with screenshots showing how to clear the cache and cookies in all major browsers.

Method 2: Update WordPress URL Settings

WordPress comes with settings for the URL of your website and the URL of your WordPress installation.

If you had access to your WordPress admin area, then you could see this option on the Settings » General page.

WordPress URL settings

If these URLs are incorrect, then WordPress will redirect you back to the login page.

Since you are unable to access the WordPress admin area, you will need to edit the wp-config.php file to fix this issue.

The wp-config.php file is a special file in WordPress that contains your important WordPress settings. You can access it using an FTP client or via the File Manager app in your WordPress hosting account dashboard.

Editing wp-config.php file via FTP

You will find the wp-config.php file in your site’s root folder. Simply edit the file and paste the following lines of code just before the one that says, 'That's all, stop editing! Happy publishing'.

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

Don’t forget to replace ‘example.com’ with your own domain name.

After that, save your changes and upload the file back to your website.

You can now visit your WordPress website and try to log in. Hopefully, this will have fixed the issue for you. If it didn’t, then continue reading for additional troubleshooting steps.

Method 3: Delete .htaccess File in WordPress

Sometimes, the .htaccess file can get corrupted, which can result in internal server errors or the login page refreshing error.

Simply access your website using an FTP client or via the File Manager app in your hosting provider’s dashboard.

Once connected, locate the .htaccess file in the root directory of your website and download it to your computer as a backup.

If you can’t find your .htaccess file, this guide on why your .htaccess file may be missing can help you.

Delete .htaccess file in WordPress

After that, go ahead and delete the .htaccess file from your website.

Next, open the wp-admin directory, and if there is a .htaccess file there, then go ahead and delete it as well.

You can now try to log in to your WordPress website. If you succeed, then this means that your .htaccess file was stopping you from logging in to WordPress.

Once you are logged in, simply go to the Settings » Permalinks page in the WordPress admin panel and click on the ‘Save’ button without making any changes. This will generate a new .htaccess file for your website.

Method 4: Deactivate All WordPress Plugins

Sometimes, WordPress plugins can cause this issue, especially if there is a conflict between two plugins.

To easily deactivate all your WordPress plugins, connect to your website using an FTP client or via the File Manager app in your web hosting account dashboard.

Once connected, go to the /wp-content/ directory. Inside it, you will see a folder named ‘plugins’. This is where WordPress installs all your plugins.

Rename plugins folder to deactivate all plugins

Simply rename the plugins folder to ‘plugins_backup’. This will deactivate all WordPress plugins installed on your website.

We also have a detailed tutorial on how to deactivate all WordPress plugins when the WordPress admin is inaccessible.

Once you have deactivated all plugins, try logging in to your WordPress site. If you succeed, then this means that one of your plugins was causing the issue.

Method 5: Revert to the Default Theme

WordPress themes can also cause conflicts after upgrading to a newer version of WordPress or the theme itself. To find out whether the problem is being caused by your theme, you will need to deactivate it.

The process is similar to deactivating plugins. Connect to your website using an FTP client. Then, you must go to /wp-content/themes/ directory and rename your current theme directory to ‘themes_backup’.

Once you have done that, then try logging in again. If you succeed, then this means your theme was causing the issue.

You can now reinstall a fresh copy of your theme to see if this resolves the issue. If the problem reappears, then you will need to contact your theme’s support or switch to a different WordPress theme.

We hope this article helped you resolve the WordPress login page refreshing and redirecting issue. You may also want to see our complete WordPress troubleshooting guide or check out our top picks for the best WordPress plugins and tools to grow your site.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

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Editorial Staff at WPBeginner is a team of WordPress experts led by Syed Balkhi with over 16 years of experience in WordPress, Web Hosting, eCommerce, SEO, and Marketing. Started in 2009, WPBeginner is now the largest free WordPress resource site in the industry and is often referred to as the Wikipedia for WordPress.

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Reader Interactions

355 CommentsLeave a Reply

  1. Syed Balkhi says

    Hey WPBeginner readers,
    Did you know you can win exciting prizes by commenting on WPBeginner?
    Every month, our top blog commenters will win HUGE rewards, including premium WordPress plugin licenses and cash prizes.
    You can get more details about the contest from here.
    Start sharing your thoughts below to stand a chance to win!

  2. Helen says

    this is one of the best tutorial that fixed my issue.. ive tried so many and it just messed my code.

    what i did was just delte my htacess and generated a new one.. and im even able to login to my wp admin already

  3. Kelly Taylor-Faye says

    Thank you. Really helped after a VERY frustrating day to find out it was a broken plug-in. Many thanks :)

  4. Benjamin Marlatt says

    I have tried everything and nothing works!! I then tried re-registering, but that completely wiped out my dashboard. I’m getting extremely frustrated over this!!

  5. Brown says

    My site doesnt login to dashboard or takes time to load the /wp-login page which after inserting the login details it takes forever to load … but on a different network it loads well what could be the problem

  6. Bethany says

    Thank you so much for this article! Thankfully mine was an easy fix and I just needed to delete the cookies from WP.org so I could sign in. I had just reset my password before the error occurred where it kept refreshing the log in screen so that may have had something to do with it.

  7. Shay says

    Hi guys,

    I’ve tried everything and nothing worked. I had the same problem with another computer and after about 5 attempts I got in but this morning I tried logging in with another computer, it’s happening again. The page redirects to mysite.com/wp-login.php. Any ideas?

    Thanks all for your help!

  8. Patrick Ogbuitepu says

    LAST RESORT THAT WORKS
    You can temporarily disable redirection from the wp-login.php file and then delete all newly installed or updated plugins.

    1. Disable redirection by opening the file wp-login.php

    2.Scroll down to the line where you have the code “do_action( “login_form_{$action}” );”
    Mine was around line 461

    3. Comment out that line of code to disable redirection

    4. Save the file. You will now be able to login using example.com/wp-login.php

    5. Disable or delete all recently installed plugins especially plugins that manage access control functionalities

    6. Clear your cookies and cache

    • Luqman Arif says

      Should i continue to comment the codes?because i am not sure which plugins that cause the problem.Before this i have disable all the plugins manually, but still cannot access wp-login.php.

  9. nirmal says

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

    i change this examples.com to my site url, now not able to login. it shows 401 unauthorized. After changing the original file wp-config also, not able to login. any idea?

  10. Paul says

    Turned out to be one of my plugins that was giving me grief, simply went into my Ftp and deactivated them and got rid of the last plugin that i installed, happy days fixed the problem, many thanks guys your knowledge is invaluable , respect!

  11. Graham Campbell says

    Tried these to no avail. My host says “The site ran out of space” except that there is 3gb free, so that’s not true. This problem is on 40+ sites and happened at the same time, so it’s not me but I have grumpy customers expecting me to fix it.

    Site works but login does not,

    I get :

    https://example.com/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Fexample.com%2Fwp-admin%2F%3Fdoing_wp_cron%3D1512599810.4524919986724853515625&reauth=1&doing_wp_cron=1512600006.5833470821380615234375

    Any thoughts welcome. Thank you

  12. Abby says

    Finally! The delete .htaccess file works fine for me! Also have to go to Settings > Permalinks and click Save to generate a new .htaccess file.

      • WPBeginner Support says

        Hi August,

        If you cannot login to your WordPress site, then you can refresh permalinks via FTP. Simply connect to your website using an FTP client. After that download your .htaccess file to your computer as a backup. Now delete the .htaccess file from your server. You can now try to log in to your website.

        Once logged in you can go to Settings > Permalinks page and click on the save changes button to generate new .htaccess file.

        Admin

  13. Andrew See says

    My problem was customers needed to try login 3 times before it goes through for Chrome, IE and Opera but not for Firefox users. I am using Woocommerce and WP (currently the latest although it started happening about the last upgrade or earlier). Tried clear cache, delete htaccess. Didnt work. The following worked:
    Added a new page and re-direct the “Woocommerce|Account” (login) page to the new page.
    This worked. I then pointed the Account page to the original Account page and it worked. Guess something got refreshed. Thanks for the tips anyhow.

  14. Gina says

    after changing site URL through the dashboard the whole site went to 404. Your define(‘WP_HOME’,’http://example.com’);
    define(‘WP_SITEURL’,’http://example.com’);
    solved that issue, but now I need to move my site to the root directory and don’t know how because of this fix.

    HELP!

  15. Phil says

    Thanks for the guide.
    Updating the site URL using

    define(‘WP_HOME’,’https://example.com’);
    define(‘WP_SITEURL’,’https://example.com’);

    Worked for me :-)

    • Jason says

      Pro Tip : I have the same problem, check your wp-config.php file and locate : WP_ADMIN_COOKIE_PATH or ADMIN_COOKIE_PATH and erase it!

  16. Jon says

    All of these steps did not fix my problem.

    I think I’ve found part of the cause though.

    When I type in mysite.com/wp-admin I am redirected to mysite.com/wp-login.php only the redirect is incorrect.

    Rather than redirecting to mysite.com/wp-admin after login it is redirecting to mysite.com/domains/mysite/wp-admin

    Any help out there for fixing this?

  17. TH says

    Hi.
    I moved my site from my local host to live following the steps in your article related to that.
    I faced some login/redirect issues.
    I tried all the steps as listed in this article.
    When I revert back to default theme, the page only shows a text of my domain name with no other content.
    When I delete .htaccess file, it shows my home page but when I click on login button it shows 404 error NOt Found
    When I update site url, I also get 404 error when I click on login button or go to domain/wp-admin

    What else can I try to troubleshoot?

    Will appreciate your help.
    Thanks.

  18. Geetika jain says

    I am not able to understand what is the problem with my website. In home page after 5 posts i am not able to post anything, in the dashboard, it redirects me to the post page. and revolution slider is not activating in my site.

  19. Richard Payne says

    I can not log in it gives me a page can not be founed I think it is because my web page name was altered in an plug in

  20. Dan says

    Everytime I log in I am redirected to the My sites page (light Blue) I want to go directly to the standard dashboard. Can someone help me fix this problem

  21. amacn says

    hI! I have just paid my renewal and when I try to login to my account it keeps telling me error?? Why is this ?? Thanks.

  22. John D'signer says

    thanks a lot..this is so helpful to retrieve wp site as mush as easier way.every pin points are so understandable and worth to try it.oncw again thank you so much

  23. Adele says

    Why can’t I access my WordPress dashboard anymore? It’s driving me insane. I have tried resetting the password, several times, but it keeps telling me there is no account with that name. I need to publish a blog but I can’t. HELP!

    • WPBeginner Support says

      Hi Adele,

      Instead of username, try entering your email address in the username field to login. This should be the same email address you used to reset password. Hope this helps.

      Admin

  24. chuck says

    I could not login to wordpress site went to cpanel and deleted plugin I just installed and fixed problem

  25. Giorgio Mula says

    Hi there,

    I have a weird issue with login on WP: my problem arise with domain redirect because I have a wp site into a subfolder of my domain (www.example.com/site) and a redirect from my provider (www.example2.com) that I setup to point at http://www.example.com/site.
    WP works great except for “login”: I can access from http://www.example.com/site but not from http://www.example2.com. From this last one it happens that pushing “Login” button simply get no result. Do you have any idea? Both WP_HOME and WP_SITE_URL point to http://www.example.com/site

    Thanks a lot for your support and your amazing site

    • WPBeginner Support says

      Hi Giorgio,

      We are not sure we understand your issue correctly. However, it seems like example2.com is already redirecting to your other website. In that case, you’ll not be able to login from there.

      Admin

  26. Tariq says

    I am running a WP website, Its about mobile products tells Specifications and features of smartphones. I tried to activate a price filter plugin for my website but they said I have to activate the woo commerce plugin first then filter plugin will work. I did that. But it was a big mess. so I delete the both woo commerce as well as the first one price filter plugin. But now I am facing an issue. when ever I click on my any product on my website or from google search result it comes back to my site homepage. Can anyone help me out about it? I am a beginner. Thanks

  27. Salman Ansari says

    i Just copied all the wordpress folder to one site to another & Import All my database but… after login, page redirect to previous site….
    what should I do?

    • WPBeginner Support says

      Hey Phil,

      Before you reinstall please try these:

      1. Try to access login page by visiting http://www.example.com/wp-login.php

      2. Try updating your permalink structure. Connect to your website using an FTP client or File Manager in cPanel. Locate the .htaccess file in the root folder of your website. Download the file to your computer as a backup and then delete it from your website.

      Admin

      • Vincent Sabatia says

        Had the same problem though all I had to do was to reset my admin user password to something stronger, cleared the browser cache and everything started working fine

  28. Denise says

    None of these solutions worked for me, nothing. I was completely perplexed. Finally, I went to the WordPress forum on my hosting site, Dreamhost, and found a thread about login problems. Turns out I didn’t have my auth keys and salts defined. A quick cut and paste into my wp-config.php file and boom! I’m in! So my addition is to check with your hosting service and see they have specific instructions or recommendations. IDK why my wp-config.php was wrong in the first place, but so glad I found the fix! This has been frustrating!

  29. Marcelo Muianga says

    Thank you so much, deleting the .htaccess did the trick, just remind people to show hidden files on file manager html root of their cpanel

  30. Aman Potlia says

    hey thanks your last method update url method really works for me. now i am able to log in my wordpress admin panel

  31. Brad says

    Super helpful, thank you. I had 2 or 3 plugins running that did logins and membership and they basically made my site inaccessible.

  32. Graeme says

    The site url option:

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

    worked for me. The problem happened when I moved a site from a .co.nz to .nz url.

    Thanks.

  33. Awais Khalid says

    Sir i have uplaod database file and and backup for my old website on new domain but it is redirecting to old website and i am unable to access WordPress Login page

    • WPBeginner Support says

      Hi Awais,

      You will need to change the site URL. You can do that in your wp-config.php by adding this code:

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

      Admin

  34. David ACQ says

    Last option worked for me just fine (Update Site URL)

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

    I wish i could know what caused the problem and why that solution was the one that worked, in order to prevent having this issue again and be alert of else issues could produce the origin problem.

  35. Bakkiya says

    Having a problem login into wordpress wp-admin page. No error messages, but keep getting redirected to the login page itself.

    Wrong credentials return appropriate error message, but not in this case. No white screen of death also. Just the login page reappearing, after shaking a couple of times.

    Tried all suggested methods, including clearing cookies, deactivating plugins, deactivating theme. And deleting .htaccess, making appropriate entries for site url and home url in wpconfig, enabled wp_debug too. Tried all tricks recommended.

    Interestingly, this has happened in two different servers, with two different staging sites (both in advanced stages of development) – on two different servers…one windows, one linux. These were working fine till last night…and then this sudden has happened since morning.

    Can any one suggest what the problem could be?

    • Nithin Bhaktha says

      Well I had the same problem yesterday just after installing WordPress. Check in your host cPanel if varnish caching has been enabled. If so, go ahead and disable it. Wait for 30 minutes and then try logging in.

      • Tushar says

        You my friend deserve a pat on the back. After struggling for nearly the whole day and trying everything else out, your solution is what finally worked. I disabled varnish and voila, I am in :)

  36. Siddhesh says

    Nothing work for me ? dont know how to fix it? please help ?
    Cant login to wordpress dashboard
    it says sorry you are not allowed to access this page

  37. Sheila King says

    I was locked out. At first I doubted my password and tried to get a reset but my admin log in page was just doing circles with my website front page. I tried every action suggested – even managing to get the dreaded blank, white page.

    So I started putting everything back as it was to try again another day. But with a deleted .htaccess file and the theme and plug in still deactivated I managed to get a password reset from WP – I’m in!

    Thank you to everybody who commented.

  38. Muhammad Aqeel says

    follow this tutorial A to Z problem not solved. i couldn’t login to my wp-admin since i migrate my wordpress website from localhost wamp to web server using cpanel. the front end design not rendered properly and also i couldn’t login to my wordpress admin

  39. christopher says

    Just learned this … from a Bluehost help desk. To see what’s on the server press Shift/ Reload

  40. Cathy Ford says

    I have a slightly different problem — when I am logged off wordpress and on my website when I click on the main menu to select a page I get redirected to the WordPress Login page. It is sporadic and seems to happen with several different links. This is also happening to visitors to my site so it’s not just my computer. .
    Thanks, Cathy

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