Trying to access your WordPress Admin section, but the page keeps redirecting (“looping”)? You may not see the typical sign-in text fields. Or, perhaps, the login procedure keeps falling, i.e., you get an error while logging in to the dashboard or the credentials disappear. Though they may have different causes, these issues make you unable to perform your duties as an administrator. Even worse, it may apply to others with a user role, such as writers, editors, or other admins, rendering everyone powerless. With the urgency made clear, let’s dig into how to fix the WordPress Admin keeps redirecting problem.
1. Clear website cookies and cache in your web browser
There’s no need to escalate the issue if the solution could be as simple as the WordPress website failing to store cookies properly. After you enter the username or e-mail address and the password on the WordPress Admin login screen, the website authenticates your credentials. It then logs you in and stores a login cookie in your browser. That may fail to happen, however, and you’d be redirected to the home page. Additionally, issues with the URL for the admin area may arise if the link is broken. Regardless, a blanket solution requires you to clear the cookies and restart the browser. For demonstration, here’s how clearing cookies in Chrome and Chromium-based browsers works:
- In the upper right corner of the browser, click the three-dot (More) menu.
- Select More tools, then go to Clear browsing data.
- Select the period at the top. You can put “All time” to be safe or choose a date before the problem occurred.
- Put a checkmark in front of “Cookies and other site data” and, optionally, “Cached images and files”.
- Click Clear data.
2. Deactivate WordPress plugins to fix the Admin page keeps redirecting problem
Before you proceed with manual changes, let us ask whether you installed any security plugins for WordPress? Many come with built-in protection of the WordPress Login section to thwart bots and manual brute-force attacks. They may prevent access to the default page (your-website.com/wp-admin) or change the Login URL to a custom address. In both cases, it’s worth temporarily disabling those plugins to see if the issue persists. Because you cannot go to the “Plugins” section of WordPress Admin, head over to “root/wp-content/plugins” after accessing WordPress files using FTP.
Find the folder for the aforementioned plugin and rename it to something like securityplugin-old. If the problem disappears, you’ve found your culprit. If not, it’s worth disabling all plugins by renaming the previous folder to plugins-old. Did that fix the WordPress Admin keeps redirecting difficulty? You now know one plugin is to blame, so revert the change, then add “-old” to individual plugin folders one by one as we already showed. When you discover the problematic one, check for updates, find an alternative, contact the developers, or hire someone to take a look at its code.
3. Ensure WordPress website URLs are correct and match
We mentioned URL concerns above, so it’s important to point out that there are two:
- URL for your website home page
- WordPress installation’s URL
Admin dashboard’s functionality, among myriad other functions and features, depends on these two not only being accurate but matching. If there are any discrepancies, whether through poorly handled website changes and code addition, hostile takeover attempts, or installing outdated/broken plugins, you’ll run into trouble. Usually, you would check these two within the admin section, by going to Settings → General in the left sidebar. Since you can’t use FTP access to edit the file titled wp-config.php in the root folder (the same level as “wp-content”, “wp-admin”, and so on).
Look for the two lines below. If they don’t exist, add them above the /* That’s all, stop editing! Happy blogging. */ line. If they do, ensure the URL is identical, like in the example.
define('WP_HOME','https://www.your-website.com');
define('WP_SITEURL','https://www.your-website.com');
Enter your domain name under both entries instead of the examples. Save changes and revisit the WordPress admin page to see if the problem persists.
4. Delete or replace your WordPress .htaccess file
At this point, we presume things turned sour with the site configuration file, .htaccess, that determines access and redirection. Whether it got corrupted, a plugin or theme modifies it continuously, or you incorrectly applied settings, it’s worth starting from scratch and monitoring the consequences. After accessing the root folder through FTP once again, download the .htaccess file to your computer or device for safekeeping. You now have two options that achieve the same result:
1. Substitute the contents for the default .htaccess file
The better method for beginners is to copy the contents of a default .htaccess file. You can then open the file from above, delete everything inside, and past the contents of the default one before saving changes. If this works, you can slowly add settings from the one you backed up until the error reappears. At that point, you know what the issue is.
2. Delete and regenerate the .htaccess file
The second option is a tad less labor-intensive and faster. Simply delete the .htaccess file in the root folder. If that was the solution, sign in to WordPress Admin and head to Settings → Permalinks. Choose any structure other than the current one, then click the Save Changes button. Select the original one again before clicking Save Changes again. This will generate a new .htaccess file.
5. Deactivate a current WordPress theme to fix redirecting issue with the Admin page
We eliminated lots of frequent reasons the WordPress Admin login page keeps redirecting. Before you contact your web hosting provider or consider hiring a WordPress developer, we suggest examining your active WordPress theme. This is crucial if you recently switched themes or made changes to the current one. Though the inability to access the dashboard makes things harder, the gist of the procedure is identical to plugins. Head to “root/wp-content/themes” and rename the active theme folder to “themename-old”. WordPress will revert to the default one such as Twenty Twenty-Two. If you can log in, the theme you activated is the source of your woe. The same solutions apply.