Do you get the error message “Briefly unavailable for scheduled maintenance” in WordPress? This issue is most commonly seen when updating WordPress core, plugins, or themes.
Essentially, your WordPress site fails to complete the update, leaving you in maintenance mode.
We’ll teach you how to fix this common error in WordPress.
Delete the ‘.maintenance’ File to Fix ‘Briefly Unavailable for Scheduled Maintenance’ Error in WordPress
- Log in to your Cpanel or access your root folder using FTP. Go to Files > File Manager. Once you are on the File Manager page, go to the directory where your WordPress is installed. Usually, it is under the public_html folder.
- Double click the public_html to open the root folder. Once you are inside the directory, you have to find the .maintenance file. If you can’t see it, you have to do some changes in the settings to show the hidden files.
- If you are using an FTP app, just go to Server and “check Force showing hidden files” to show hidden files.
- Go to Settings, you can find it in the upper right corner, and check Show Hidden Files (dotfiles) then click save.
- Once you are done with the settings, you can now see the maintenance dotfile and you may be able to delete it manually.
- To delete it, you can right-click the file and click delete or select the file and click the delete button that can be found in the menus above the page.
Wrapping Up
We expect this article helped you settle the “Briefly unavailable for scheduled maintenance’ error in WordPress.