Cannot access WordPress admin after installing

[mydigitaldesign]

Hi All,

I have taken over an old website, dated and looking around 2007. I installed WordPress via Softaculous. However when trying to access via wp-admin, I get the following message:
The requested URL /wp-admin was not found on this server.

I tried doing it manually then through these instructions - Removed - (I uploaded and extracted WordPress zip in cPanel file manager as opposed to using Filezilla). When I follow these instructions, the website homepage should be WP set-up. However I am still seeing the old website homepage with no WP options.

I think part of the problem may be needing to delete the old website completely. I have spent almost 3 days trying to figure this out and getting nowhere. I have set up new websites in the past without any problems, however, this is the first revamp of an old one and I am finding it difficult. Hoping somebody can help me out, please.

Thanks in advance.

 

[SS-Maddy]

Hello @mydigitaldesign

Did you see your .htaccess ? You may have a security plugin which renames the wp-admin URL when called in from unrecognised IP or so. There are lots of security plugins which renames the wp-admin directory for security reasons. What you could do is to disable the plugins (look for folders with words like security in the plugins folder) in the wp-content folder, assuming that isn't renamed either.

 

[mydigitaldesign]

Hello @SS-Maddy and thanks for replying.

The site was not using Wordpress previously. This is a fresh install, with no additional plugins added at present. I have just attached the full contents of the plugins folder. With regard to the .htaccess, the below are the two .htaccess file contents:


/public_html/.htaccess

# BEGIN WordPress
<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
RewriteRule ^index\.php$ - [L]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule . /index.php [L]
</IfModule>

# END WordPress
# php -- BEGIN cPanel-generated handler, do not edit
# Set the “ea-php56” package as the default “PHP” programming language.
<IfModule mime_module>
AddType application/x-httpd-ea-php56 .php .php5 .phtml
</IfModule>
# php -- END cPanel-generated handler, do not edit

/public_html/wp-content/plugins/akismet/.htaccess

# Only allow direct access to specific Web-available files.

# Apache 2.2
<IfModule !mod_authz_core.c>
    Order Deny,Allow
    Deny from all
</IfModule>

# Apache 2.4
<IfModule mod_authz_core.c>
    Require all denied
</IfModule>

# Akismet CSS and JS
<FilesMatch "^(form\.js|akismet\.js|akismet\.css)$">
    <IfModule !mod_authz_core.c>
        Allow from all
    </IfModule>
    
    <IfModule mod_authz_core.c>
        Require all granted
    </IfModule>
</FilesMatch>

# Akismet images
<FilesMatch "^logo-full-2x\.png$">
    <IfModule !mod_authz_core.c>
        Allow from all
    </IfModule>
    
    <IfModule mod_authz_core.c>
        Require all granted
    </IfModule>
</FilesMatch>

 

[rpvw]

Try calling the login file directly in your browser

domain.tld/wp-login.php


NOTE - Softaculous will install Wordpress into a folder called /wp by default - so, unless you changed the installation root during the install, your call could be domain.tld/wp/wp-login.php or domain.tld/wp/wp-admin

The fact that you are still seeing the original website when you call it in a browser does suggest that your Wordpress was installed into a sub folder, although your screenshot of the /public_html/wp-content suggests otherwise.

If you installed Wordpress and them moved folders or files about - you will end up in a terrible mess and it would probably be best to just re-install it.

 

[SS-Maddy]

@mydigitaldesign This may be stupid and I am sure that you would have already taken care of this, but still is the website where you are accessing the /wp-admin is pointing to the same server. i.e based on your screenshot and unless you have a dedicated IP for the domain name, it should point to 78.137.xx.xx

As @rpvw suggested, you may try accessing using /wp-login.php as well.

If neither works, try to see whether the Error logs in cPanel (Apache error logs) say something about the error or in general.

 

[rpvw]

And as well as the advice given by @SS-Maddy I would suggest you look at upgrading your PHP to 7.2

Your .htaccess suggests this domain is set to use 5.6 - if you have the access to select a PHP version from your cPanel - choose 7.2 or ask your host for help.

See Requirements | WordPress.org for more details.

 

[cPanelLauren]

Hi @mydigitaldesign

Were you able to get this resolved with the help of the suggestions provided here? If you're able to let us know we'd appreciate it!


Thanks!