WordPress Keeps Redirecting To wp-admin/install.php

Several times our team faced WordPress keeps redirecting to wp-admin/install.php problem. There could be numerous causes. Don’t need to panic, It just a simple mistake.

Here, We will showcase you the most frequent problems and fixes. Are you ready? Let’s get started then.

01 Missing Files

It seldom happens that after the migration some of the files missing from the WordPress root. In most cases, this happens when you copied the files from the FTP, SFTP or manually moved the site.

Most of the time, wp-config.php or .htaccess files missed so please verify your WordPress root with the following directories & files. The below screenshot has taken of WordPress 5.4 version.

02 Database Connection Details Problem

Most of the time our team members found that this problem arises due to the mismatch of $table_prefix in wp-config.php and database tables.

It is also advisable to double check the database related credentials like DB_NAME, DB_USER, DB_PASSWORD, DB_HOST, etc.

03 Site URL Issue

Go to the database and open options table and verify the values of “siteurl” and “home”. Both value should be as per your new domain.

04 .htaccess File Issue

Some plugins are responsible to add extra htaccess rules which may causes. So it is advisable to put the default WordPress htaccess file as follows.

# BEGIN WordPress
# The directives (lines) between `BEGIN WordPress` and `END WordPress` are
# dynamically generated, and should only be modified via WordPress filters.
# Any changes to the directives between these markers will be overwritten.
<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

05 Webserver Failure

The automatic shutdown of your machine due to power failure or software failure may put you in trouble.

In such a case, try to gracefully shutdown your WebServer (Wamp/Xammp/Mamp/Apache/Ngix) and then restart it again.

06 Resources Blocked by Plugin

If you have installed plugins for security or optimization then, they might be the culprit. In such a case, you should deactivate the plugins from your wp-content/plugins/* directory by changing the plugins name one by one.

These plugins limiting the resources to enhance security and performance. So they eventually redirect you to the wp-admin/install.php

07 Query Limit Exceeded

Mostly, This problem occurs on the live server. If you have written some custom code, then it might cause this problem. Your custom code might have crossed the maximum queries per hour limit. Therefore the server automatically locks down access to the database.

In such a case, you should normalize your code by enabling pagination, DRY (Don’t Repeat Yourself), etc. Try to contact the hosting provider they suggest you the exact issue.

08 Insufficient Database Privileges

It seldom happens that your database users might have no full privileges assigned. In this case, you should assign a full read & write permission to the database user.

09 PHP Extensions

All required PHP extensions should be enabled. PHP extension may vary as per the PHP versions. WordPress recommended the “mod_rewrite” extension should be enabled. Here is the list of extensions "bz2", "com_dotnet", "curl", "exif", "fileinfo", "gd2", "gettext", "gmp", "imap", "intl", "ldap", "mbstring", "mysqli", "openssl", "pdo_mysql", "pdo_sqlite", "soap", "sockets", "sqlite3", "xmlrpc", "xsl", "php_opcache" which by default enabled with the PHP 7.3 version.

Additionally, read our guide:

1. How to Add Products Per Page Dropdown in WooCommerce
2. “Sorry, your session has expired. Return to homepage” – WordPress WooCommerce Error
3. How to Create a Plugin in WordPress from Scratch
4. ERROR: Cookies are blocked or not supported by your browser
5. How To Send Custom Emails in WordPress
6. How to Allow Preview of Draft Post Without Login in WordPress
7. Import Users From CSV In WordPress Programmatically
8. How to Redirect Users After Add To Cart In WooCommerce
9. How to Remove the Category From URL in WordPress
10. How to Add Custom Column To Any Post Types in WordPress

That’s it from us. We hope this article helped you to resolve WordPress keeps redirecting to wp-admin/install.php problem.

Please let us know in the comments if everything worked as expected, your issues or any questions. If you think this article saved your time & money, please do comment, share, like & subscribe. Thank you for reading this post 🙂 Keep Smiling! Happy Coding!