403 Error Solved for me

  • Resolved rdolishny

    (@rdolishny)


    12 years, 7 months ago

    After upgrading BulletProof my site would not load, nor could I access the /wp-admin page.

    There was an .htaccess file in the wp-admin folder, but the .htaccess in the root (public_html) was blank.

    I copied the wp-admin version into the public_html folder and my home page and wp-admin pages were available.

    All content, though, was offline.

    Finally, I added a generic wordpress .htaccess file to the public_html folder and I was able to see all my pages. I’m doing a full backup now, then I’ll try adding new content.

    I lost about 4 hours but thought I’d share. Also, the tech support agent at BulletProof was very patient and helped me through most of this. They provided me with the generic .htaccess file as well.

    It’s crazy one plugin can take down everything… so I’d recommend holding off on any upgrades any time soon. Or, maybe, uninstall the plugin, wait a day, then install the new version after you’ve done a full backup. The upgrade process is definitely flawed.

    http://ww.wp.xz.cn/plugins/bulletproof-security/

Viewing 6 replies - 1 through 6 (of 6 total)
  • Plugin Author AITpro

    (@aitpro)

    12 years, 7 months ago

    Not sure why the upgrade did not go flawlessly on your site. We have over 50,000 confirmed successful upgrades so for whatever reason on your particular site the upgrade did not go perfectly.

    For anyone else who sees this post please disregard this statement made above about the upgrade process being flawed – 50,000 confirmed successful upgrades without any problems. Thanks.

    Thread Starter rdolishny

    (@rdolishny)

    12 years, 7 months ago

    I read dozens of 403 error posts on this page and other forums that suggest the BulletProof upgrade is not as flawless as you suggest.

    Again, your tech support was very patient and even though I am not a qualified web developer we were able to sort it out after a few somewhat stressful hours. Perhaps this plugin is out of my league and a more seasoned developer would have noticed that the root .htaccess file was reduced to 0kb.

    All I know is that my site was down after upgrading your plugin and I had no idea where to even start.

    Plugin Author AITpro

    (@aitpro)

    12 years, 7 months ago

    That is why we quickly released BPS .49.5 that takes care of an issue that happens on 5% of websites. The problem does not happen on the other 95% of websites, but a 5% fail ratio does not meet our standards so the code was removed in BPS .49.5.

    I only spent 15 minutes assisting you. You must be referring to the hours you spent troubleshooting before contacting me.

    This was a very simple problem to fix. I am not sure what caused it, but it was an isolated incident. I don’t want folks to get the wrong message here – misinformation/incorrect information so it is important to let folks know that the issues that were occuring in .49.4 were quickly fixed by releasing .49.5. Once again this only affected 5% of folks, but that exceeds our standards so that code was removed in version .49.5.

    This forum is a good place to start for help and our BulletProof Security Forum on the AIT-pro.com site offers support as well.

    Glad it was a very simple problem that was very easily and quickly fixed. Thanks.

    Thread Starter rdolishny

    (@rdolishny)

    12 years, 7 months ago

    I agree that the ‘hours’ wasn’t with you, but rather the point of failure and subsequent call to my concerned client, along with trying to track down our web developer.

    Tech support was very prompt once I was confident that this was (likely) the root of the error. But for a while I just didn’t know.

    Again, until our conversation started I was simply staring at a blank web browser where my website used to be with my heart rate increasing by the minute. Once I was confident that BulletProof was part of the solution, things moved very quickly, yes.

    Plugin Author AITpro

    (@aitpro)

    12 years, 7 months ago

    For future reference go straight to the source – us. 😉 Every possible problem that can occur with BPS or other factors outside of BPS have already documented through the years on AIT-pro.com Forum. BPS is a very simple plugin to troubleshoot.

    http://forum.ait-pro.com/forums/topic/read-me-first-free/

    BPS setup steps:

    1. Click the AutoMagic buttons on the Security Modes page.
    2. Activate Root and wp-admin BulletProof Modes on the Security Modes page.
    3. Go to the Login Security page and choose your Login Security options and click the Save Options buttons.
    4. Setup complete.

    Note: In order for BPS to work correctly you MUST be using a Custom Permalink Structure: http://codex.ww.wp.xz.cn/Using_Permalinks#Choosing_your_permalink_structure

    BPS removal steps:

    1. Activate Default Mode on the Security Modes page.
    2. Use the Delete wp-admin .htaccess feature on the Security Modes page.
    3. Deactivate and delete BPS on the WP Plugins page.

    Unable to login into your website:

    1. Use FTP or your Web Host Control Panel File Manager and delete the .htaccess file in your website root folder and the .htaccess file in your wp-admin folder.
    2. Log into your website, click the BPS AutoMagic Buttons and Activate all BulletProof Modes.

    etc etc etc. 😉

    Plugin Author AITpro

    (@aitpro)

    12 years, 7 months ago

    Thanks for the downvote after we went out of our way to help you. FYI we get BPS free folks all the time that pretend like they have the Pro version to get BPS Pro support instead of following the correct posting rules for BPS free so your attempt at fooling us was not an original idea. we get this all the time. Thanks.

Viewing 6 replies - 1 through 6 (of 6 total)

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