The aforementioned document has been found; however, when attempting to optimize the firewall from the “Optimize Wordfence Firewall” window, the “Continue” button will be inactive.
Hi @fjavier,
The continue button becomes clickable once you’ve downloaded the backup copy of the files Wordfence will be changing.
The original file you mentioned has likely been added by your hosting company and I’d recommend checking-in with their support just to make sure it is required before continuing.
Once you’re happy that the file is legitimate, when optimizing the firewall using the wizard, selecting the INCLUDE option will ensure that when your auto_prepend_file value is changed to point to wordfence-waf.php, our file will also include /platform/misc/prepend-web.php, ensuring no required files are excluded from your site.
Thanks,
Peter.
Hello there, thanks for your response. I’m done with all of the above… downloaded the htaccess backup file and proceeded to click on Continue. I was presented with a window prompting that the installation was successful and that the change would take effect in a few minutes. It is 2 hours now, and I’m still seeing the same “Optimizing the Wordfence Web Application Firewall…” prompt at the top of my wp-admin pages. Any thoughts?
Hi @fjavier,
Sometimes there can be a small delay if cached files aren’t cleared, so if you do have any caching plugins or caches on your hosting dashboard it might be worth clearing those first.
If the message remains after that, please send a diagnostic to wftest @ wordfence . com by finding the link at the top of the Wordfence > Tools > Diagnostics page. Then click on “Send Report by Email”. Please add your forum username where indicated and respond here after you have sent it.
NOTE: It should look as follows – Screenshot of Tools > Diagnostic > Send by Email
Many thanks,
Peter.
Hi @fjavier, thanks for sending that over.
I saw that the optimization is inactive despite you saying the process had been completed, so checked your server software, which is reporting back as unit.
Note that on GoDaddy’s Managed WordPress Hosting plans that use unit, they have informed us that auto_prepend_file cannot be changed via .htaccess, .user.ini, or php.ini so the firewall cannot be optimized on their servers. There should be a yellow warning message to that effect in the optimization wizard if NGINX Unit is detected.
Does that seem correct with either the host you’re using, or messages that you’re seeing?
Thanks again,
Peter.
I have confirmed with GD, and by what was presented in the window, I think it seems correct. I thought I was in the wrong setting when the Continue button wasn’t available, and then I selected the Apache + mod setting, thinking, “Well, I managed other WP sites using Apache…” I hope I did not disturb anything by applying the optimization under the wrong setting.
So should it just be dismissed?
Hi @fjavier,
Unfortunately, Wordfence can only run in Basic Protection mode on those servers. That basically means that IP blocks and the firewall can only run at the same time as your other WordPress plugins, rather than before. However, you shouldn’t have affected anything negatively by trying to go through the optimization process.
Thanks again,
Peter.
