Title: persistent ERROR: Invalid username Last modified: August 21, 2016 --- # persistent ERROR: Invalid username * Resolved [Dr. Ashok Koparday](https://wordpress.org/support/users/drashok/) * (@drashok) * [12 years ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/persistent-error-invalid-username/) * Hi, After activating All in One WP Security Firewall plugin I got * > **ERROR: Invalid username.** * This happened after I changed from the twentyfourteenchild theme to justwritechild theme. I had warily begun activating plugins one by one. On activating aiowps plugin I have been locked out with the persistent ‘ERROR: Invalid username’. 1 From .htaccess file I removed portion from # BEGIN All In One WP Security to# END All In One WP Security. In the backup folder I also saw a file “sjlsjslsx_htaccess_backup” 2 error_log in the root folder says * > [08-Jun-2014 18:36:14 UTC] PHP Fatal error: Allowed memory size of 268435456 > bytes exhausted (tried to allocate 33556046 bytes) in /home/mydoctor/public_html/ > wp-content/plugins/all-in-one-wp-security-and-firewall/classes/wp-security- > backup.php on line 59 * 3 One by one I began deactivating plugins, then themes except ‘twentyfourteen’ and in the end deleted the aiowps plugin. The login page continues to show the same **ERROR: Invalid username. Lost your password? ** 4 Attempting to browse from the homepage the error displayed in the browser was * > Not Found > The requested URL /topic/xxxxxpppsss-2/ was not found on this server. > Additionally, a 404 Not Found error was encountered while trying to use an > ErrorDocument to handle the request. * 5 The error file on the server says * > [Mon Jun 09 02:26:13 2014] [error] [client 54.209.248.176] File does not exist:/ > home/mydoctor/public_html/cursor.png/, referer: [http://mydoctortells.com/wp-content/themes/justwritechild/style.css?ver=1.0.3](http://mydoctortells.com/wp-content/themes/justwritechild/style.css?ver=1.0.3) * 6 phpMyAdmin shows 5 rows ssss_aiowps_events ssss_aiowps_failed_logins ssss_aiowps_global_meta ssss_aiowps_login_activity ssss_aiowps_login_lockdown * All plugins and themes are latest version. * Why am I locked out of website despite correct username and password? Is there any salvation? Do I need a complete website restore? * I will truly appreciate your guidance. * Regards, Ashok * [https://wordpress.org/plugins/all-in-one-wp-security-and-firewall/](https://wordpress.org/plugins/all-in-one-wp-security-and-firewall/) Viewing 7 replies - 1 through 7 (of 7 total) * Thread Starter [Dr. Ashok Koparday](https://wordpress.org/support/users/drashok/) * (@drashok) * [12 years ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/persistent-error-invalid-username/#post-4990902) * Similarity: I recall that I had lost my WordPress site a month ago just after changing over to justwrite theme. * Plugin Contributor [wpsolutions](https://wordpress.org/support/users/wpsolutions/) * (@wpsolutions) * [12 years ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/persistent-error-invalid-username/#post-4990910) * If you deactivate that “justwrite” theme and activate the standard WP theme does the error you are seeing go away? * > Do I need a complete website restore? * No I don’t think you need to do something that dramatic. Do the following: * 1) Simply log into your site using FTP and rename the “all-in-one-wp-security- and-firewall” folder to something else temporarily. * 2) Using PHPMyAdmin login to your DB and go to the “options” table. Look for the row with **option_name** called “**aio_wp_security_configs**“. Delete this row. (This will delete all the settings related to the AIOWPS plugin) * 3) Then from your FTP session rename the folder you changed in step 1 back to the original name. * You should now be able to reactivate the AIOWPS plugin and things should be ok but you will need to reconfigure the security settings again. * Thread Starter [Dr. Ashok Koparday](https://wordpress.org/support/users/drashok/) * (@drashok) * [12 years ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/persistent-error-invalid-username/#post-4990950) * **wpsolutions**, Thanks a lot for personally addressing the problem. * I deleted option_name called “aio_wp_security_configs”. * I did fresh reinstall. Yet, I am still logged out of the site. I have cPanel and FTP access. I have deleted all themes and plugins except the default ones. * Error: The error_log says * > 09-Jun-2014 21:02:42 Asia/Kolkata] PHP Parse error: syntax error, unexpected‘ > define’ (T_STRING) in /home/mydoctor/public_html/wp-config.php on line 18 * > line **17** // ** MySQL settings – You can get this info from your web host**// > > line **18** /** The name of the database for WordPress */ line **19** define(‘ > DB_NAME’, ‘mydoctor_gp1’); * All seems to be in order. * What should I be doing now? Thanks again for your expertise and time. * Dr. Ashok * Plugin Contributor [wpsolutions](https://wordpress.org/support/users/wpsolutions/) * (@wpsolutions) * [12 years ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/persistent-error-invalid-username/#post-4990980) * Your issue is coming from the wp-config.php file and not the AIOWPS plugin. You will need to carefully go through that file to find exactly where you have introduced a syntax error. (HINT: Look at the lines before line 18 and you might find a mistake somewhere) * Thread Starter [Dr. Ashok Koparday](https://wordpress.org/support/users/drashok/) * (@drashok) * [12 years ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/persistent-error-invalid-username/#post-4991004) * **wpsolutions** Thank you for your timely assistance. * On fresh reinstall there were glitches. Patiently and systematically I worked and I got the site running. * Is it okay to delete the followiing files from phpMyAdmin before I reinstall AIOWPS plugin? * _aiowps_events _aiowps_failed_logins _aiowps_global_meta _aiowps_login_activity _aiowps_login_lockdown * Regards, * Dr. Ashok Koparday * Plugin Contributor [wpsolutions](https://wordpress.org/support/users/wpsolutions/) * (@wpsolutions) * [12 years ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/persistent-error-invalid-username/#post-4991012) * Yes you can delete those tables **before **re-installing the plugin. * Thread Starter [Dr. Ashok Koparday](https://wordpress.org/support/users/drashok/) * (@drashok) * [12 years ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/persistent-error-invalid-username/#post-4991016) * The persistent ERROR: invalid username was because my unique username had changed to default ‘admin’. * **wpsolutions**, thanks for your prompt precious support. * I have to correct the crooked look of my dashboard. Then I can begin activating plugins one at a time with twentyfourteen child theme. * Best, Dr. Ashok Koparday Viewing 7 replies - 1 through 7 (of 7 total) The topic ‘persistent ERROR: Invalid username’ is closed to new replies. * ![](https://ps.w.org/all-in-one-wp-security-and-firewall/assets/icon-256x256. png?rev=2798307) * [All-In-One Security (AIOS) – Security and Firewall](https://wordpress.org/plugins/all-in-one-wp-security-and-firewall/) * [Frequently Asked Questions](https://wordpress.org/plugins/all-in-one-wp-security-and-firewall/#faq) * [Support Threads](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/all-in-one-wp-security-and-firewall/) * [Active Topics](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/all-in-one-wp-security-and-firewall/active/) * [Unresolved Topics](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/all-in-one-wp-security-and-firewall/unresolved/) * [Reviews](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/all-in-one-wp-security-and-firewall/reviews/) * 7 replies * 2 participants * Last reply from: [Dr. Ashok Koparday](https://wordpress.org/support/users/drashok/) * Last activity: [12 years ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/persistent-error-invalid-username/#post-4991016) * Status: resolved