{"id":1046,"date":"2025-12-22T09:01:23","date_gmt":"2025-12-22T08:01:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mybox.com\/help\/?post_type=manual_kb&#038;p=1046"},"modified":"2026-06-02T03:12:36","modified_gmt":"2026-06-02T01:12:36","slug":"what-is-the-reason-for-sudden-404-errors-on-a-wordpress-cms-based-website","status":"publish","type":"manual_kb","link":"https:\/\/mybox.com\/help\/en\/knowledgebase\/what-is-the-reason-for-sudden-404-errors-on-a-wordpress-cms-based-website\/","title":{"rendered":"What is the reason for sudden 404 errors on a WordPress CMS-based website?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"translation-block translation-block-merged\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Sometimes a WordPress website may start behaving unexpectedly after a plugin update, theme change, or core update. A common issue is when the homepage loads normally, but individual pages return a 404 error (page not found), even though the content still exists in the admin panel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This problem is usually related to permalink rules or the <code>.htaccess<\/code> file, rather than missing content.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_86 ez-toc-wrap-left counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/mybox.com\/help\/en\/knowledgebase\/what-is-the-reason-for-sudden-404-errors-on-a-wordpress-cms-based-website\/#Fix_1_Refresh_Permalink_Settings\" >Fix 1: Refresh Permalink Settings<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/mybox.com\/help\/en\/knowledgebase\/what-is-the-reason-for-sudden-404-errors-on-a-wordpress-cms-based-website\/#Fix_2_Restore_Default_htaccess_Rules\" >Fix 2: Restore Default .htaccess Rules<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/mybox.com\/help\/en\/knowledgebase\/what-is-the-reason-for-sudden-404-errors-on-a-wordpress-cms-based-website\/#Fix_3_Clear_Cache\" >Fix 3: Clear Cache<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/mybox.com\/help\/en\/knowledgebase\/what-is-the-reason-for-sudden-404-errors-on-a-wordpress-cms-based-website\/#Why_This_Happens\" >Why This Happens<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-5\" href=\"https:\/\/mybox.com\/help\/en\/knowledgebase\/what-is-the-reason-for-sudden-404-errors-on-a-wordpress-cms-based-website\/#Conclusion\" >Conclusion<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Fix_1_Refresh_Permalink_Settings\"><\/span>Fix 1: Refresh Permalink Settings<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"166\" height=\"236\" src=\"https:\/\/mybox.com\/help\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/permalinnks.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-4082\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mybox.com\/help\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/permalinnks.png 166w, https:\/\/mybox.com\/help\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/permalinnks-8x12.png 8w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 166px) 100vw, 166px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n<div id=\"mybox-4286613104\" class=\"mybox-content mybox-entity-placement\"><div class=\"early-access-banner-inpost\">\r\n  <div class=\"banner-left-inpost\">\r\n    <div class=\"icon-box-inpost\">\r\n      <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/mybox.com\/help\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/square-info-icon.svg\" alt=\"Info\">\r\n    <\/div>\r\n    <div class=\"text-box-inpost\">\r\n      <span class=\"label-inpost\"><span class=\"translation-block translation-block-banner-text\">Early access<\/span><\/span>\r\n      <h4><span class=\"translation-block translation-block-banner-text\">Still need help?<\/span><\/h4>\r\n      <p><span class=\"translation-block translation-block-banner-text\">Contact our customer service team.<\/span><\/p>\r\n    <\/div>\r\n  <\/div>\r\n\r\n  <div class=\"banner-right-inpost\">\r\n    <a href=\"https:\/\/panel.mybox.com\/helpdesk2\/v\/list\/\" class=\"banner-button-inpost\"><span class=\"translation-block translation-block-banner-text\">Message us<\/span><\/a>\r\n  <\/div>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n<div class=\"translation-block translation-block-merged\"><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The simplest and most common solution is to refresh the permalink structure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">To do this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Log in to your WordPress dashboard<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Go to <strong>Settings \u2192 Permalinks<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Do not change anything<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Click <strong>Save Changes<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This forces WordPress to regenerate rewrite rules and often immediately resolves 404 errors on posts and pages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Fix_2_Restore_Default_htaccess_Rules\"><\/span>Fix 2: Restore Default .htaccess Rules<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If refreshing permalinks does not solve the issue, the <code>.htaccess<\/code> file may be corrupted or missing required rewrite rules.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">You can fix it manually via FTP by opening the <code>.htaccess<\/code> file and replacing its contents with the default WordPress rules:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-code\"><code># BEGIN WordPress\n&lt;IfModule mod_rewrite.c&gt;\nRewriteEngine On\nRewriteBase \/\nRewriteRule ^index\\.php$ - &#91;L]\nRewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f\nRewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d\nRewriteRule . \/index.php &#91;L]\n&lt;\/IfModule&gt;\n# END WordPress\n<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">After saving the file, reload your website and test several internal pages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Fix_3_Clear_Cache\"><\/span>Fix 3: Clear Cache<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If your website uses caching (for example LiteSpeed Cache or another caching plugin), old cached rewrite rules may still be served.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">After fixing permalinks or <code>.htaccess<\/code>, make sure to:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Clear your WordPress cache plugin<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Clear server-level cache (if available)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Test in an incognito browser window<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Why_This_Happens\"><\/span>Why This Happens<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This issue usually occurs when:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Permalink structure is changed or reset<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><code>.htaccess<\/code> file is overwritten or corrupted<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Plugin or theme modifies rewrite rules<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Server migration or restore resets Apache rules<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Cache continues serving outdated URLs<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Conclusion\"><\/span>Conclusion<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Sudden 404 errors in WordPress rarely mean that content is missing. In most cases, they are caused by broken rewrite rules. Refreshing permalinks and restoring <code>.htaccess<\/code> defaults typically resolves the issue quickly.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","format":"standard","manualknowledgebasecat":[25,58],"manual_kb_tag":[723,190,715,716,718,719,720,721,722],"class_list":["post-1046","manual_kb","type-manual_kb","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","manualknowledgebasecat-hosting","manualknowledgebasecat-web-applications-cms","manual_kb_tag-rewritecond","manual_kb_tag-wordpress","manual_kb_tag-permalinks","manual_kb_tag-page-not-found","manual_kb_tag-htaccess-file","manual_kb_tag-url-rewriting","manual_kb_tag-mod_rewrite","manual_kb_tag-rewriteengine","manual_kb_tag-rewriterule"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybox.com\/help\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/manual_kb\/1046","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybox.com\/help\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/manual_kb"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybox.com\/help\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/manual_kb"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybox.com\/help\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/mybox.com\/help\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/manual_kb\/1046\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4083,"href":"https:\/\/mybox.com\/help\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/manual_kb\/1046\/revisions\/4083"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybox.com\/help\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1046"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"manualknowledgebasecat","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybox.com\/help\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/manualknowledgebasecat?post=1046"},{"taxonomy":"manual_kb_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybox.com\/help\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/manual_kb_tag?post=1046"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}