# Fix a site stuck in maintenance mode
Source: https://docs.webgee.com/en/hosting/wordpress/wordpress-my-site-is-showing-a-maintenance-page-how-do-i-disable-it







If your site shows **"Briefly unavailable for scheduled maintenance. Check back
in a minute"** and does not recover, an update stopped part-way through.
Applies to all WordPress sites.

<img alt="The WordPress update screen warning that the site will be placed in maintenance mode" src="__img0" />

WordPress enters maintenance mode automatically whenever it updates core, a
theme or a plugin, and leaves it as soon as the update finishes. Normally that
takes a couple of seconds and nobody notices.

It gets stuck when the update is interrupted:

* The browser tab was closed mid-update.
* A large batch of plugins or themes was updated at once and the request timed
  out.
* A compatibility problem caused the update to fail part-way.

## Delete the .maintenance file [#delete-the-maintenance-file]

While in maintenance mode, WordPress keeps a file called &#x2A;*`.maintenance`** in
the site's root folder — the one containing `wp-admin` and `wp-config.php`.
Deleting it ends maintenance mode immediately.

1. Connect using cPanel's **File Manager** or an FTP client.
2. Open the site's root folder, normally `public_html`.
3. Enable hidden files. In File Manager this is **Settings** → &#x2A;*Show Hidden
   Files (dotfiles)**; in FTP clients it is usually a "show hidden files"
   option. The leading dot means the file is hidden by default.
4. Delete `.maintenance`.

<img alt="The .maintenance file in the site root, ready to be deleted" src="__img1" />

The site should load immediately. Clear any caching plugin and your CDN, or the
maintenance page may still be served from cache.

## Then finish the update [#then-finish-the-update]

Deleting the file ends maintenance mode — it does not complete the update. The
site is now running a part-updated set of files.

<Callout type="warn">
  Re-run the update rather than leaving it. A half-applied update can leave
  plugin files from one version alongside database changes from another, and the
  resulting errors are much harder to diagnose later than they are now.
</Callout>

Go to **Dashboard** → **Updates** and run it again. This time:

* Update in small batches rather than selecting everything.
* Leave the tab open until it finishes.

If the update fails repeatedly, the cause is a compatibility problem rather than
a timeout. Enable
[WP\_DEBUG](/en/hosting/wordpress/how-to-view-enable-and-view-errors-on-a-wordpress-installation-wp-debug)
to see the actual error.

## Related [#related]

* [Enable WP\_DEBUG](/en/hosting/wordpress/how-to-view-enable-and-view-errors-on-a-wordpress-installation-wp-debug)
* [Reset WordPress permalinks](/en/hosting/wordpress/how-to-reset-your-wordpress-permalinks)