WordPress.org

1. goldferris
   Member
   Posted 11 months ago #

   Hi!

   I've had my self-hosted WordPress blog (MakeupFiles.com) for over 3 years now. All of a sudden (I assume it happened after an update), WordPress doesn't seem to think I have authority to make big changes.

   - Now, instead of giving me an "update automatically" link at the top of the admin for the new 3.2 update, it says "Please notify the site administrator."

   - My Widgets menu has disappeared from the sidebar. I assume it's also a permissions issue. I followed steps from other threads saying to change edit_theme to switch_theme in the functions file, but that didn't get my Widgets menu back.

   For reference, I only have one user for my blog--Me-and it's the default "admin" login username. None of that has changed.

2. kmessinger
   Member
   Posted 11 months ago #

   Do you use WP-Insert?

   http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-insert/

   Causes all the side bars in the admin dashboard to vanish. New version released on July 5th resolves this.

3. goldferris
   Member
   Posted 11 months ago #

   Nope, I don't have WP-Insert. And I'm not missing the sidebars. Just the "Widgets" menu from the Appearances section. Everything else is there.

4. kmessinger
   Member
   Posted 11 months ago #

   Have you tried:

   - deactivating all plugins (yes, all) to see if this resolves the problem. If this works, re-activate the plugins one by one until you find the problematic plugin(s). Don't forget the ones in mu-plugins. If you can't get into your admin dashboard, try resetting the plugins folder by FTP or PhpMyAdmin. Sometimes, an apparently inactive plugin can still cause problems.

   - switching to the Twenty Ten theme to rule out any theme-specific problems.

5. goldferris
   Member
   Posted 11 months ago #

   Thanks, Kmessinger.

   - I deactivated all plugins, signed out, and signed back in. It didn't fix the problem.

   - I switched to Twenty Ten, signed out, and signed back in. It didn't fix the problem (including the lack of "Widgets" in the Appearance menu.)

6. kmessinger
   Member
   Posted 11 months ago #

   Go to dashboard users. Create a new user (you) - you will need a different email address - give that user admin rights. Log off and log on as the new user.

7. goldferris
   Member
   Posted 11 months ago #

   I really don't want to create a new user if I don't have to (I prefer getting my WordPress emails at the email address I chose originally). Is there a way to change the current user (admin) to administrator? Perhaps in PHPmyAdmin panel in the database?

8. esmi
   Theme Diva & Forum Moderator
   Posted 11 months ago #

   So? Delete the old admin user and then change the email address back to your preferred one.

9. goldferris
   Member
   Posted 11 months ago #

   Okay, I added a new user, assigned it as an "Administrator." Then I logged in as that user and it has the same problems as the original. It still says I need to contact the site admin to update wordpress, and there still isn't a Widgets section in the Appearance menu.

   So, My problem still isn't fixed.

10. goldferris
    Member
    Posted 10 months ago #

    I'm still not sure what to do about this. I feel like my problem must be in the database somewhere, but I don't know where to look. wp_users? wp_options?

    I searched around the internet and didn't find anything.

    I thought about maybe updating WordPress manually, but I'm afraid that since I don't have permissions anymore, it won't let me complete the update once I upload it through FTP and sign in again. I'd hate to disable my site completely that way.

    And I still can't edit my widgets anymore because of this, and that's a problem.

    Anyone have any new advice. I haven't gotten a reply in over a week.

11. esmi
    Theme Diva & Forum Moderator
    Posted 10 months ago #

    Using PhpMyadmin (or another MySQL managament tool), first backup your database. Then navigate to your wp_usermeta table and locate the meta_key called "wp_capabilities" for your user_id. Change the meta-value for this record to:

    a:1:{s:13:"administrator";b:1;}

12. goldferris
    Member
    Posted 10 months ago #

    Thanks, Esmi...

    I found "wp_capabilities" in the database and the meta-value is already what you said it should be.

    I really don't know what to do about this...

13. Digital Raindrops
    Member
    Posted 10 months ago #

    Hi,
    Just floating an idea might be well off base, is this a multi-site install?

    I know that in multi-site you get this message and there are settings in wp-config that point to the primary blog id, might be worth a look?

    Do you have a membership plugin that has a capabilities matrix for different user types?

    Could be a plugin that is causing this?

    David

14. goldferris
    Member
    Posted 8 months ago #

    Nope, this isn't a multi-site install and I don't have a membership plugin.

    It's weird, because my usermeta data in the database has the administrator string "a:1:{s:13:"administrator";b:1;}".

    But it still doesn't think I'm an administrator. I really am at a loss.

    I tried this thread, but it didn't apply since mine already says administrator in the database: http://wordpress.org/support/topic/logged-in-as-admin-or-am-i

    And while this thread looked promising to me, like it might help my issue, I don't understand it enough to apply it to my own situation: http://wordpress.org/support/topic/you-do-not-have-sufficient-permissions-to-update-plugins-for-this-blog?replies=9

    Sigh....

    Please, PLEASE someone help me. I'll give you a virtual hug in return. You know you want one.

15. goldferris
    Member
    Posted 6 months ago #

    I know I'm not supposed to bump, bu i last mentioned this a month ago and I still haven't gotten a reply. Is there anyone out there that can help me?

16. kmessinger
    Member
    Posted 6 months ago #

    Have you tried a diffent browser?

17. goldferris
    Member
    Posted 6 months ago #

    I don't know how that would matter (especially since I have two other blogs without this problem), but I tried it anyway.

    It still had the same problem in Internet Explorer as it does in Firefox.

    Thanks, though!

18. kmessinger
    Member
    Posted 6 months ago #

    Browsers look at code in slightly different ways.

    Where you checked the user capabilities, under that is user levels. It should be a 10 afaik so check that.

19. kmessinger
    Member
    Posted 6 months ago #

    Since you can login and for the most part function why not do a manual upgrade. That should fix and problems that have developed in the backend since you last upgraded.

20. goldferris
    Member
    Posted 6 months ago #

    I looked for user levels under usermeta and couldn't find it, so I looked it up and found that they phased out user levels at WP 2.0.

    I decided to manually upgrade. I'd been avoiding that because I thought it might make my problem worse.

    While it did update wordpress, it didn't fix the permissions. I still can't access widgets, for example. Even though I'm an admin, it's not letting me act like one.

    My problem isn't solved.

21. kmessinger
    Member
    Posted 6 months ago #

    they phased out user levels at WP 2.0.

    Guess that tells you how old my database is.

    I use this plugin, http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/user-role-editor/ to change roles. You could try this to see if it will change your role.

22. thesm2
    Member
    Posted 6 months ago #

    i think I had a very similar problem for months. Struggled along without being able to create users of update WP, but could post and some other admin tasks.

    I found this thread a way to my solution

    http://wordpress.org/support/topic/moving-wordpress-admin-issue-help-please

    just go to the wp-options table...find the option name 'wp_user_roles' and paste in the new code used by user ODGraphics.

    see if that works?

23. goldferris
    Member
    Posted 6 months ago #

    YAY!!!! Thank you so much, thesm2! That fixed it! Finally!

    I'm going to mark this one as Resolved. :)

24. eyal777
    Member
    Posted 5 months ago #

    cool :) thanks goldferris and thesm2

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