WordPress sites are easy to use and understandable. You can run your site with help of many plugins. There are a couple of different issues that occurs on your site. People can easily handle them but some issues are rarely solved by themselves so its better to fix them. One of those issues is err_too_many_redirects.
Sometimes you see an error on your WordPress site and get panic about that, but that is actually not a big deal. Similarly, the err_too_many_redirect is an error that you see seldom on your WordPress site. It’s really not difficult to fix that error. The error shows that your site really stuck in an infinite redirection loop.
We will discuss some easy and useful methods with you to fix this error on your WordPress site.
What is err_too_many_redirects?
Before moving ahead with solutions or methods of fixing the error we would first discuss what is err_too_many_redirects. The name of this error shows that the browser has redirected you too many times. Its also known as a redirect loop. When a browser is not able to connect with right server of your website then the error appears. The browser goes from one URL to the other URL or the domain has redirected too many times to connect the server with location of your website. This repeating action of browser from one URL to the other, creates the loop of redirects.
Mainly this error appears due some updates or changes in your WordPress site. Inappropriate configuration of redirects on your server, corrupted plugins and wrong settings from web host are some reasons too.
Methods to fix err_too_many_redirects
The error varies depending upon the browser you are running. Now have a look on some methods to fix the error.
1. Deleting Browser Data
Before making any changes or updates on your site you must check the browser data of your site. Sometimes the outdated or faulty data is the reason of err_too_many redirects error. So its very important to delete or clear the cookies. We recommend you to clear cookies on your site first even if you do not own that site.
Following are some simple ways to delete cookies from different browsers:
On Google Chrome
On Google chrome this error will show as; This page isn’t working. domain.com redirected you too many times. You will see three dots on the upper right corner of Google Chrome page, just click them. Now select settings there and move to Advanced.
Now select content settings. Here you will see cookies, click that. See all cookies and site data, select that now. Then select the domain on which you have err_too_many_redirects issue and delete all cookies from there.
On Mozilla Firefox
On Mozilla Firefox the error shows as; An error occurred during a connection to domain.com. This problem can sometimes be caused by disabling or refusing to accept cookies.
To fix the error see on the upper right menu button. After that select the option of privacy and security. There you go with clear data option to remove browser data.
On Safari
In Safari it will show as; Too many redirects occurred trying to open “domain.com.” This might occur if you open a page that is redirected to open another page which is then redirected to open the original page.
To fix this issue on Safari you would select option of Clear History. When you will select this option then there all cookies and browsing data will also be removed.
2. Check Your URL Settings
After clearing cookies and browser data if the issue is still not solved then its time to check URL settings of your site. You can change your URL settings from dashboard or manually.
Checking and Changing URL Settings Manually
To check and change your URL settings manually go to the settings in your wp-config.php file that is normally found at the root of your word press site. You can access your wp-config.php file via FTP, SSH, or WP-CL. You will first connect to your website using an FTP client. When you are connected to your site, you will find wp-config.php file in your site’s root directory. You need to download and edit this file by inputting the following code to WP_HOME and WP_SITEURL, towards the top of the file. Just put these two lines to the file and replace example.com with your own domain.
define('WP_HOME','https://yourdomain.com');
define('WP_SITEURL','https://yourdomain.com');After saving the files and uploading it back to the server check your site again.
IMPORTANT: If your website file is in the default root folder (/public_html/), you can use the default (http://example.com/) URL. If it’s in a subfolder like (/wp/), then replace the URL to something like (http://example.com/wp).
Changing URL Settings via Administrator Dashboard
To change URL from your dashboard firstly you would login to WordPress dashboard. By following some steps you can change your settings.
- From your WordPress dashboard go to Settings.
- General Settings option will show you, your WordPress address(URL) and Site address(URL), check them carefully.
- Be careful in configuring your URLs.
- Make sure to save changes if you edit any thing.
Two additional methods are also very helpful if you can not reach to dashboard
- Change WordPress URL directly in Database
- Change WordPress URL with WP-CLI.
3. Deleting Server, Proxy, and Browser Cache
In some cases, the err_too_many_redirects error happens because of the cache stored on your WordPress site. The reason behind this is that err_too_many_redirects loops are responses that can be cached. To get rid of this you must clear cache from your WordPress site, server, third party proxy services and if needed then from your browser also.
There are some easy steps to follow to remove cache from your WordPress site.
- After login to your WordPress dashboard go to Plugin and then select Add to.
- By clicking on search bar, search for some fastest WordPress cache then select Install Now and Activate to set up the plugin.
- Click on the Delete Cache, choose the option according to your need.
- The confirmation message on the top of the page will be appeared after fixing the issue.
You’ll also need to clear the cache of any caching plugin you have installed on your site, such as WP Fastest Cache or W3 Total Cache.
4. Temporarily Disabling Corrupted Plugins
Another reason of this err_too_many_redirects is outdated or corrupted plugin. To fix this error you must check for plugin conflicts. Sometimes settings or updates of plugins can conflict with redirects that might already be set on your server, causing a redirect loop. If you do not know which plugin is causing the issue, then you would need to do some trial and error. The quickest way to do this is by temporarily disabling all the plugins.
Your data will not be damaged by deleting all plugins. You will just login using SFTP as you would not be able to access the WordPress admin or you can also rename your plugin like plugin_old to check your site. If things will go well that means your issue is fixed.
The next step is to find out which plugin was the culprit. So you will check your all plugins one by one to find that which one was actually causing the problem. Rename the folder to “plugins” again and then rename each plugin folder inside of if it.
5. Disabling .htaccess File
Sometimes your .htaccess File is the source of err_too_many_redirects on your WordPress site. This is seen especially on Google Chrome, Firefox, and Safari. If you will replace your corrupted file it will resolve your issue. To do so, first access a backup copy of your .htaccess file that is not corrupt. Alternatively, you can also acquire a fresh copy by downloading WordPress and extracting .htaccess from the core files. Your custom code can be disappeared or lose due to this.
You can fix the error by using FTP or SSH, and rename your .htaccess file to .htaccess_old. This will help you to keep your backup. You can locate your .htaccess file by connecting to your server.
With the help of FTP FileZilla you can resolve this error by using these steps:
- Connect to your server, then locate your .htaccess file.
- If you don’t find your file, you would determine how to show hidden files in your FTP client of choice. In FileZilla, you can do so by selecting Server then click Force showing hidden files in the toolbar.
When you would find it delete your corrupted .htaccess files.
Then, upload the backup you have earlier. Then go to your site to check the err_too_many_redirects.
6. Ask Your Host to Check Your Nginx Config File
If your host uses Nginx, then there is a chance that your server’s configuration is responsible of err_too_many_redirects. But unfortunately you can not fix this issue on your own. To fix this issue you must connect to your host, so they can check your Nginx config file. There support team must be able to find and fix the issue.
7. Check Your HTTPS Settings
One more reason behind the err-too _many redirects is HTTPS settings. This happens seldom when you shift your word press site to http and settings are not finished correctly.
There are some points to keep in mind while dealing with this error:
Don’t Force HTTPS Without an SSL Certificate
The most common mistake seen in this matter is, when you force your word press site to load over HTTPS even if you have not installed SSL certificate. This will push your site to the loop of err_too_many_redirects. By installing an SSL certificate on your word press site you can resolve this issue.
The SSL check. SSL/TLS certificates is also needed when they ask you to install not the main certificate but also the intermediate one.
Don’t Use an SSL Plugin, Update your Hard-coded Links
The Really Simple SSL plugin is very helpful plugin to automatically redirect to HTTP. This will resolve your problem but it’s to a reliable way to fix the error because the third party plugins can cause many issues. So try to update your hard coded HTTP links instead of using SSL plugin.
8. Check HTTP to HTTPS Redirects on Server
Redirect HTTP to HTTPS in Nginx
You can easily redirect your HTTP traffic to HTTPS by using following code if your web server is running Nginx. The code is:
server { listen 80; server_name domain.com www.domain.com; return 301 https://domain.com$request_uri; }Redirect HTTP to HTTPS in Apache
This is the recommended method for redirecting WordPress running on Apache. But if your web server is running Apache then you can use this method. The code is:
RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTPS} off
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ https://%{HTTP_HOST}%{REQUEST_URI} [L,R=301]9. Check Third-Party Services
Err_too_many_redirects error sometimes occurs due to reverse proxy services like Cloudflare. The reason is when their Flexible SSL option is enabled and you already have an SSL certificate installed with your WordPress host. This becomes the cause of redirect URLs using HTTP to ones using HTTPS, and therefore a redirect loop occurs.
To fix this you need to change the Cloudflare Crypto settings from Flexible to either Full or Full (strict).
By using Always Use HTTPS page rule you can redirect all users to HTTPS. It will not create loop of err_too_many_redirects. The most important rule to keep in mind when dealing with the Cloudflare is forwarding URL redirection rules. In case you are using Stack Path, there you must select the option of “Origin Pull Protocol” that needs to be set to HTTPS only.
Using Cloudflare DNS Only
The condition when you are not using proxy/WAF service of Cloudflare then you must select the DNS Only option. You can make these changes in control panel. The grey color of cloud will ensure you that you have changes the settings. Otherwise the cloud color is orange.