Applicable to:
- Plesk for Linux
- Plesk for Windows
Symptoms
WordPress website on a Plesk server is not accessible with the following error:
CONFIG_TEXT: Error establishing a database connection
Cause
Database connection credentials do no match the ones in the configuration file.
Resolution
Update the database password using the following procedure:
-
Go to Domains > example.com > File Manager and find the
wp-config.phpfile in the domain directory. -
Open
wp-config.phpand find the first lines defining the database, database user, database password and database server address, like the following:CONFIG_TEXT: /** The name of the database for WordPress /
define('DB_NAME', 'dbname');
/* MySQL database username /
define('DB_USER', 'username');
/* MySQL database password */
define('DB_PASSWORD', 'password');
/** MySQL hostname */
define('DB_HOST', '203.0.113.2:3306'); \ -
Copy the password (without the
''symbols). -
Go to Domains > example.com > Databases and click the database user
usernameunder the databasedbname(see lines fromwp-config.phpfrom the previous step for reference). -
Paste the password (see step 2) to the New password and Confirm password fields and click OK or Apply.
Note: In case an error is shown 'Database user name is greater than 16 characters', shorten the user name to under 16 characters on the Database User page in Plesk, and then update the
usernameinwp-config.phpaccordingly. -
Ensure that
DB_HOSTis set to the hostname or IP address displayed in Domains > example.com > Databases
Comments
2 comments
What is the user id and password supposed to be? given that what's in the wp-config file is incorrect.
This is an irritating bug that should have been noted in the migration tool, rather than waste each persons time having to deal with it after the fact.
@Michael, Hi!
As I understand, you faced the same issue after migration. However, when you reset the password, the website still shows "Error establishing a database connection". Please, correct me if I am wrong.
There can be several reasons for that:
- the website you are opening in the browser actually points to another ip and therefore to another server
- there is some other place rather than wp-config.php where database user credentials are defined
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