Maintenance mode temporarily replaces the normal public website with a maintenance page while you work on the WordPress installation.
- Open WP Toolkit: cPanel → Domains → WP Toolkit or Plesk → WordPress.
- Find the WordPress installation.
- Turn Maintenance mode on.
- Open the public website in a private/incognito window to confirm that the maintenance page appears.
When the work is finished, return to WP Toolkit and turn maintenance mode off.
Useful times to enable maintenance mode
- Large website changes or redesign work.
- Replacing a theme.
- Development or troubleshooting.
- Preparing a site before launch.
WP Toolkit may also use maintenance mode automatically during some management operations. If you configure a countdown on the maintenance page, the countdown is informational; reaching zero does not automatically turn maintenance mode off.
If WordPress still displays a maintenance message after the WP Toolkit switch is off, check whether WordPress left a temporary .maintenance file after an interrupted update. Confirm that no update is still running before removing a stale file. Removing the flag does not repair an incomplete update.
Documentation for this guidance: wordpress.org — faq troubleshooting.
Panel navigation and availability: cPanel WP Toolkit feature guidance; Plesk WP Toolkit guide.
