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Troubleshooting Common PrettyLinks Plugin Issues: Deactivation, Access, and Update Problems

34 threads Sep 16, 2025

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Users of the 'PrettyLinks – Affiliate Links, Link Branding, Link Tracking, Marketing and Stripe Payments Plugin' occasionally encounter issues after updating, deactivating, or even uninstalling the plugin. Based on community reports, these problems often manifest as broken admin areas, redirect loops, or unexpected errors. This guide outlines the most common issues and provides step-by-step solutions to resolve them.

1. Admin Access Issues After Deactivation or Update

Symptoms: After deactivating or updating the plugin, you may be unable to access your WordPress admin area (wp-admin), encountering an Internal Server Error or a redirect loop. In some cases, the issue persists even after the plugin is deactivated.

Why it happens: This can be caused by incomplete deactivation routines, leftover code in the database, or a conflict with another plugin or theme that is triggered during the deactivation process.

Solutions:

  • Check Error Logs: Contact your web host to access your server's PHP error logs. These logs often contain specific error messages that pinpoint the cause.
  • Manual Plugin Removal via FTP: If you cannot access the admin area, use an FTP client or your hosting file manager to delete the plugin's folder located at /wp-content/plugins/pretty-link/. This is a guaranteed way to stop the plugin from loading. Your created links are stored in the database and will remain safe.
  • Clear Browser Cache: If you are being redirected to a specific page (e.g., .../wp-admin/admin.php?page=pretty-link-update), try clearing your browser's cache and cookies, as a cached redirect could be causing the problem.

2. Problems After an Update

Symptoms: A new plugin update may cause conflicts with other plugins (like caching or page builders), break functionality on your site, or cause performance issues like slow admin dashboards.

Why it happens: Updates can introduce new code that conflicts with other software or changes how assets are loaded, which can interfere with minification plugins like WP Rocket.

Solutions:

  • Check for a Fix: The PrettyLinks team is often quick to address widespread issues. Check the plugin's update page to see if a newer version (e.g., 2.1.6, 3.0.1) has been released to fix the bug you are experiencing.
  • Reconfigure Caching/Minification: If a update breaks your site and you use a caching plugin, try disabling and then re-enabling CSS/JS minification. This often clears the conflicting cached files.
  • Conflict Test: Deactivate all other plugins and switch to a default WordPress theme (like Twenty Twenty-One). If the issue resolves, reactivate your plugins one by one to identify the conflict.

3. Multisite Configuration Breaks

Symptoms: After an update, sites in a WordPress Multisite network may redirect to the main site, both on the front end and in the admin area.

Why it happens: Certain updates have contained bugs that incorrectly handle site IDs in a Multisite environment.

Solutions:

  • Update Immediately: The PrettyLinks team has historically released patches (e.g., version 2.1.6) very quickly to resolve Multisite issues. Updating to the latest version is the primary solution.
  • Downgrade Temporarily: If a fix is not immediately available, you can temporarily downgrade to the previous working version of the plugin by manually installing it via FTP. Always back up your site first.

4. Can't Uninstall or Reinstall

Symptoms: Attempting to completely uninstall the plugin results in a fatal error (e.g., "Maximum execution time exceeded").

Why it happens: This is typically due to a problematic uninstallation routine getting stuck on a large database operation.

Solutions:

  • Manual Database Cleanup: Use a database management tool like phpMyAdmin. Before deleting the plugin, ensure you have deleted the prli_db_version row from your WordPress wp_options table (use the appropriate table prefix if yours is different).
  • Increase PHP Timeout: Temporarily increase the max_execution_time in your php.ini configuration file to allow the uninstall process to complete.

Important Note: Before attempting any troubleshooting, it is highly recommended that you create a full backup of your WordPress site and database. This ensures you can easily restore your site if anything goes wrong.

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