Resolve Jetpack errors

Most Jetpack connection errors on WordPress.com clear up on their own, but some need a manual fix. This guide covers the common Jetpack errors you may see and how to resolve each one.

In many cases, Jetpack will self-heal and resolve an issue without manual intervention, but you may continue to see the error after Jetpack has already self-healed.

Your first step should be to take the standard steps to clear any browser or network-related issues:

• Force refresh
• Clear your browser cache
• Clear WordPress.com cookies
• Log out of WordPress.com and back in again.
• Further troubleshooting, such as trying another browser, device, or network

After ruling out browser and network issues, you can move on to the following sections detailing common Jetpack errors.

You can view your connection details, including which local user is connected to your WordPress.com account, by following these steps:

1. Visit your site’s dashboard.
2. Navigate to Jetpack → My Jetpack.
3. Find the Connection card. It shows:
   • The connection status, such as “Site and account connected” or “Site connected.”
   • The WordPress.com account you’re connected as, including its email address.
   • The connection owner, if that’s someone other than you.

If your account isn’t connected, click the “Connect my account” link. If you’re connected but aren’t the connection owner, click the connection status (for example, “Site and account connected“) to manage or disconnect your account.

For Jetpack connection self-healing to work, the email on your WordPress.com account must match the email used on your site’s WP Admin user account. If the two addresses do not match, you may see repeated connection errors that Jetpack cannot repair automatically.

To compare both email addresses, follow these steps:

1. In the Connection card (see the steps above), note the email address shown next to your name. This is the email on your WordPress.com account.
2. In WP Admin, go to Users → All Users and edit your profile to see the email on file.
3. If the two addresses differ, update one so they match. To change your WordPress.com account email, see change your email address.

Matching emails is one of several requirements for Jetpack self-healing. Even with matching emails, the connection can still fail for other reasons — for example, if your domain is not pointing to your site.

If you are an administrator of the site, you may see the following error message:

The user account that owns the plan is missing from your site. To fix this, you can create an account using the email address [email address].

This message means that the plan owner’s WP Admin (local) account has been deleted. To resolve this issue, follow these steps:

1. Navigate to Jetpack → My Jetpack.
2. Click the “Create Account” button in the error message at the top of the screen.

3. On the Add User screen, the email address that matches the plan owner will be auto-populated. Add a username. If you don’t know the plan owner’s username, any username will work. The email address is the important part.
4. Click the “Add User” button.

When you return to Jetpack → My Jetpack, the error message will be gone, indicating the issue is resolved.

Plugin-enabled sites hosted on WordPress.com must have Jetpack enabled to function correctly. You cannot disconnect, disable, or deactivate Jetpack on WordPress.com. In rare cases, migrating your site from another host may require that you restore or reconnect Jetpack after the migration is complete.

When the Jetpack connection needs to be restored, you may see one of these error messages:

Error Message: We can’t communicate with your site because the Jetpack plugin is deactivated.

Error Message: Jetpack can’t communicate with your site because your site isn’t connected.

To reconnect Jetpack, follow these steps:

1. Visit your site’s dashboard.
2. Navigate to Jetpack → My Jetpack.
3. Reconnect Jetpack from the My Jetpack screen:
   • If the Connection card shows a connection error, click the “Restore Connection” button.
   • If you see the “Missing user connection” notice at the top of the screen, click the “Connect your user account” button.

If the Connection card shows “Site and account connected” and you aren’t experiencing other issues with your site’s dashboard, go through the suggestions in the basic Jetpack troubleshooting section of this guide. This usually means Jetpack has already self-healed, but your browser has cached the error message.

In most cases, the following errors indicate that there is an issue with your custom domain:

Error Message: The URL stored by the Jetpack servers does not match your site.

Error Message: The Jetpack site is inaccessible or returned an error: transport error - HTTP status code was not 200.

Error Message: Jetpack is unable to connect to your domain because your domain’s DNS records aren’t pointing to your site.

SSL: no alternative certificate subject name matches target host name

If you’re seeing errors related to URL, inaccessible, DNS, or SSL, your custom domain is not ready to be used on your site yet. You can make Jetpack operational by temporarily using the default site address as your site’s primary domain.

Follow these steps to make the default site address primary until your domain is ready to use:

1. Visit your Hosting Dashboard.
2. Click the title of the site you want to manage.

3. In the left sidebar, select Domains.
4. Click the three dots (⋮) next to the default site address (either .wordpress.com or .wpcomstaging.com) and select “Make primary site address“.
5. Navigate to Jetpack → My Jetpack to restore the Jetpack connection.

You can continue working on your website content and design under this address. Once your domain becomes fully active, you can set it as the primary address.

Learn more about troubleshooting domain errors.

In most cases, the following errors indicate that there is a plugin or theme conflict on your site:

Error Message: Jetpack can’t communicate with your site due to a critical error on the site.

Error Message: Jetpack can’t communicate with your site because your site isn’t responding to requests.

Error Message: Jetpack can’t communicate with your site because XML-RPC is not responding correctly. 

Error Message: Jetpack can’t communicate with your site because the REST API is not responding correctly.

In most cases, the critical error is caused by a recently installed or updated plugin. The error page should include additional information about the plugin or theme causing the error. You can also review the PHP Logs to locate any fatal errors connected to the critical error on your website.

If you have gone through the steps to identify plugin/theme conflicts and you are not experiencing any other issues with your WordPress.com dashboard, you will want to go through the suggestions in the basic Jetpack troubleshooting section of this guide. This usually means Jetpack has already self-healed, but your browser has cached the error message.

Contact us if you cannot access your WordPress.com dashboard to deactivate the theme or plugin.

Error Message: The site you have requested is not installed.
Run `wp core install` to create database tables.

This error can occur if your default table prefix, defined in your wp-config.php, does not match the existing prefix or your site is missing its wp_options table.

If the issue is the table prefix and you have SSH or SFTP access established, you can update the prefix to the correct one by updating your wp-config.php file. The default prefix is wp_. You can confirm the actual prefix in use with SSH access with this command wp db query “SHOW TABLES;”

If the issue is a missing table, you can import a backed-up version of this table (if you have access to one) via SSH access and the use of WP-CLI commands.

Contact us if you need assistance confirming your database prefix or restoring working tables to your site.

Sometimes, problems with the Jetpack connection can show a message like “You haven’t published any pages” in the Default Admin dashboard. The content may still be available in the WP Admin dashboard, but the Pages and Posts sections in the default admin dashboard may show an empty screen.

If you notice your blog posts and pages list is blank in the Default Admin, clear your site’s cache, troubleshoot your site’s plugins, and check for any Jetpack connection problems.

If this doesn’t resolve the problem, contact us.

In rare cases, you may see an error that Jetpack can’t connect, and your site address will display a tmp (temporary) URL. When this happens, you will need to contact our Happiness Engineers to resolve the issue.

You can regain access to your site’s dashboard without WP Admin when a plugin or theme error has disconnected Jetpack. To regain access, follow these steps:

1. Deactivate the plugin or theme causing the error with either of these methods:
   • Visit your site. If a critical error screen appears, click the Deactivate button next to the plugin or theme it names.
   • Visit your Hosting Dashboard, select Plugins → Manage plugins, and switch off the plugin for your site.
2. Once your site’s dashboard loads, follow the steps to restore the Jetpack connection.

If you can’t deactivate the plugin or theme, contact our Happiness Engineers and include the following information:

• The exact text of the error you’re seeing.
• Actions you took before the error appeared.
• Include which plugins or themes you have installed most recently.
• If you uploaded anything to your site before this error appeared.