Maintenance mode shows visitors a friendly "back soon" page while you work on your site behind the scenes. On your Instant Access Internet Services account, WP Toolkit lets you put WordPress in maintenance mode with a single switch in cPanel -- no plugin needed. This guide also shows how to customize the maintenance page and what to do if your site gets stuck in maintenance mode after an update.
How to turn on WordPress maintenance mode in WP Toolkit
- Log in to cPanel and go to Domains > WordPress Management (WP Toolkit).
- Find your site in the list.
- On the site's card, turn on the Maintenance mode switch.
- Open your site in a private browser window. Visitors now see the maintenance page instead of your site.
To bring the site back, turn the Maintenance mode switch off again. Your site is visible straight away.
WP Toolkit also turns maintenance mode on by itself while it updates WordPress or copies data from a staging site, and turns it off again when it's done.
Can I still work on the site while it's in maintenance mode?
With WP Toolkit's maintenance mode, the maintenance page replaces the whole site for everyone, and the WordPress dashboard may not be reachable while it's on. It's best for short jobs you do outside WordPress, such as file changes, a database import or a restore.
If you need to keep working in WordPress while visitors see a "coming soon" page for a longer time, use a maintenance or coming-soon plugin instead (search Plugins > Add New Plugin for "maintenance mode"). These let logged-in admins see the real site while everyone else sees the notice. Or build and test your changes on a staging copy and push them live when ready -- see the staging guide below.
How to customize the maintenance page
- In Domains > WordPress Management (WP Toolkit), click the settings (gear) icon next to Maintenance mode on the site's card.
- Change the settings you want:
- Screen text -- the heading and message visitors see, for example "We're updating our site and will be back shortly."
- Timer -- turn on a countdown and set how long the maintenance will last.
- Social network links -- add links to your social media pages so visitors can still reach you.
- Save your changes. Use the preview option to see how the page looks.
If you know HTML, WP Toolkit also lets you edit the maintenance page template directly. To go back to the standard page, use the option to restore the default template in the same settings window.
Is maintenance mode bad for SEO?
Not for short periods. For a few hours, search engines simply try again later. Don't leave a live business site in maintenance mode for days, as search engines may start dropping pages from their results.
Troubleshooting
My site says "Briefly unavailable for scheduled maintenance. Check back in a minute."
This is WordPress's own update message, not WP Toolkit's. It appears while WordPress updates plugins, themes or core, and it can get stuck if an update was interrupted. To fix it:
- In cPanel, go to Files > File Manager and open
public_html(or the folder where WordPress is installed). - Make sure hidden files are shown (Settings at the top right, then tick Show Hidden Files (dotfiles)).
- Find the file named
.maintenanceand delete it. - Reload your site, then log in to WordPress and re-run the update that was interrupted.
I turned maintenance mode off, but visitors still see the maintenance page
They're probably seeing a cached copy. Purge the cache (in WordPress, LiteSpeed Cache > Toolbox > Purge All) and ask visitors to refresh. Also check that the switch really is off in WP Toolkit and that no maintenance plugin is active.
I can't see the switch on my site's card
If your site isn't listed in WP Toolkit, click Scan at the top of the WP Toolkit page to add it.
Related guides
- How to Create a WordPress Staging Site and Push It Live
- How to Update WordPress, Plugins and Themes (and Turn On Auto-Updates)
- How to Show Hidden Files (.htaccess) in cPanel File Manager
- How to Speed Up WordPress with LiteSpeed Cache
Still stuck? Open a support ticket and the Instant Access Internet Services team will help.
