How to fix “The link you followed has expired” error in WordPress

Are you confuse with “The link you followed has expired” error in WordPress?

There is no unique reason for this error, that’s why beginners feel trouble with it.

From this article, you can get a clear idea about how to fix “The link you followed has expired” error in WordPress. Here we will discuss the reasons for the error and the relevant process to fix the error in the future.

Reasons for  ‘The Link You Have Followed Has Expired’ Error?

When you are trying to upload a WordPress theme or a plugin to your website from the WordPress admin area, then usually you have to face this error.

WordPress hosting companies can control the size of the file using a special setting that you upload from inside the WordPress admin area, as well as they also have a setting that stops scripts from running too long.

By visiting the Media ⇒ Add New page, you can see the file size upload limit.

These facts help you to continue your website safely and improve the overall performance of your WordPress hosting server.

If you need to upload a larger file or if these settings are too low, then you would obtain an error like memory exhausted error or maximum execution time exceeded error.

However, if you are trying to upload a WordPress theme or plugin, then you can see ‘The link you followed has expired‘ error. 

Let’s see the way to easily fix this problem.

Fixing ‘The Link You Have Followed Has Expired’ Error

By following the below tasks you can fix ‘The link you followed has expired’ error quickly.

• By increasing the file upload size
• By increasing the PHP memory
• By increasing the execution time limits for your website.

There are several methods to do that. All possibilities will be discussed and you can choose the easiest method or one that works on your hosting environment.

Though this method is much easier than others, the problem is it has a downside. If you change the WordPress theme your site will return to the old limits. If you hope to change your theme, then try one of the other two methods described below.

Add the following code to your WordPress theme’s functions.php  file.

@ini_set( 'upload_max_size' , '120M' );
@ini_set( 'post_max_size', '120M');
@ini_set( 'max_execution_time', '300' );

If you are trying to upload more than the file, you can increase the values in upload_max_size and post_max_size to be.

And also you should have an idea about the time you think it would take for the file to upload and according to that time, you will also need to increase the max_execution_time to. If you are unsure, then you can try doubling this value.

If you feel, it’s no need to add code to your theme’s functions file, then you can try the .htaccess method.

For this method, you should have to edit the .htaccess file by using an FTP client or the File Manager app in cPanel. 

Using FTP, connect to your website and edit the .htaccess file.

Now, you should add the following code at the bottom of your .htaccess file.

php_value upload_max_filesize 128M
php_value post_max_size 128M
php_value max_execution_time 300
php_value max_input_time 300

Make sure that you save the changes and upload the file back to your website.

The php.ini file is a configuration file used by PHP and WordPress. It’s important that using an FTP client, you have to connect to your WordPress site and look for a php.ini file in your site’s root folder.

Someone may not find it in their site’s root folder if they are using a shared hosting account.  In that case, as a solution, you have to create a blank php.ini file using a plain text editor like Notepad and upload it to your website.

Now edit the php.ini file and add the following code.

upload_max_filesize = 128M
post_max_size = 128M
max_execution_time = 300

Make sure that you save the changes and upload the file back to your website.

Now you can visit your website and try to upload the theme or plugin file. The error disappears and you can upload the file.

If it doesn’t, then try it by increasing file limits to match the file size you are trying to upload.

We hope you will able to get an idea about how to fix easily ‘The link you followed has expired’ error in WordPress. You may also want to bookmark our guide on how to fix the most common WordPress errors. It will help you save a lot of time by quickly finding a fix for WordPress issues.

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