accidentally changed wordpress address url

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  waga313bffed6d8 · Member · Jan 27, 2026 at 4:18 am

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  Hi there,
  i was just trying to fix a Licence Mismatch issue in our WordPress backend. I changed the wordpress URL from https://waga.com.au/stage to https://waga.com.au/.
  Before i did this i also changed the admin email to update it as it was incorrect but didnt get to change the password for it.
  Our website now doesnt look right and nobody can log into the back end.
  How can i solve this issue and be able to log in again?

  with thanks

  Western Alliance for Greenhouse Action (WAGA)

  The blog I need help with is: (visible only to logged in users)

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  james3265166 · Member · Jan 27, 2026 at 2:07 pm

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  I understand how stressful it is to be locked out after what seemed like a routine URL change, but this is a very common issue caused by a “Site URL” mismatch. When you changed the address to the root domain while the actual WordPress files were still located in the /stage folder, you broke the path the website uses to find its styles and its login page, which is why the site looks “broken” and your credentials won’t work. Since you can’t access the dashboard, you will need to bypass the WordPress interface entirely and fix the URL directly in the wp-config.php file using your hosting provider’s File Manager or FTP. By adding two specific lines of code—define(‘WP_HOME’,’https://waga.com.au/stage’); and define(‘WP_SITEURL’,’https://waga.com.au/stage’);—you can force the site back to its working state. Regarding the admin email, since you didn’t get to update the password, you can use the “Lost your password?” link once the URL is fixed, or better yet, use the “phpMyAdmin” tool in your hosting panel to manually reset the user password in the wp_users table.