Missing Widget Areas On Localhost Site
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I’m not entirely sure where I’m supposed to seek help for this issue but I’ll try here first.
Operating System Information
Distributor ID: Ubuntu
Description: Pop!_OS 18.10
Release: 18.10
Codename: cosmicSome Context
I’m currently working on a theme for WooCommerce which was for the most part, completely functional and had no issues for the past 2 weeks since I started work on it.It was only until recently that I encountered an issue that’s only for now happened to a Localhost installation of WordPress. Been using WP for a while, around roughly 3 years so I’m quite baffled to see something this strange for the first time.
The Breakdown
1. The WooCommerce archive-product.php sidebar widgets went missing. These include the product search widget, price slider, product category dropdown, product tag2. No updating or downgrading was done prior to this incident. Styles were the only ones directly manipulated, none of which affect the widget sections.
3. Installing other themes show missing widget areas, as in the Theme Customizer “Widgets” section contains nothing. Sidebars with existing widgets defaulted to “Recent Posts” and “Meta” widgets. These can only be changed via direct-manipulation through php files now, which is ill-advised.
4. Shutting off all plugins did not do anything to the widget incident.
5. Adjusting file system permissions to chmod 777 did not do anything, note that permissions were never touched prior to this incident, and had worked normally as expected beforehand.
6. Updating wordpress from 5.0.3 to 5.1 did not do anything, downgrading to 4.9.9 and 4.9.8 did not do anything. Updating and downgrading plugins did not do anything.
7. Complete clean installation of WordPress then restoring wp-content by backups doesn’t do anything either. Widgets are still missing.
8. Rolling back theme versions does not help either, widgets areas are still missing.
9. Attempted to upload the theme to a web host since all events took place on a localhost environment. The uploaded theme on a hosted wordpress version of 4.9.8 displayed widgets without any issues. The Theme Customizer displayed widget areas as they should.
10. A slight anomaly took place on the web host of wordpress in that the “faulty theme” installed there created a new “Sidebar” section as a new Widget Area. It hasn’t damaged anything in there so far.
11. Attempting some suggestions from the Support Forums, Incognito mode from both Firefox and Chromium, both did not display the widget sections at all. As established above, this does not seem to be a browser or cache issue.
This is all for now, I’ll keep it updated whenever something new happens or if I discover a solution. Forgive me if the chronological details are a little bit rambly, I just copied those from a text file while I logged the events.
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UPDATE
I manage to somewhat solve this issue by doing the following:1. Download a fresh copy of WordPress, preferably the up-to-date version. Replacing the core files (wp-admin and wp-includes, and the other files at the root) while keeping wp-content doesn’t seem to help.
2. Place the clean version of WP at a different directory. This is to help isolate the case.
3. Use a clean database. Don’t import backups from the faulty site, this will have some adverse effects with versioning.
4. Do the quick install process and everything should be ready to go, widget areas are back. Make sure the plugins are also fresh installs from the official WordPress repository and not from the faulty site.
WARNING
I did lose all web pages by doing this method, but it did finally take care of the missing widget area problem. I suspect it might be related to the database but just to be sure, a clean install, as in 100% fresh and up-to-date is advised.Hopefully no one else encounters this problem. Take care and have a nice day.
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