A permalink WordPress error can be caused by a variety of different issues and is best resolved by digging deeper into possible causes. Did you move your WordPress installation to another host, web server folder, etc? Did you install a plugin that could have modified your link structures? Did you make any modifications to your .htaccess file? All these questions are important to consider when attempting to fix a permalink WordPress error. Try the common solutions below to fix this problem:

Refresh Permalink Structure

One of the easiest and most overlooked methods to fixing a permalink error is simply refreshing your permalink structure. To do this simply navigate to the WordPress Dashboard -> Settings -> Permalinks. Simply scroll to the bottom of the permalinks settings page and click “Save Changes”. This will refresh the link structure within the core of WordPress and is also the most common fix for this issue.

Check .htaccess for  the Correct Syntax

The next step is to verify that the standard WordPress mod_rewrite rules are present in your .htaccess file. Navigate to the root directory of your WordPress installation via FTP and open up the .htaccess file. The lines that should be present are:

# BEGIN WordPress
<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
RewriteRule ^index\.php$ - [L]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule . /index.php [L]
</IfModule>
# END WordPress

 

If the above lines do not exist copy and paste the above into your .htaccess and overwrite the existing file on your web server. If no .htaccess file exists, create one and input the above lines into the file and upload it to the root directory of your web server.

If the problem still persists…

It is then time to turn to advanced debugging techniques and review your web server configuration to locate possible bad configurations or conflicts. It would be best to consult an expert as each individual case is different in this situation. This highly depends on the specific WordPress and web server configuration you are running.