Troubleshooting domain errors

If a domain you registered, transferred, or connected on WordPress.com is not working, this guide will cover the most common causes and share how to get your domain working again.

If you don’t see the website you built on WordPress.com when you visit your domain address, or you see an old site or the wrong site, check the following aspects of your registered, connected, or transferred domain:

A newly registered domain can take up to 72 hours to become active. Or, if you’ve transferred your domain from another registrar, the process can take 3-5 days to complete. Follow these steps to verify that your domain name is active:

1. Visit your site’s dashboard.
2. Navigate to Upgrades → Domains (or Hosting → Domains if using WP Admin).
3. Next to your domain, check to make sure the Status is listed as Active.

If your domain status is not listed as Active, check any error messages or next steps listed on the domains page. Or, check the additional instructions below to ensure your domain is active and ready to use on WordPress.com

A domain’s “name servers” ensure that when someone wants to visit your website, their request is routed to the right place on the internet where your website is located. If your domain is not using WordPress.com’s name servers, it may not display your website correctly.

If your domain name is registered through WordPress.com, you can verify or update your name servers by following these steps:

1. Visit your WordPress.com dashboard.
2. Navigate to Upgrades → Domains (or Hosting → Domains if using WP Admin).
3. Click on the domain you want to edit.
4. Select the “Name servers” option.
5. Enable the “Use WordPress.com Name Servers” setting.

Any changes to your domain’s name servers may take up to 48 hours to fully propagate. During that time, you may not see any changes to your domain or the issue you’re trying to resolve.

If your domain name is registered with another provider and connected (mapped) to your WordPress.com site, verify with your domain provider that your domain’s name servers are set to WordPress.com.

Step-by-step instructions for updating your name servers.

Transferring a domain name can take 3-5 business days to complete. You can check the status of the transfer of your domain name to WordPress.com through your WordPress.com dashboard.

To check the status of your domain’s transfer:

1. Visit your WordPress.com dashboard.
2. Navigate to Upgrades → Domains (or Hosting → Domains if using WP Admin).
3. The “Status” column next to your domain will display the status of the domain transfer.

Learn more about the step-by-step process for transferring your domain name to WordPress.com.

Most commonly associated with a completed transfer in of your domain name to WordPress.com, DNS records (like A Records and CNAME records) are imported when your domain is transferred. In other cases, conflicting DNS records can cause your domain not to show your site.

If your domain is missing the necessary DNS Records, you will have the option to “Restore default A records” and/or “Restore default CNAME record” when you follow the steps below. You will want to repeat the process for all “Restore default…” options that are not grayed out.

To reset your DNS records to use the necessary details for your WordPress.com site, take these steps:

1. Visit your WordPress.com dashboard.
2. Navigate to Upgrades → Domains (or Hosting → Domains if using WP Admin).
3. Click on the domain you want to edit.
4. Click on the “DNS records” option.
5. Click the three dots to the right of the “Add a record” button.
6. If there are DNS records that can be reset to the default, click the “Restore default…” option that is not grayed out.
   • You may see one for “Restore default A records” as well as one for “Restore default CNAME record”.

Allow up to 48 hours for the changes you’ve made to your DNS to fully propagate. During that time, you may not see any changes to your domain or the issue you’re trying to resolve.

If the options are grayed out, congratulations, you’re using the WordPress.com default DNS records!

Learn how to manage Your DNS records.

In rare cases, you may have transferred, connected, or registered your domain on the unintended WordPress.com site. If you have more than one WordPress.com site, visit the Domains section of your profile to see which site the domain is attached to.

If the domain is attached to the wrong site, follow these steps to transfer your domain to the correct WordPress.com site:

1. Visit your WordPress.com dashboard.
2. Navigate to Upgrades, then Domains (or Hosting → Domains if using WP Admin).
3. Click on the domain you want to edit.
4. Click the “Transfer” button.
5. Click the “Continue” button next to the option to transfer the domain “To another WordPress.com site”
6. Select the WordPress.com site to which you want to transfer the domain and click the “Confirm Transfer” button.

If you visit your website and you do not see the correct domain in your browser’s address bar, make sure you have set your domain as your site’s primary address.

To set your domain as your site’s primary address:

1. Visit your WordPress.com dashboard.
2. Navigate to Upgrades → Domains (or Hosting → Domains if using WP Admin).
3. In the “Primary site address” box, click on the drop-down menu and select the domain you want to make primary.
4. Click the button labeled “Set as primary.”

Learn more about setting a primary site address.

We add free security certificates (SSL) for all sites hosted with us. If your website loads under http and not https, it means the SSL certificate is not active for your domain. Your website may show a security warning in the browser. To ensure your domain can receive its SSL cert, take the following steps:

• If your domain is registered with us, ensure that your domain uses our name servers and DNS.
• If your domain is registered with another domain provider and connected to us with our name servers, check the DNSSEC status of your domain and disable DNSSEC.

If it has been more than 24 hours since any issues with your domain have been corrected, and you still do not see your SSL certificate, contact us for help.

Learn more about securing your domain with SSL.

ICANN is the organization that governs domain ownership which all domain registrars (such as WordPress.com) must comply with. As per ICANN policy, all domain owners are required to provide current and valid contact information. An email with a link is sent to verify your contact information when you register a domain or update the domain contact information.

You may also find the following error message in your dashboard:

You must respond to the ICANN email to verify your domain email address or your domain will stop working. Please check your inbox and respond to the email.

ICANN suspends the domain name if you do not click the email link within 14 days. Once the contact information is verified, a suspended domain name will come back online shortly.

Learn how to verify your domain contact information.

When you register your domain, you purchase the right to use that domain for as long as you keep the registration active. If your domain is registered through WordPress.com we will email you notifications of an upcoming renewal, along with notices once the domain expires.

If your domain name is expired, you will likely see an error message like the one below:

DNS_PROBE_FINISHED_NXDOMAIN

If you connected your domain to WordPress.com you will need to visit your domain registrar to check the status of your domain renewal.

Use our Site Profiler if you’re not sure where your domain name is registered.

Learn more about the domain expiration process on WordPress.com.

If you receive a message that your domain is taken or owned by someone else, the following possibilities are the most likely reasons for this message:

• You own the domain with another provider, and you’re trying to register it again on WordPress.com. Instead, you can connect or transfer your domain to your website.
• You’ve already added the domain to your WordPress.com account, but to the wrong website. In this situation, you can move your domain to the correct site.
• You have typed the domain incorrectly. Double-check the spelling, including the part after the period (.com, .net, or otherwise).
• Someone else legitimately owns the domain. In this case, you cannot register it. Consider registering a domain with a different spelling or extension.

From time to time, we work on updates to our domain systems that require us to restrict access to certain domain settings in your account. Your domain and website will remain operational as normal during this time, but you may not be able to access the domain settings for some or all TLDs. During this time we’ll show an “under maintenance” message in your account, and you can check back in 2 – 4 hours to see if the maintenance period has ended.

You can follow these steps to identify where your domain name is registered. Knowing where your domain is registered helps you identify who your domain payments are made to.

1. Visit the WordPress.com Site Profiler.
2. Enter your domain name in the field labeled “Enter a site URL” and click the “Check site” button.
3. Under the Domain information section, look for “Registrar”. The Registrar is where your domain name is registered.

If the Registrar field shows “WordPress.com”, congratulations, your domain is registered with WordPress.com. You can manage your domain’s billing through your WordPress.com account. If the Registrar field shows a different provider, they are your registrar and you can manage billing for your domain directly through them.

When you make a change to your domain, including changes to name servers or DNS records, it can take some time for the update to be visible everywhere. This delay is called domain propagation. It happens because internet servers around the world need to update their records to recognize your new domain.

Propagation usually completes within a few hours but can take up to a maximum of 72 hours. In the meantime, some visitors may see your old domain settings while others see the new changes. Clearing your browser cache or trying a different network (like mobile data) can help you see the changes sooner.