Resolve WordPress setup errors on Lightsail
An error message will appear at the top of the Lightsail console if there's an issue with the information that was submitted during the workflow.
The first line of the message informs you that setup has encountered an error:
Could not complete setup on your instance
.InstanceName in the
InstanceRegion Region
The second line contains the error that setup encountered:
An error occurred and we were unable to connect or stay connected to your
instance
To begin troubleshooting, match the error that appeared in the message with one of the following errors.
Errors
- DNS records not found. Confirm that the domain's DNS records point to the public IP address of your instance, and allow time for DNS changes to propagate.
- DNS records do not match. Confirm that the domain's DNS records point to the public IP address of your instance, and allow time for DNS changes to propagate.
- Unable to connect to your instance. Allow a few minutes for the SSH connection to become ready. Then, start setup again.
- Unsupported WordPress version. Setup only supports WordPress versions 6, and up.
- Setup only supports WordPress instances that were created on or after January 1, 2023.
- Instance firewall ports 22, 80, and 443 must allow a TCP connection from any IP address during the setup workflow. You can change these settings from the instance Networking tab.
DNS records not found. Confirm that the domain's DNS records point to the public IP address of your instance, and allow time for DNS changes to propagate.
- Reason
-
This error is caused by misconfigured DNS records, or DNS records that have not had sufficient time to propagate throughout the Internet's DNS.
- Fix
-
Confirm that the A or AAAA DNS records are present in the DNS zone, and that they point to the public IP address of your instance. For more information, see DNS in Lightsail.
When you add or update DNS records that point traffic from your apex domain (
example.com) and itswwwsubdomains (www.example.com), they will need to propagate throughout the Internet's DNS. You can verify that your DNS changes have taken effect by using tools such as nslookup, or DNS Lookup from MxToolbox. Note
Allow time for any DNS record changes to propagate through the internet's DNS, which may take several hours.
DNS records do not match. Confirm that the domain's DNS records point to the public IP address of your instance, and allow time for DNS changes to propagate.
- Reason
-
The A or AAAA DNS records do not point to the public IP address of the instance.
- Fix
-
Confirm that the A or AAAA DNS records are present in the DNS zone, and that they point to the public IP address of your instance. For more information, see DNS in Lightsail.
Note
Allow time for any DNS record changes to propagate through the internet's DNS, which may take several hours.
Unable to connect to your instance. Allow a few minutes for the SSH connection to become ready. Then, start setup again.
- Reason
-
The instance was just created or rebooted, and the SSH connection is not ready.
- Fix
-
Allow a few minutes for the SSH connection to become ready. Then, retry the guided workflow. For more information, see Troubleshooting SSH in Lightsail.
Unsupported WordPress version. Setup only supports WordPress versions 6, and up.
- Reason
-
The version of WordPress that’s installed on the instance is older than WordPress version 6. Older WordPress versions contain incompatible software and dependencies that prevent the HTTPS certificate from being generated.
- Fix
-
Create a new WordPress instance from the Lightsail console. Then, migrate the WordPress website from the older instance to the new one. For more information, see Migrate an existing WordPress blog.
If you’re creating a new instance to replace the existing instance, make sure to update your application dependencies to your new instance.
Setup only supports WordPress instances that were created on or after January 1, 2023.
- Reason
-
The instance that is being used with setup, might contain outdated software. Older software will prevent the HTTPS certificate from being generated.
- Fix
-
Create a new WordPress instance from the Lightsail console. Then, migrate the WordPress website from the older instance to the new one. For more information, see Migrate an existing WordPress blog.
If you’re creating a new instance to replace the existing instance, make sure to update your application dependencies to your new instance.
Instance firewall ports 22, 80, and 443 must allow a TCP connection from any IP address during the setup workflow. You can change these settings from the instance Networking tab.
- Reason
-
Instance firewall ports 22, 80, and 443 must allow TCP connections from any IP address while setup is running. This error is generated when one or more of these ports are closed. For more information, see Instance firewalls.
- Fix
-
Add or edit the instance’s IPv4 and IPv6 firewall rules to allow TCP connections over ports 22, 80, and 443. For more information, see Add and edit instance firewall rules.
