Recently, one of our users told us that they couldn't update their WordPress theme due to Fatal Error:Maximum Execution Time Exceeded in WordPress . Fixing this error is relatively simple, but it can be really frustrating for beginners. In this article, we will show you how to fix fatal error:maximum execution time exceeded in WordPress.
WordPress is primarily coded in the PHP programming language. To protect web servers from abuse, there is a time limit set for the duration of a PHP script execution. Some WordPress hosting providers have set this value to a higher level, while others may have set it to a lower level. When a script reaches its maximum execution time limit, the result is that the maximum execution time exceeds the error.
There are two ways you can fix this error. The first method is to manually fix it by editing your .htaccess file and the second method allows you to do the same with a plugin.
Simply connect to your website using an FTP client.
Your .htaccess file is located in the same folder as your /wp-content/ and /wp-admin/ folders. If you can't find it, see our article on why you can't find the .htaccess file and how to find it.
Next, add this line to your .htaccess file:
php_value max_execution_time 300
This code simply sets the value for the maximum execution time to 300 seconds (5 minutes). If you still get the error, try increasing the value to 600.
If you find this method easier, check out these more useful .htaccess tricks for WordPress.
If you don't want to edit the .htaccess file manually, you can install and activate the WP Maximum Runtime Exceeded plugin.
That is all. The plugin works out of the box and increases the maximum execution time to 300 seconds.
We hope this article helped you fix Fatal Error:Maximum Execution Time Exceeded in WordPress. If you run into other issues, be sure to check out our list of the most common WordPress errors and how to fix them.
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