Fix WordPress Error 404 Page Not Found After Changing Permalinks (2025)

Updated: 11/29/2025

You change your WordPress permalink structure for better SEO, click on a post, and instead of the article you see a 404 Page Not Found error. The dashboard still works and the homepage may load, which makes it even more confusing. This classic problem usually means your web server rewrite rules are out of sync with the new URL format, and until they are refreshed, WordPress cannot map pretty URLs to the actual content.

Table of Contents

Method 1: Flush Permalinks From The WordPress Dashboard

Visit a few single posts and category archive pages in a new browser tab, pressing Ctrl plus F5 to hard refresh. If the 404 errors disappear, the issue was limited to outdated rewrite rules and you are done.

Method 2: Repair .htaccess Rewrite Rules On Apache

Check that the .htaccess file has permissions that let WordPress modify it when you save permalinks, typically a setting like 644. After updating, save the file, revisit the Permalinks page in the dashboard, click Save Changes again, and test your URLs to see if the 404 errors are resolved.

Warning: Be careful not to remove necessary redirects or security rules your host added to .htaccess, always keep a backup so you can revert if something breaks.

Method 3: Fix Nginx Or Custom Proxy Configurations

If you use a CDN or caching plugin, purge its cache so it stops serving old 404 responses for URLs that are now fixed. Finally, hard refresh your browser or try in a private window to make sure you are seeing the current server response rather than a cached error page.