I lost my device that has pass-codes – or, they don’t work. What to do?

If your pass-code used to work, but no longer does, then check that the time on your device that generates them is accurate (it needs to agree with the webserver within around 30 seconds; note that time zones are irrelevant to this – what they need to agree on is how many seconds have passed since it became the year 1970 in London).

If you cannot get in and need to disable two-factor authentication, then add this to your wp-config.php file, using FTP, SFTP, shell access or the file manager in your hosting control panel:

define('TWO_FACTOR_DISABLE', true);

Add it next to where any other line beginning with “define” is.

Alternatively, if you have FTP, SFTP, shell access or cPanel access to your web hosting space, you can de-activate the plugin; see this article: https://updraftplus.com/understanding-wordpress-installs-plugins/

Posted in: Two Factor Authentication