I would like to look at this directly on your site. For this I would need temporary access (WP-Admin and FTP) to your site, preferably to a test/staging site where the problem has been replicated if possible.
The required fields can be found below the comments section. The information you enter is private, i.e. only you and I can see it and have access to it.
I may need to replicate your website locally. To do this, I need to temporarily install a plugin called "Duplicator" or "All in One WP Migration" on your website. This will allow me to create a copy of your website and content. Once the issue is resolved, I will delete the local website. Let me know if this works for you.
IMPORTANT
Please make a backup copy of the site files and database before giving us access.
- If you do not see the wp-admin/FTP fields, this means your post and site login details are being made PUBLIC. DO NOT post your website details if you do not see the required wp-admin/FTP fields. If you do not, ask me to enable the private box. The private box looks like this:
I've downloaded a copy of your website, but the issue is not happening there. I can access pages in any language and I don't get a server error. This indicates that the issue might be related also to your specific server.
In this case, I need you to please create a staging version of the website, where the issue also occurs. Please send me the link here, once you have it. You can keep the same user there, so it's not necessary to share credentials again.
Thanks in advance for your cooperation on this matter.
I've downloaded a copy of your website, but the issue is not happening there. I can access pages in any language and I don't get a server error. This indicates that the issue might be related also to your specific server.
In this case, I need you to please create a staging version of the website, where the issue also occurs. Please send me the link here, once you have it. You can keep the same user there, so it's not necessary to share credentials again.
Thanks in advance for your cooperation on this matter.
We contacted our hosting provider Combell regarding the issue. According to their technical team, WPML appears to be creating a redirect loop and adding rules to the .htaccess file.
When they restored the .htaccess to a standard/default version, the problem was immediately resolved. This strongly suggests that WPML is modifying the .htaccess and causing the redirect loop.
You may perform any necessary tests or checks on the live environment if needed.
Could you please investigate what might be causing WPML to write incorrect or conflicting rules to the .htaccess file in our setup?
Thanks for clarifying. In this case, it's a known issue.
Sometimes the .htaccess file gets overwritten so it incorrectly points to a language folder like /en/ or /de/. This usually happens because another plugin is repeatedly telling WordPress to rebuild its rewrite rules. When that happens too often, WordPress rewrites .htaccess, and because WPML adds language codes to URLs, the rewritten file ends up using the language folder as the site’s base. That breaks the site because all URLs start behaving as if the language folder is the root.
The real problem is the other plugin calling flush_rewrite_rules(true) too often, not WPML itself. The fix is to find which plugin is doing it and ask the developer to change that behavior. WPML also offers a temporary workaround: adding a small code snippet so the rewrite rules always point to the real site root instead of the language folder.
