SOLVED: WordPress WARNING REQUIRE FAILED TO OPEN STREAM Error – aka, How To Fix A Broken WordPress

If your WordPress site displays an error like:

Warning: require(/home/content/22/7568022/html/partisanissues/wp-includes/load.php): failed to open stream: No such file or directory in /home/content/22/7568022/html/partisanissues/wp-settings.php on line 19

Fatal error: require(): Failed opening required ‘/home/content/22/7568022/html/partisanissues/wp-includes/load.php’ (include_path=’.:/usr/local/php5_6/lib/php’) in /home/content/22/7568022/html/partisanissues/wp-settings.php on line 19

the problem is likely that your WordPress installation is corrupt.  I have only seen this occur with failed automatic upgrades.

Fortunately, there is an easy fix.

FIX WORDPRESS

1. Surf to wordpress.org/download and download the version of WordPress you think the system was using.  That is most likely the current version as shown on wordpress.org/download
2. Unzip the WordPress installation files
3. Use FileZilla (or whatever file manager your host provides or any other FTP client) to open an FTP session to your host
4. Rename the WP-INCLUDES folder to WP-INCLUDES-DEL-ME
5. Use FileZilla (or whateva’) to copy the WP-INCLUDES folder from the fresh WordPress install you just downloaded and unzipped to your site

Check your site.  If it is up skip the end of this article, titled REINSTALL WORDPRESS.  If it is still down read follow the same procedure as shown above, but this time with the WP-INCLUDES folder.

Check your site.  If it is up skip the end of this article, titled REINSTALL WORDPRESS.  If it is still down read follow the same procedure as shown above, but this time:

1. Consider copying ALL of your site from your host to your PC so you have a backup before following these steps
2. It is CRITICAL that you do NOT overwrite your WP-CONFIG.PHP file, so rename or delete the one from the fresh WordPress installation you just downloaded.
   1. Personally I like to keep things clear by renaming the file to WP-CONFIG-FACTORY.PHP
3. Copy the entire freshly downloaded WordPress installation to your site.
   1. Yes, you should overwrite all of the existing files… that is the point.

REINSTALL WORDPRESS

Once you have your site functional again, WordPress will not likely be too happy and so to avoid problems, have WordPress reinstall itself properly:

1. Login to your admin portal www.<YourSite.com>/wp-admin
2. On the DASHBOARD you will likely see:
   An automated WordPress update has failed to complete – please attempt the update again now
   and you should click the please attempt the update again now linkIf you don’t see that message/link, click DASHBOARD > UPDATES
3. Click the REINSTALL WORDPRESS button
4. Wait for it to complete