--- title: Solving the Authentication and Plugin Errors After an Upgrade to WordPress 2.5 date: 2008-03-30T21:32:16+00:00 modified: 2012-08-25T19:11:19+00:00 image:: https://kaspars.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/wordpress-25-you-do-not-have-sufficient-permissions-to-access-this-page.png permalink: https://kaspars.net/blog/solving-authentication-and-plugin-errors-after-upgrade-to-wordpress-2-5 post_type: post author: name: Kaspars avatar: https://reverse.kaspars.net/gravatar/avatar/92bfcd3a8c3a21a033a6484d32c25a40b113ec6891f674336081513d5c98ef76?s=96&d=mm&r=g category: - Meta - WordPress post_tag: - Plugin --- # Solving the Authentication and Plugin Errors After an Upgrade to WordPress 2.5 [![](https://kaspars.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/konstruktors-wordpress-25-dashboard.png?strip=all&quality=90&resize=150,150 "Konstruktors Notes dashboard running WordPress 2.5")](https://kaspars.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/konstruktors-wordpress-25-dashboard.png) The upgrade process to [WordPress 2.5](http://wordpress.org "Download WordPress 2.5") was as smooth as it can possibly be — simple, fast and without a single error message. However, there were a few problems that became apparent only *after* the upgrade. This article will explain those issues in detail and show how to solve them. Here is a short list of problems solved: 1. When trying to log-in after the upgrade, the following error message is displayed: “You do not have sufficient permissions to access this page.” 2. *Yet Another Related Posts* plugin returns “Fatal error: Call to undefined function merge\_filters() in … includes.php on line 73”. 3. *Popularity Contest* plugin returns “Plugin could not be activated because it triggered a fatal error” when reactivated. Here are the problems in detail with the suggested solutions: ### Problem: “You do not have sufficient permissions to access this page” error **Description**: You follow the upgrade instructions supplied by the WordPress 2.5 which state: 1. Delete your old WP files, saving ones you’ve modified. 2. Upload the new files. 3. Point your browser to `/wp-admin/upgrade.php` 4. You wanted more, perhaps? That’s it! After creating a backup of *all* the files, I deleted them from the server (including the `wp-config.php` one) and uploaded the new ones, and pointed browser to `/wp-admin/upgrade.php` to discover that it asks me to create a new `wp-config.php` file. [![](/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/wordpress-25-upgrade-config-not-found-480x360.png "During WordPress 2.5 upgrade: wp-config.php not found")](https://kaspars.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/wordpress-25-upgrade-config-not-found.png) For some reason I decided that instead of creating a new file, it would be easier to upload the previous `wp-config.php` which I thought contains all the information necessary also for the WordPress 2.5. That seemed to help as I was able to continue the upgrade and all the update scripts run successfully. However, after supplying the credentials for the log-in, I was greeted with the following error message: [![](/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/wordpress-25-you-do-not-have-sufficient-permissions-to-access-this-page-480x158.png "WordPress 2.5 error: you do not have sufficient permissions to access this page")](https://kaspars.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/wordpress-25-you-do-not-have-sufficient-permissions-to-access-this-page.png) After a few Google searches, it was clear that it had something to do with the user permissions and the way they were handled in this new version of WordPress. I also remembered reading about the [SECRET\_KEY](http://codex.wordpress.org/Editing_wp-config.php) which has been introduced in WordPress 2.5. It all lead to the idea of actually modifying and using the version of `wp-config.php` supplied with this new version of WordPress. **Solution**: Do *not* upload the `wp-config.php` from your previous (2.3 or earlier) installation of WordPress, but rather edit `wp-config-example.php` supplied with the WordPress 2.5, save it as `wp-config.php` and upload to the root directory of your blog. More detailed instructions are available in [this section of WordPress Codex](http://codex.wordpress.org/Editing_wp-config.php "Read more about how to edit wp-config.php configuration file"). Equally you could simply follow the ‘Create a Configuration File’ link and supply all the information there. ### Problem: *Yet Another Related Posts* plugin returns “Fatal error: Call to undefined function merge\_filters() in … includes.php on line 73” [Yet Another Related Posts](http://mitcho.com/code/yarpp/ "Visit plugin's release page") is a very useful and smart plugin created by [Michael Erlewine](http://mitcho.com/ "Author of Yet Another Related Posts plugin"). Due to the fact that this plugin uses a “dirty, dirty hack” to: > avoid a loop in `apply_filters('the_content')` > `yarpp_default()` > `yarpp_related()` > `current_post_keywords()` > `apply_filters('the_content')`. The code is straight up stolen from `wp-includes/plugin.php` and, with the exception of the single hack line below, should match what happens in `plugin.php` In WordPress 2.5 the `apply_filters()` function found in `plugin.php` has changed a lot, therefore the altered version of this function in *Yet Another Related Posts* plugin should resemble these changes as well. **Solution**: Download [*Yet Another Related Posts* (version 1.5.2)](https://kaspars.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/yet-another-related-posts-plugin-152.zip "Yet Another Related Posts plugin, version 1.5.2 which is compatible with WordPress 2.5") where I have modified the necessary portion of code to reflect the changes in WordPress core. Note: This 1.5.2 version of *Yet Another Related Posts* plugin will not work with versions of WordPress prior to 2.5. Although this plugin doesn’t offer widget support by default, I use it together with my *[Custom Function Widgets](https://kaspars.net/blog/wordpress/101-wordpress-plugin-custom-function-widgets/)* plugin and it works like a charm. And I am proud to say that *Custom Function Widgets* plugin didn’t require any changes at all — it just works. ### Problem: *Popularity Contest* plugin returns “Plugin could not be activated because it triggered a fatal error” **Description**: This problem occurs only during a fresh installation/activation of the plugin or when it is reactivated after an update. **Solution**: Open `popularity-contest.php`, go to line 59 and replace `require('../../wp-blog-header.php');` with `require('../wp-blog-header.php');`. Solution was originally described in [this section of WordPress Support forum](http://wordpress.org/support/topic/163895 "Alex king fatal error Popularity Contest"). ### On a Sidenote It may seem that these errors could be a significant obstacle for the not-so-savvy WordPress users to successfully upgrade their blogs. In reality, however, it should be emphasized that the rest (and the majority) of plugins **didn’t have any problems at all**. And it is very likely that most of the solutions are just [one](http://wordpress.org/support/ "Search the official WordPress support forum") or [two](http://www.google.com) searches away (or *close*). There is even an official [Plugin Compatibility list on WordPress Codex](http://codex.wordpress.org/Plugins/Plugin_Compatibility/2.5). ### How about you? Did you upgrade? If so, how did it go? If not, what are the reasons for not doing it yet?