How to Fix “Error Establishing a Database Connection” in WordPress
Tested in the ShoHost fix lab on 12 October 2026: WordPress 7.1.3, PHP 8.4, Apache with MariaDB 11.8. Every screenshot below is from that lab, not from a customer site. This message means WordPress couldn’t log in to its MySQL/MariaDB database. There are three common causes: wrong details in wp-config.php (often right after a migration…