I get this question quite often, “I just went to update the plugin on my WordPress website and now the website is down with error message “Briefly unavailable for scheduled maintenance. Check back in a minute.” is this normal?
When a WordPress update is run, WordPress will create a small file named .maintenance. This helps to prevent other writing to the WordPress database while the internal updates are completing.
So in this regard, yes, the “Briefly unavailable for scheduled maintenance. Check back in a minute.” message screen is normal and may appear during the updates process.
And depending on variables like speed of your web hosts server, how many plugins are being updated, and a variety of other factors, this message may “hang” for a very short or very long time.
If the “Briefly unavailable for scheduled maintenance. Check back in a minute.” message does not clear within five or more minutes it’s possible the update is stuck and manual deletion of the .maintenance file may be required.
To remove the .maintenance file, visit your web hosts File Manager and delete the file, shown in the picture example below:
Once the .maintenance file is deleted, check your WordPress website’s home page to verify all is working nicely once again. If you are not able to resolve this issue on your own, just pick up the phone, call (619) 479-6637 and I’ll try to walk you through the WordPress .maintenance file removal process.
Enjoy!