So I was having issues with a 404 not found page earlier. I think it was that I was only typing in [www](https://www.website.com). instead of including the https in front. So I asked GPT if I could make the page accessible both via www. and https. It gave me the following:
By setting both the WordPress Address (URL) and Site Address (URL) to include “https://” and “[www](http://www/).”, you’re ensuring that WordPress generates links and redirects correctly with both prefixes. This should help resolve any inconsistencies in how your site loads when accessed with “[www](http://www/).” and “https://”.
So I decided to try it out and the moment I saved changes it kicked me out. I can’t get back into the dashboard because that’s also now a 404 error page. What can I do in this case? I’m quite confused with how any of this works.
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Hmm that’s a swing and a miss from chatGPT on that one.
All you needed to do is set a CNAME record on your domain for www to point to root (sometimes you need to set the value as ‘@‘, or leave it blank – it will tell you on your DNS dashboard what to put to make the value root).
Once you’ve done this you may be able to get back into your site normally, if not then there are a couple of things:
1. You only have an SSL for the non-www address, in which case you would need to apply for one for the www address too
2. Your DNS is slow to update. If you’re in a rush you can force your computer to resolve the address by updating your hosts file
If you wanted to avoid all of this you could change your site address from the database. This won’t solve your www issue but it would mean you could get back into the site.
Also bear in mind that you might also have browser or even system level DNS caching going on so wherever you make one of the significant changes from above, try accessing using incognito mode on your browser.