A user named MAR reported that after attempting to update their self-hosted Discourse instance via the admin panel, the site crashed and is now inaccessible — displaying a generic “Oops” error. Arkshine suggested trying safe mode to regain admin access and recommended checking browser console logs or attempting a command-line update for more control. MAR clarified they lack technical expertise and confirmed the instance is self-hosted, with no UI access post-update failure. jericson advised seeking command-line assistance or considering a hosted Discourse solution to avoid such issues in the future, and sent a private message. pfaffman added that a command-line rebuild may be necessary, or the issue could stem from a full disk. The consensus points to a likely plugin or upgrade conflict requiring CLI intervention, with disk space also flagged as a potential culprit.
My clients received this error for their community after trying to update and cannot get back into the administrative panel or discourse commmunity:
"
Oops
The software powering this discussion forum encountered an unexpected problem. We apologize for the inconvenience.
Detailed information about the error was logged, and an automatic notification generated. We’ll take a look at it.
No further action is necessary. However, if the error condition persists, you can provide additional detail, including steps to reproduce the error, by posting a discussion topic in the site’s feedback category.
It might be an issue with a plugin.
Can your client try the safe mode? He should be able to access the admin panel at least.
I think more details are needed to understand what’s happening.
If it’s an upgrade from the panel or the command line, I would try it from the command line to see if it helps upgrade everything.
Are there errors in the browser’s console? This can help to figure out the culprit if it persists. (right click on the page → inspect → Console tab → copy-paste or screenshot the content)
I am not a tech person, I do more content planning but I can ask a question.
As it stands we are not even able to access our discourse’s user interface now. Basically , went into the page admin section and clicked : new discourse updates or update discourse and then when it said it failed and refreshed the page then it would not let myself or the team in. The instance is not discourse hosted but self hosted for the enterprise.
It sounds like you’ll need to get some help from someone who knows how to reinstall Discourse from the command line. If you don’t have someone like that on staff, there’s a good chance you’ll want to consider moving to a hosted instance so that updates are not quite so much of an adventure.
