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Catchable fatal error: Argument 1 passed to Genesis_Admin_CPT_Archive_Settings

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You’ve probably arrived on this page because you updated to WordPress 4.6 and now all of the backend pages (those in /wp-admin) are showing an error similar to the following.

Catchable fatal error: Argument 1 passed to Genesis_Admin_CPT_Archive_Settings::__construct() must be an instance of stdClass, instance of WP_Post_Type given, called in /srv/www/genesis/htdocs/wp-content/themes/genesis/lib/admin/menu.php on line 122 and defined in /srv/www/genesis/htdocs/wp-content/themes/genesis/lib/admin/cpt-archive-settings.php on line 38

The Problem

You’re using the Genesis Theme Framework on your WordPress website. WordPress updated something in version 4.6 that caused a problem with Genesis versions 2.3.0 and below. A new version of Genesis was released to fix this issue a few weeks before WordPress 4.6 was released. Unfortunately, if you update WordPress before updating Genesis you get this issue.

How to Fix It

We’re going to temporarily disable a small part of Genesis, the Custom Post Type archive pages, which will allow you to update to the latest version of Genesis.

Step 1: Add This Code to the Bottom of functions.php

You or your developer should add this code to the bottom of the functions.php file of the Genesis theme. It is most likely located at wp-content/themes/genesis/functions.php. If you’re unsure how to do this, see the How to Edit functions.php section on this page.

/**
 * Disable Genesis CPT Archives
 *
 * This is useful to temporarily disable the Genesis CPT Archives,
 * if you can not log into your WordPress site 
 * after updating to WordPress 4.6.
 *
 * See
 * http://salcode.com/wp46/ 
 * for more information.
 */
add_filter( 'genesis_cpt_archives_args', 'fe_modify_args_to_include_non_existant_name' );
function fe_modify_args_to_include_non_existant_name( $args ) {
    $args['name'] = 'this-is-a-name-that-does-not-exist-resulting-in-no-matching-cpts';
    return $args;
}

Step 2: Log into Your WordPress Site

Example WordPress Login Box

Step 3: Update to the Latest Version of Genesis

Update to Genesis 2.3.1

Geeky Details

For those of you interested in the geeky details of this issue.

Prior to Genesis 2.3.1, the constructor for Genesis_Admin_CPT_Archive_Settings was using type hinting to define the $post_type argument being passed into the constructor as being of the class stdClass.

As of WordPress 4.6, the stdClass being used for $post_type has been replaced with a newly introduced class WP_Post_Type, which though it still behaves the same way does not match the expected stdClass. This mismatch caused the PHP error.

Updates

Update 1: Now with 25% fewer steps!

Originally this post included a Step 4, which instructed you to remove the code added to functions.php. Some of the friendly readers of this post pointed out this step was unnecessary since during the Genesis Update functions.php gets overwritten and therefore the code is no longer there to be removed. Thanks to all those who pointed out my error.

Update 2: How to Edit functions.php

In the comments, I’ve received a lot of inquires about how to edit functions.php. Unfortunately, this is beyond the scope of this post. Hopefully, these notes will put you on the right path.

Short URL to this Post

http://salcode.com/wp46

Sal Ferrarello
Sal Ferrarello (@salcode)
Sal is a PHP developer with a focus on the WordPress platform. He is a conference speaker with a background including Piano Player, Radio DJ, Magician/Juggler, Beach Photographer, and High School Math Teacher. Sal can be found professionally at WebDevStudios, where he works as a senior backend engineer.

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Comments

  7. Lisa Marie says

    Hello, thank you for the post but I can’t seem to access /wp-content/themes/genesis/functions.php

    It just shows a “Fatal error: Call to undefined function do_action() in /home3/tesswhit/public_html/wp-content/themes/genesis/lib/init.php on line 15”

    Reply

  13. Denise Hamlin says

    Thanks. I go on vacation and the first thing I do when I come back is break my own site. Your post was a life saver. Thank you!

    Just one thing. I didn’t need to remove the code I added to the functions.php file. It seems it was removed automatically. At least it was gone when I went to remove it. I don’t completely understand why, but I guess the main thing is it’s gone.

    Reply

  15. Amanda Henham says

    Thanks for sharing this information! I am having additional issues. I tried to update the Genesis theme + WordPress and a Fatal error has come up, very similar to what you have mentioned, however, I can’t log in to my site now, as the error comes up. I can go to a new browser window and get to my site like a normal user, and it shows I am in fact logged in. I then try and enter the dashboard, and the error comes up. No matter what part of my site menu (dashboard, updates, customize, etc.), I cannot get to any part without the error. What do I need to do to be able to access the site from my admin side?

    Reply

  16. Verity says

    Hi Sal

    Thanks heaps, this allowed me to log in. However I had already updated Genesis prior to updating WordPress. If I remove that code which allowed me to log in I again can’t log in. Any ideas on what I can do to resolve that?

    Reply

    • Verity says

      PS I checked again, sorry, the current Genesis theme is actually 2.2.7, however there are no updates visibly available subsequent to the one I did recently. Our active theme is Executive Pro, a child theme of Genesis, and it’s current version is 3.0.0

      Reply

      • Verity says

        Further to previous two messages, once I ticked the “check for updates” box in Genesis theme settings, the 2.3.1 update instantly became available within WordPress. Problem solved and functions.php file also returned to default so I didn’t need to remove the added code. Thank you!

        Reply

  21. Claudia says

    it won’t even bring me to the dashboard because I automatically get the error after i log in so how do i install the genesis theme again?

    Reply

  22. Carrie says

    Awesome sauce! I had a client who didn’t take my advice and update her Genesis theme, of course she was in a panic, but your post had her back up & running in under a minute. THANK YOU!

    Reply

  24. Brad says

    Still get this with genesis 2.3.1 on the admin menu page in executive pro & workstation pro themes

    Notice: Trying to get property of non-object in wp-admin/nav-menus.php on line 818

    Reply

  27. Tia Johnson says

    I received an email that my WP was automatically updated to 4.6 but I still can’t log into my account. without error Catchable fatal error:

    Argument 1 passed to Genesis_Admin_CPT_Archive_Settings::__construct() must be an instance of stdClass, instance of WP_Post_Type given, called in /home2/tiamarie/public_html/wp-content/themes/genesis/lib/admin/menu.php on line 122 and defined in /home2/tiamarie/public_html/wp-content/themes/genesis/lib/admin/cpt-archive-settings.php on line 38

    Reply

  29. nomran says

    Tried your fix
    Now I get this
    Parse error: syntax error, unexpected ‘}’ in /home/boule039/public_html/wp-content/themes/executive-pro/functions.php on line 20

    Reply

    • Sal Ferrarello says

      Hi Nomran,

      It sounds like you have an extra closing brace ‘}’ in your functions.php file. I’m guessing it got accidentally included when you were adding the code from this post.

      Reply

  34. Ted Vieira says

    Hi,

    Thank you so much for this article. I did copy that code to my Genesis functions.php file, but I’m still getting the error message.

    I even just manually uploaded Genesis 2.3.1 via ftp, but still no luck.

    Thanks again!

    Ted

    Reply

  39. Harry says

    Hi! Great article! I accidentally forgot to update Genesis before updating WP. So I’m receiving the error and can’t login. How do I “Add This Code to the Bottom of functions.php” if I can’t access the WP login?

    Reply

  44. Paula says

    Thanks for your very helpful post. As a newbie to website building with WordPress, I found it was easier for my hosting service to make the changes because I was afraid of doing more damage.

    I have a newbie question – do I make the upgrades to WordPress and Genesis as soon as they appear on the Dashboard? Is there a sequence – Genesis first, then WordPress?

    Thanks again.

    Reply

    • Sal Ferrarello says

      Hi Paula,

      I’m glad to hear you got things sorted.

      There are a lot of conflicting opinions on the proper order to update WordPress components. Personally, I update them in this order.

      • Plugins
      • Themes
      • WordPress Core
      Reply

  46. Breanne says

    OMG! This saved me. Thanks so much!

    Question, should we go into the genesis function again after we update and remove the code we added in?

    Thanks!!!

    Reply

  47. Fran Eleazer says

    I got the memo to update Genesis before WordPress 4.6 (thank you Lindsey @prettydarncute), but one of my clients didn’t. Your fix was a lifesaver, and made me look REALLY smart!!!

    Thanks!

    Reply

  48. Rhonda says

    Thank you! Just came in very handy! (Client hadn’t logged in for a long time and therefore didn’t update Genesis, WP automatically updated, and…)

    Reply

  53. Barbara says

    Thank you! This post saved the day. And maybe this issue will nudge the client to letting me do the updates as part of a maintenance contract. So hard to convince older clients that not maintaining their site is going to break things or worse…so thanks again!

    Reply

  69. Maria says

    HELP please!! I looked for the functions.php file and I don’t see it. I followed the path wp-content/themes/genesis/ and then there two directories: images and lib. I opened lib and there is a functions directory but no functions.php file. Is there another way to fix this?? Or can I modify another file to get the same fix? These are the files inside the functions directory: breadcrumb.php, compat.php, deprecated.php, feed.php, formatting.php, general.php, image.php, layout.php, markup.php, menu.php, options.php, seo.php, upgrade.php and widgetize.php.
    I looked inside all the directories and I cannot find it.
    Thanks in advance!!

    Reply

  70. Jordan says

    Thanks Sal! It’s always great to search Google for a problem and instantly find someone with a well-written fix!

    Reply

  76. Linda says

    Hi!
    I just tried your solution different times, but still can’t log in to my dashboard, instead I get this error code:

    “Warning: Cannot modify header information – headers already sent by (output started at /homepages/6/d507915940/htdocs/clickandbuilds/WordPress/Photoliebe/wp-content/themes/genesis/functions.php:449) in /homepages/6/d507915940/htdocs/clickandbuilds/WordPress/Photoliebe/wp-includes/pluggable.php on line 1174”

    Do you have any tips what I could do? Also, the code I added to the function.php is now shown on the top of my website 🙁
    What did I do wrong?

    Reply

    • Sal Ferrarello says

      Hi Linda,

      It sounds like the code you added is being treated as raw text rather than as PHP code. This happens most often when the code is not inside <?php and ?>.

      My guess is your functions.php file had a closing PHP tag (?>) at the end of it and when you added the code from this article to the end of the file, it is outside the PHP block and treated like text.

      This is concerning to me because generally the Genesis functions.php does not have a closing PHP tag (?>) because you don’t need one because PHP automatically closes the block at the end of the file.

      This is another guess but I suspect there is custom code in your functions.php, which will be overwritten when you update Genesis. If I’m correct about the custom code in functions.php, you’ll want to make a copy of the file on your local machine before updating.

      In any case, as a next step I’d try deleting the last closing PHP tag (?>) that appears in functions.php. Best of luck.

      Reply

  77. Glenn says

    I recently made the mistake of updating WordPress and then Genesis afterwards.

    Subsequently, my category and tag pages are now blank to the white screen of death. I can log in to my control panel, and my regular pages and posts are visible, but I can’t fix the category and tag pages.

    Would inserting your code in the Genesis functions.php file correct the problem with the category and tag pages?

    Reply

    • Sal Ferrarello says

      Hi Glenn, it looks like you’re running Genesis 2.2.7, while the latest is 2.4.2. Since you’re able to log in to the backend of WordPress, you shouldn’t need the fix in the this post. I’d start with updating Genesis and go from there.

      Reply

  78. Tracy says

    I made a HUGE mistake today and updated my new WordPress with updating Genesis first. I can not log into my wp-admin to even try and correct. I just continue to get this error when I log in…
    Catchable fatal error: Argument 1 passed to Genesis_Admin_CPT_Archive_Settings::__construct() must be an instance of stdClass, instance of WP_Post_Type given, called in /home/hh96466679/public_html/wp-content/themes/genesis/lib/admin/menu.php on line 122 and defined in /home/hh96466679/public_html/wp-content/themes/genesis/lib/admin/cpt-archive-settings.php on line 38

    What can I do to try and UNDO this horrible error?

    Reply

    • Sal Ferrarello says

      This is the first I’ve heard of something like this. I’ll definitely keep me eye out for anything like this. If you have any more information (e.g. screenshots of the site looking broken, the versions of WP & Genesis you had, etc.), I’d be interested to hear more about it.

      Reply

    • Sal Ferrarello says

      Hi Diane,

      Assuming you are talking about your site linked here in the comments, stylecontext.com, it looks like you are running the latest version of Genesis at the time of my writing this (2.4.2), so it looks like a different issue preventing you from logging in. Sorry I don’t have more helpful information.

      Reply

  84. Wally says

    I added the code to the bottom of the file and got this error: Parse error: syntax error, unexpected ‘add_filter’ (T_STRING), expecting function (T_FUNCTION)

    Reply

    • Sal Ferrarello says

      Hi Wally,

      It sounds like some of the code that appears before the new code you added accidentally got modified.

      This should be the line directly before the code you added.

      require_once( dirname( __FILE__ ) . '/lib/init.php' );

      My initial guess is the semi-colon (;) at the end of this line is missing.

      Reply

  85. Jordi says

    Hi Sal,

    Thanks for this useful information. I’ve done it, but when I login I get this message:

    “You don’t have permissions to access this page”.

    My context is:
    – I have a wp multisite with genesis.
    – Today I’ve updated to wp 4.7.1 (did not know I had to update Genesis first …).
    – The consequences have been two type of errors when accessing to wp:

    (1) Catchable fatal error: Argument 1 passed to Genesis_Admin_CPT_Archive_Settings::__construct() must be an instance of stdClass, instance of WP_Post_Type given, called in /homepages/6/d316790346/htdocs/wp/wp-content/themes/genesis/lib/admin/menu.php on line 122 and defined in /homepages/6/d316790346/htdocs/wp/wp-content/themes/genesis/lib/admin/cpt-archive-settings.php on line 38

    (2) “You don’t have permissions to access this page”.

    Googleing for “Catchable fatal error: Argument 1 passed to Genesis_Admin_CPT_Archive_Settings” I’ve found your post, and I’ve made the change in functions.php file.

    But, can’t access the admin panel, where I could do the next step you suggested to update Genesis. Still get the message: “You don’t have permissions to access this page”

    Any suggestion?

    Many thanks in advance!

    Regards,
    Jordi

    Reply

  88. Cindy says

    Thank you! I’m not a programmer and get nervous changing PHP files directly, but I had to do something! Your instructions worked perfectly! THANK YOU!

    Reply

  90. Elise says

    Your instructions worked perfectly, thank you SO much!! You really know your stuff when you can explain how to fix things easy enough for a non-technical people. 🙂

    Reply

  94. Zeryab says

    Hi Sal,

    I did everything you said and it worked!

    I just have this new problem: there’s now a “secondary sidebar widget” which I can’t get rid off. The visitors of the site luckily can’t see it, however, they will see some space at the websites right side. This space (and the secondary sidebar) appeared after I updated WordPress and after I put the coding under functions.php. Do you perhaps know why this happened and what I can do to fix this?

    Reply

  95. Bonny C. says

    You’re a lifesaver! Thanks!!

    This worked beautifully for a new client’s old website we couldn’t log into to make changes & run updates.

    Reply

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