When I upgraded my Wordpress version to 2.7, the ability to schedule posts in Wordpress 2.7 no longer worked. I could still schedule a post but the scheduled time would come and go with no future post being published. All that I could see in the Wordpress dashboard was “Missed Schedule” no matter what I tried to fix this problem.

The Missed Scheduled Wordpress Posts Problem

After searching for a solution to Wordpress missed schedule problems it was clear that no-one seemed to know exactly why it was happening and how to fix it. The problem of future posts not working in Wordpress happened to some folks who upgraded from version 2.6.5 and not to others, and it happened to some folks who changed web hosts and again not to others. The Wordpress missed schedule error has also been known to happen to folks on one or two of their blogs and not on their other blogs. So clearly this issue needs to be resolved in future versions of Wordpress but for now there are a few suggestions that have been offered on the Internet.

Some fixes that were suggested for the scheduled Wordpress posts not working problem:

You can see details of what some other fixes others have suggested as well as my fix in the Wordpress support forum in regards to this issue here

Here’s My Wordpress Missed Scheduled Posts Fix:

I’m a simple kind of chick and as such I downloaded Wordpress version 2.6.5 and had a look at the wp-cron.php file in the root directory as well as the cron.php file that resides inside the “wp-includes” folder. The code inside both files is quite different from the the Wordpress 2.7 file versions. In Wordpress 2.7 wp-cron.php there are references to “local-time” and the doing_cron option is set to zero. This is not present in the 2.6.5 versions of these files. So I decided that it might be possible that if your web server time is off by even a few seconds from the Wordpress official time the scheduled post may not go through. This is because the doin_cron argument is set to zero making it absolutely necessary that your web server and your Wordpress time match up pretty much exactly. Now I could have changed something in the code of these files but since I didn’t want to mess with variables I am unfamiliar with, so here’s what I did:

While this fix may not be for everyone and “Frankensteining” (yes I just made that word up) your Wordpress installation is not the best solution, it is a temporary fix until the next version of Wordpress is released and the issue is hopefully resolved.

I have included for download the two Wordpress files needed to fix the missed scheduled post issue in this post. Click on the download button, unzip the files and follow the directions in this post or the readme file that is included with the two files. Please note that these two files were obtained directly from the official Wordpress repository and are guaranteed virus-free.

Setting your blog using Fantastico scripts is pretty quick and easy but what if you don’t have Fantastico scripts or cPanel hosting? Well then you will need to learn how to install Wordpress manually using FTP or File Transfer Protocol. In a previous post I outlined how FireFTP is by far the best and easiest FTP to use to get the job done and the best part is that it works right inside your Firefox or Flock browser. So before you get started installing Wordpress make sure you’ve downloaded, installed, and set up FireFTP and you can find complete instructions and a download link to FireFTP here.

To install Wordpress manually you will need the following:

- Firefox or Flock
- FireFTP all set up and ready to go
- The latest version of Wordpress (2.7 at time of writing)
- A text editor like Notepad or Notepad++

Step One – Unzip Wordpress once you’ve downloaded it to your computer
Step Two – Open the unzipped Wordpress folder and locate a file named wp-config.sample
Step Three – Open the file wp-config.sample in Notepad or Notepad++
Step Four – Look for these lines inside the wp-config.sample file:

Step Five – You will need to change the values listed here but first you need to create a database for your Wordpress installation inside your hosting account in order to obtain these values. So go ahead and log into your hosting account and let’s set up your database using MyPhp if you have cPanel hosting otherwise look for “Databases” in your hosting account.

- The first field you should see in MyPhp is your database name and here is where you can enter any name you want but you should make it relevant to your site name so you can remember it later on. Now click “Create Database”.

- Once your database has been created you will see a field marked “Database User” and you will need to enter a username of your choosing as well as a secure password (please note your username and password somewhere as we will need them for your Wordpress installation later). Now once you’ve filled out your database username and password click “Create User”.

- Now you will have to scroll down to the section that shows how many databases you currently have and it should be the one we just created, there should be a field next to it that allows you to choose a user to add to your database. Choose the username we just made together and click on “Add User To Database”.

- You should now see a screen asking what sort of privileges you would like the user to have and you should select “All Privileges” and save your changes.

Congratulations! Your Wordpress database is now set up!

Step 6 – Now we just need to go back to the wp-config.sample file we opened earlier and enter your database name, username, and password in the approriate fields. Where you see:

‘putyourdbnamehere‘ replace everything between the single quotation marks with the database name we just made
‘usernamehere‘ replace everything between the single quotation marks with the username we just made
‘yourpasswordhere‘ replace everything between the single quotation marks with the password we just made

Step 7 – Once you’ve made the changes to wp-config.sample you will need to save the file but use “Save As” and change the file extension from .sample to .php

Step 8 – Now you’re almost done, it’s time to load everything up to your web server using an FTP program. So go ahead and open the FTP program of your choice and log into your web server

Step 9 – You need to make sure that you are in the public_html directory before uploading any files and if you use Thinkhost it will be the docs directory

Step 10 – Locate your Wordpress folder and open it inside your FTP program…then upload all the folders and files inside the Wordpress folder into your web space (this should take a few minutes as there are quite a few Wordpress files to load)

* Once you are finished uploading your Wordpress files to your web space you will need to run the install script so Wordpress can set itself up inside your web space. Here’s what it should look like:

http://yournewdomain.com/wp-admin/install.php (of course you need to replace yournewdomain with your actual domain name) and if everything went well the install script will run. All you need to do is follow the onscreen prompts regarding your blog’s name, and email address.

You will be given a username (admin) and a password PLEASE WRITE IT DOWN as this will be your Wordpress Admin login until you change it.

If you have any trouble you can check out the Wordpress Installation guide here.

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In order to be able to load files up to your web space you are going to need an FTP program which stands for File Transfer Protocol. While there are many programs available out there some are overly-complicated and some are trial versions with a limited time and loads of advertising built in.

When I transfer files to my web space or server, I want it to be easy-to-use, fast, and advertising-free so that’s why I use FireFtP. It also has the added bonus of integrating right into two of my favorite web browsers, Firefox and Flock. Once FireFTP is installed in Firefox or Flock you will be able to use it right there in your web browser with a click on the toolbar icon.

Here’s how to Install FireFTP in Firefox and Flock browsers:

If you don’t have Firefox yet you can download it here:

If you would like to try the Flock browser you can download it here:

Step 1 – Open Firefox or Flock browser and download FireFTP from here and let it auto-install. Restart your browser when prompted to do so.

That’s it…FireFTP is now installed in your Firefox and Flock web browsers..pretty simple hey? Now that you’re rockin, let’s set it up!

Here’s how to setup your website FTP using FireFTP and Firefox or Flock:

Step 1 – Once your browser restarts you should now see an icon of a purple seahorse in your toolbar, if you don’t see it, you can always access FireFTP by clicking on “Tools” and FireFTP will be in your drop-down list so click on it.

Step 2 – You will now see a new browser window that looks like an application with a set of two windows on the left with a listing of your computer’s files and folders. The two windows on the right side of the screen will be blank as they are your web server file listings but we haven’t set up or connected to it yet.

You can view a screenshot here

Step 3 – Consult your hosting company’s welcome email as it will have your FTP details listed in it. It should look something like:

FTP address: http://66.103.3.5
FTP username: the-username-you-signed-up-with
FTP password: something-secret-your-hosting-company-came-up-with

Step 4 – Now it’s time to create your FTP connection so you can upload your files to your web space. Have a look at the top bar of the FireFTP application, you should see “Create an Account” at the very top and that is what we will be doing so click on “Edit” beside it

Step 5 – An Account Manager window will open and the first piece of information you need to enter is in the Main Details. The cursor should already be in the Host field and you need to enter the FTP address your hosting company provided to you

You can view a screenshot here

Step 6 – Did you notice that when you typed in your FTP address that the Account Name was automatically filled out for you with the FTP address? You can leave it like that or you can name it something you like such as your actual domain name

Step 7 – Now you need to enter some information in the ID section of the Account Manager. For the The Login field enter the FTP username your hosting company provided to you and you also need to enter the FTP password provided to you by your hosting company. When you’re done click on the OK button at the bottom of the Account Manager window

Step 8 – You should now see the account you just made listed in the little drop-down window. Click on “Connect” and if everything went smoothly, it will take a few moments to check your username and password and your web server files should load into the two windows on the right side of the screen

Congratulations, you’ve just set up your FTP account in FireFTP for Firefox and Flock! Now you can upload and download files to your web server to your heart’s content…kudos to you![ad#post-top]