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WPO: Site Lock Prompt

Learn what that white pop-up asking for a username and password is, and how you can enable or disable it on your Live and Staging sites.

Zach A. avatar
Written by Zach A.
Updated over a week ago

So you've gone ahead and created a new staging website on BigScoots! However, you may be confused about why you see the following when you visit the staging website URL.

This is NOT where you input your WordPress credentials or BigScoots credentials. By default, the credentials for this prompt are as follows:

Username: dev
Password: dev

Once the two items above are input, you'll be directed to your staging website, which operates the same as any other WordPress website. You can still access your WordPress administrative interface by visiting /wp-admin/

What is this Site Lock feature?

Our Site Lock feature is enabled by default for all staging websites on the WPO platform. It prevents public visitors, search engine crawlers, and bots from viewing your staging website. The main reason is to avoid SEO issues due to duplicate content with your live website, but it also keeps the public eye away from your work.

How do I Enable, Disable, and Edit Site Lock?

You can enable or disable the Site Lock feature within the WPO portal. To change the Site Lock setting on the staging site, Navigate to My Sites > Change Environment to Staging > Click the grey "Site Lock" link.

Once you've navigated to the Site Lock section, you'll be automatically scrolled to the bottom of the page. Be sure to click the "Edit Site Lock" button first.

Once in Edit Mode, you can go ahead and Enable or Disable Site Lock and change the credentials accordingly.

Please note: The Site Lock feature can be used on your live website in the same section.

My Sites > Change Environment to Staging > Click the grey "Site Lock" link.

Please proceed with caution because if you enable Site Lock on your live website, it will effectively bring it offline to your visitors!


For any additional questions, feel free to pop into our live chat anytime! We'd be happy to help.

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