Activating LightStart corrupts `show_on_front` option, breaking `front-page.php` template loading

[poonam279]

When LightStart is activated (or maintenance mode is enabled and later disabled), the show_on_front option in wp_options is changed from posts to page, but page_on_front remains 0. This puts WordPress into a broken in-between state where front-page.php no longer loads, and the homepage falls through to index.php showing unstyled posts.

The issue persists after:

• Disabling maintenance mode
• Deactivating the plugin
• Rolling back to a previous plugin version
• Clearing browser cache / testing logged-out

Steps to reproduce

1. Set up a WordPress site with a theme that uses a front-page.php template.
2. Go to Settings → Reading and set the homepage display to "Your latest posts".
3. Confirm the homepage loads correctly via front-page.php.
4. Install and activate LightStart.
5. Enable maintenance mode
6. Do some normal work (edit a post or two).
7. Then disable it.
8. Visit the homepage.
   Expected: Homepage renders using front-page.php.
   Actual: Homepage shows unstyled posts via index.php.

Root cause

Querying the database confirms the corruption:

SELECT option_name, option_value FROM wp_options
WHERE option_name IN ('show_on_front', 'page_on_front');

option_name	option_value
show_on_front	page
page_on_front	0

show_on_front has been flipped to page, but no page is assigned (page_on_front = 0). WordPress then evaluates is_home() as true but is_front_page() as false, so the template hierarchy skips front-page.php entirely and falls through to index.php.

The likely cause is that LightStart's maintenance-mode logic sets show_on_front to page (to serve its own landing page) but does not restore the original value on deactivation or when maintenance mode is toggled off.

Workaround

Running this query restores the homepage:

UPDATE wp_options SET option_value = 'posts' WHERE option_name = 'show_on_front';

https://wordpress.org/support/topic/lightstart-activation-preventing-front-page-php-from-loading/

[milicavs]

🤖 Automated QA Repro Steps

Turning maintenance mode on switches the Reading setting to "A static page" so LightStart can serve its own landing page, but the original setting is never put back. On a site that was showing the latest posts, the homepage is left pointing at a static page that was never chosen, so a theme with its own homepage layout stops using it and the front page falls back to a plain, unstyled post list. Turning maintenance mode off, deactivating the plugin or rolling back to an older version does not undo it.

Reproduce on LightStart 2.6.23:

1. Activate a classic theme with its own homepage layout (Twenty Seventeen).
2. Go to Settings → Reading, set Your homepage displays to Your latest posts, and save.
3. Visit the site homepage and note the theme's homepage layout (Twenty Seventeen's full-width header panel).
4. Activate LightStart, go to LightStart → General, set Status to Activated, and save settings.
5. Set Status back to Deactivated and save settings.
6. Go to Settings → Reading.
7. Visit the homepage in a logged-out window.

• Bug: Reading shows A static page selected with nothing chosen in the Homepage dropdown, and the homepage renders a plain unstyled post list instead of the theme's homepage layout.
• Fixed: Reading still shows Your latest posts, and the homepage renders the theme's homepage layout exactly as in step 3.

Edge cases

• Site already set to A static page with a real page chosen — enable then disable maintenance mode: the setting and the chosen page come back unchanged.
• Enable maintenance mode, then deactivate LightStart from Plugins without turning maintenance off first — Reading still returns to Your latest posts.
• Enable maintenance mode, browse wp-admin and the front end over several page loads, then disable — the setting still returns to Your latest posts, not stuck on A static page.
• A site already broken by an earlier version (Reading shows A static page with nothing selected) — the fix does not repair it on its own; set Reading back manually, then confirm a fresh enable/disable cycle keeps it.

Fix: #565 (open)

[pirate-bot]

QA agent — Issue status changed or the observation is no longer eligible.

Run qa-agent_6ab119ec1e5420.56562748 · Full report, evidence and session trail

[pirate-bot]

Another customer reported this via support.

Enabling maintenance mode on LightStart 2.6.23 persistently changes the WordPress show_on_front setting to page, and deactivation fails to restore the prior configuration. This leaves the site's Reading settings on an unconfigured static page and breaks the intended homepage rendering. The root cause is located in includes/classes/wp-maintenance-mode.php, where WP_Maintenance_Mode::__construct() writes the persistent option while single_deactivate() lacks front-page option lifecycle handling.

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Source: automated uninstall feedback — wp-maintenance-mode, 2026-09-25
Generated by bug-report-triage (ID: bug-report-triage_6ab751923da9c4.27243634)