What is wlwmanifest.xml in Wordpress? Should you delete it?
Last updated:
/wp-includes/wlwmanifest.xml
in their access logs. What is the purpose of this file?What is wlwmanifest.xml?
The wlwmanifest.xml
is included in WordPress for integration with Windows Live Writer.
The Windows Live Writer application is now discontinued. However, the wlwmanifest.xml
file is still part of WordPress.
The /wp-includes/wlwmanifest.xml
url is used by web crawlers and bots to find WordPress websites.
What is 404 error wlwmanifest.xml?
You can find HTTP 404 Not Found errors in your access logs for the /wp-includes/wlwmanifest.xml
file, such as:
"/var/www/wp-includes/wlwmanifest.xml" is not found (2: No such file or directory)
You don't have to worry about the wlwmanifest.xml
file. The wlwmanifest.xml
file does not cause any harm to your WordPress website.
Web servers that don't run WordPress can ignore this error. It is not a sign of a problem with your website or web server.
Do I need to delete the wlwmanifest.xml file?
No, you don't have to delete the wlwmanifest.xml file. There are many ways to detect a WordPress website.
It is more important to fix security issues with WordPress, plugins and PHP than it is to put effort in security through obscurity. Therefore, make sure to keep WordPress and its plugins up-to-date.
Should block /wp-includes/wlwmanifest.xml in robots.txt?
Adding /wp-includes/wlwmanifest.xml
to robots.txt can stop some bots that respect robots.txt from requesting the wlwmanifest.xml. Bad bots will still request the wlwmanifest.xml file.
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