---
title: "Enable Maintenance Mode"
slug: "enable-maintenance-mode"
updated: 2025-09-15T16:05:24Z
published: 2025-09-15T16:05:24Z
canonical: "documentation.encodify.com/enable-maintenance-mode"
---

> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://documentation.encodify.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Enable Maintenance Mode

## Overview

---

**Maintenance Mode** allows administrators to temporarily restrict normal (non-admin) users from logging into the system during code or database upgrades. Administrators always retain access, regardless of settings.

## Enabling Maintenance Mode

---

### Enable via System Configuration

To enable Maintenance Mode, follow these steps:

1. Navigate to **System Configuration → System Status → Maintenance Mode**
2. Open the **Edit Settings** window.
3. Specify the **Expected Downtime** – the period during which the system will be unavailable. A countdown timer is displayed to users.
4. In the **Allow List**, select users who should retain access during downtime. *(System administrators always have access, even if not listed.)*
5. (Optional) Specify a **URL for an External Maintenance Page** if you want to display a custom maintenance message.
6. Click **Save Changes**
7. Click **Put system into maintenance mode**.

When Maintenance Mode is enabled, users not on the Allow List will see a maintenance screen instead of the login page.

![image398.png](https://cdn.document360.io/3a63e0a8-1221-4570-aaa1-d43f9b95a612/Images/Documentation/image398.png)

### Standalone Script

System administrators can enable or disable Maintenance Mode without logging into the application by using the standalone script:

```plaintext
http://<serverURL>/<worker>/common/scripts/SystemMaintenanceMode.jsp
```

## Custom Maintenance Pages

---

Custom maintenance pages can be configured in one of two ways.

- **Option 1: Local Pages** – place a custom page in the server directory at `/web/WEB-INF/jsp/commonLegacy/custom`, and specify the relative path to the page (for example, `/common/custom/`) in the Maintenance Mode settings.
- **Option 2: External Pages** – provide a full URL, including the protocol, to redirect users to a page on another domain. For example: `http://sitename.com`.

## Workaround for External Maintenance Pages

---

If the system does not display the expected maintenance message, you can use this URL format instead:

```plaintext
https://m.encode.dk/?time=<TIME>&site=<SITE_URL>
```

Where:

- **time** = Expected downtime (e.g., `10:15%2030/7-2021`)
- **site** = URL to redirect users back to (e.g., `https://SITENAME.encode.dk/`)

*Example:*

```plaintext
https://m.encode.dk/?time=10:15%2030/7-2021&site=https://SITENAME.encode.dk/
```