This article was written for Magento 1.x and is kept for reference. Running Magento 1 in 2026 is a security risk — ask me about migrating to Magento 2 / Adobe Commerce.
Let your own IPs work on the site while everyone else sees maintenance mode by editing index.php.
The full article is being restored as part of the site rebuild. Need this fix right now? Contact me and I'll send you the complete steps — or solve it on your store directly.