Category Pages Return a 404

Hello,

All of my category pages are returning a 404. I’ve always had “Remove the category prefix” in Yoast turned on, so that /category/ isn’t used in my category URLs.

So I deactivated all plugins, including Yoast, and confirmed that the category pages load normally when the /category/ base is included in the URL.

Then, I reactivated Yoast, which of course has the “Remove the category prefix” turned on. At this point, Yoast was the only plugin enabled on my site. I tested the category pages but they still returned a 404 unless I manually inserted the /category/ base into the URL.

The opposite should be happening. They should return a 404 with /category/ inserted. And they should load normally without /category/ in the URL.

So then I deactivated Yoast and downloaded and activated the “No Category Base” plugin. That was the only active plugin on my site at that time, but the behavior was still the same. Loading with /category/ and 404 without /category/.

I deleted that plugin and then tried the same thing with the “WP No Base Permalink” plugin, but the results were the same.

Therefore, I’ve ruled out a plugin conflict. I have all my original plugins turned back on now, but I have a lot of broken links on my site. Any link to a category page is a 404 currently, so I need to get this fixed ASAP.

Can you please take a look?

Best regards,
Jesse