When Independent Analytics is installed, it adds a few tables to your database that all begin with “independent_analytics.” These tables are required for the plugin to operate.
If these tables are deleted, you will see the following error screen:
When this occurs, it is usually because Independent Analytics was deleted, the tables were deleted manually or with a database cleaning plugin, and then Independent Analytics was reactivated.
The problem is that while the database tables were deleted, there is still a setting in the wp_options table that thinks Independent Analytics is installed. You need to reset this option too, and then the plugin will run properly.
In your WP admin dashboard, there is a hidden Options menu you can visit at this URL: yourwebsite.com/wp-admin/options.php.
There, you can find the option called “iawp_db_version” and change it to “0.” Once this is done, the analytics will work properly again.
If you don’t have access to the Options menu or it won’t save, you can access your site’s database directly via phpMyAdmin. If you login to your hosting account, you should find a link to phpMyAdmin there. Inside phpMyAdmin, click on your site’s database in the left sidebar, then click on the wp_options table. In wp_options, search for an option named iawp_db_version and change its value to 0. Then, visit the Analytics menu again, and you’ll see the dashboard load right away.
How to prevent this error in the future
If you need to reset your analytics or if you decide to stop using Independent Analytics in the future, please use the included feature to delete all data.
This will ensure that all traces of Independent Analytics are completely removed. This includes the analytics database tables, a few options in wp_options, post meta values, and the iawp-geo-db.mmdb file that gets added to the wp-content/uploads/ folder.
If you decide to use Independent Analytics again after deleting it in this way, there won’t be any errors upon re-activation.