If your WordPress site on AWS Lightsail (Bitnami) starts loading images or assets from an IP address instead of your domain, the issue is almost always incorrect WordPress URL settings.
This commonly happens on AWS Lightsail with Bitnami WordPress, especially after:
- Cloning a site
- Migrating environments
- Creating a dev or staging instance
- Restoring from a snapshot
Issue:
You might notice image URLs like this:
http://44.196.xx.xx/wp-content/uploads/...Cause:
WordPress stores its base URLs in the database:
siteurlhome
If these are set to 127.0.0.1 or an IP, WordPress will rewrite image URLs automatically — even after you re-upload them.
How To Resolve:
1. SSH into your Lightsail instance
ssh -i "C:\Users\Name\Downloads\your_amazon_pem_file.pem" bitnami@1.1.1.1Modify the path to where your .pem file is located. Replace 1.1.1.1 with your actual IP address.
2. Check current WordPress URLs
sudo /opt/bitnami/wp-cli/bin/wp option get siteurl --allow-root
sudo /opt/bitnami/wp-cli/bin/wp option get home --allow-rootIf you see http://127.0.0.1, that’s the problem.
3. Update them to your domain
sudo /opt/bitnami/wp-cli/bin/wp option update siteurl "https://your-site-url.com" --allow-root
sudo /opt/bitnami/wp-cli/bin/wp option update home "https://your-site-url.com" --allow-root4. Confirm
sudo /opt/bitnami/wp-cli/bin/wp option get siteurl --allow-root
sudo /opt/bitnami/wp-cli/bin/wp option get home --allow-rootClear Cache
If you’re using Elementor, go to Elementor → Tools → Regenerate Files & Data and clear your cache.
If you’re not using Elementor, clear your WordPress cache, server cache, and any CDN cache you have enabled. This ensures no old CSS or media URLs are still pointing to the IP address.
NOTE: While this may resolve issues moving forward, existing content
