HTAccess stops me from accessing WordPress Dashboard links

I’ve had this issue on a small number of sites (out of around 60 that I help manage), and I’m wondering if the issue is caused by caching (by a plugin or theme).

If you have a caching plugin, or a theme that does caching, there should be a tool in the Dashboard for emptying/clearing/deleting the cache. Click this, and see if it fixes the issue. I’ve only tried this once, but it did work.

I believe it is generally recommended to clear the cache whenever a software update is installed (plugin, theme, or WordPress), so that might be something you could try to add to your process in future to prevent the issue.