Sometime you may receive a message such as “Fatal error: Maximum execution time of 30 seconds exceeded” or “Maximum execution time of 60 seconds exceeded” when trying to update a WordPress plugin or theme. This means that it is taking too longer for a process to complete and it is timing out. There are a number of ways to fix this error.

Method 1: Edit file wp-config.php:

Add the following to wp-config.php:
set_time_limit(300);

Method 2: Edit file .htaccess:

Make sure you back up .htaccess before you edit it.

Add the following to .htaccess:
php_value max_execution_time 300

Method 3: Editing php.ini

Add the following to php.ini:
max_execution_time = 300