The dreaded 500 internal server error. It always seems to come at the nigh inopportune time and you lot're all of a sudden left scrambling to figure out how to get your WordPress site back online. Trust united states, we've all been there. Other errors that behave similarly that you might have also seen include the frightening error establishing a database connectedness and the dreaded white screen of death. But from the moment your site goes down, you're losing visitors and customers. Non to mention it only looks bad for your brand.

Today nosotros're going to dive into the 500 internal server fault and walk yous through some ways to get your site dorsum online quickly. Read more below about what causes this error and what you lot can do to preclude it in the future.

  • What is a 500 internal server error?
  • How to set up the 500 internal server error

Check Out Our Ultimate Guide to Fixing the 500 Internal Server Mistake

What is a 500 Internal Server Mistake?

The Net Engineering Task Forcefulness (IETF) defines the 500 Internal Server Error equally:

The 500 (Internal Server Error) status code indicates that the server encountered an unexpected status that prevented it from fulfilling the request.

When you visit a website your browser sends a request over to the server where the site is hosted. The server takes this asking, processes it, and sends back the requested resources (PHP, HTML, CSS, etc.) along with an HTTP header. The HTTP also includes what they telephone call an HTTP status code. A status code is a mode to notify you virtually the condition of the request. It could be a 200 status code which means "Everything is OK" or a 500 condition code which ways something has gone wrong.

There are a lot of different types of 500 status error codes (500, 501, 502, 503, 504, etc.) and they all mean something different. In this case, a 500 internal server error indicates that the server encountered an unexpected status that prevented it from fulfilling the asking(RFC 7231, section 6.6.ane).

500 internal server error in WordPress
500 internal server mistake in WordPress

500 Internal Server Error Variations

Due to the diverse web servers, operating systems, and browsers, a 500 internal server error can present itself in a number of unlike means. But they are all communicating the aforementioned thing. Below are just a couple of the many different variations you lot might see on the spider web:

    • "500 Internal Server Mistake"
    • "HTTP 500"
    • "Internal Server Fault"
    • "HTTP 500 – Internal Server Error"
    • "500 Mistake"
    • "HTTP Fault 500"
    • "500 – Internal Server Fault"
    • "500 Internal Server Mistake. Sorry something went wrong."
    • "500. That'south an mistake. There was an mistake. Please endeavor once again later. That's all nosotros know."
    • "The website cannot display the page – HTTP 500."
    • "Is currently unable to handle this asking. HTTP ERROR 500."

You might besides see this bulletin accompanying information technology:

The server encountered an internal error or misconfiguration and was unable to complete your request. Please contact the server administrator, [email protected] and inform them of the time the error occurred, and anything you might have done that may have acquired the fault. More information almost this fault may be available in the server error log.

Internal Server Error
Internal Server Fault

Other times, you might but come across a bare white screen. When dealing with 500 internal server errors, this is actually quite common in browsers like Firefox and Safari.

500 internal server error in Firefox
500 internal server error in Firefox

Bigger brands might even have their ain custom 500 internal server error messages, such as this one from Airbnb.

Airbnb 500 internal server error
Airbnb 500 internal server error

Here is another creative 500 server error example from the folks over at readme.

readme 500 internal server error
readme 500 internal server error

Even the mighty YouTube isn't condom from 500 internal server errors.

500 internal server error on YouTube
500 internal server error on YouTube

If it'southward an IIS vii.0 (Windows) or higher server, they accept additional HTTP condition codes to more closely betoken the cause of the 500 error:

  • 500.0 – Module or ISAPI error occurred.
  • 500.xi – Application is shutting down on the spider web server.
  • 500.12 – Application is busy restarting on the web server.
  • 500.xiii – Web server is too decorated.
  • 500.15 – Direct requests for global.asax are not immune.
  • 500.19 – Configuration data is invalid.
  • 500.21 – Module not recognized.
  • 500.22 – An ASP.Cyberspace httpModules configuration does not apply in Managed Pipeline manner.
  • 500.23 – An ASP.Net httpHandlers configuration does not apply in Managed Pipeline way.
  • 500.24 – An ASP.NET impersonation configuration does not use in Managed Pipeline way.
  • 500.50 – A rewrite error occurred during RQ_BEGIN_REQUEST notification handling. A configuration or entering rule execution error occurred.
  • 500.51 – A rewrite mistake occurred during GL_PRE_BEGIN_REQUEST notification handling. A global configuration or global rule execution mistake occurred.
  • 500.52 – A rewrite error occurred during RQ_SEND_RESPONSE notification handling. An outbound dominion execution occurred.
  • 500.53 – A rewrite error occurred during RQ_RELEASE_REQUEST_STATE notification handling. An outbound rule execution error occurred. The dominion is configured to be executed before the output user cache gets updated.
    500.100 – Internal ASP error.

500 Errors Impact on SEO

Unlike 503 errors, which are used for WordPress maintenance mode and tell Google to bank check back at a later time, a 500 error tin can have a negative impact on SEO if not fixed right away. If your site is only downward for say ten minutes and information technology's beingness crawled consistently a lot of times the crawler volition just become the page delivered from cache. Or Google might not even take a gamble to re-clamber it earlier information technology'southward support. In this scenario, you're completely fine.

However, if the site is down for an extended period of fourth dimension, say vi+ hours, and so Google might run into the 500 error every bit a site level consequence that needs to be addressed. This could bear upon your rankings. If you lot're worried about repeat 500 errors you should effigy out why they are happening to begin with. Some of the solutions beneath tin help.

How to Fix the 500 Internal Server Fault

Where should you kickoff troubleshooting when you run into a 500 internal server error on your WordPress site? Sometimes you might not even know where to begin. Typically 500 errors are on the server itself, only from our experience, these errors originate from two things, the first isuser error (client-side consequence), and the second is that at that place is a problem with the server. So we'll swoop into a fiddling of both.

Check out these common causes and ways to fix the 500 internal server error and become back up and running in no time.

1. Endeavour Reloading the Page

This might seem a petty obvious to some, merely one of the easiest and first things you should attempt when encountering a 500 internal server fault is to only wait a infinitesimal or so and reload the page (F5 or Ctrl + F5). It could be that the host or server is merely overloaded and the site will come right back. While you're waiting, you could also quickly endeavour a different browser to rule that out equally an outcome.

Some other affair you can do is to paste the website into downforeveryoneorjustme.com. This website will tell y'all if the site is down or if it'due south a problem on your side. A tool like this checks the HTTP status lawmaking that is returned from the server. If information technology'south anything other than a 200 "Everything is OK" then it will render a downward indication.

downforeveryoneorjustme
downforeveryoneorjustme

We've also noticed that sometimes this can occur immediately later y'all update a plugin or theme on your WordPress site. Typically this is on hosts that aren't set up properly. What happens is they experience a temporary timeout right afterward. However, things usually resolve themselves in a couple of seconds and therefore refreshing is all you demand to practise.

2. Clear Your Browser Enshroud

Clearing your browser enshroud is ever some other proficient troubleshooting footstep before diving into deeper debugging on your site. Beneath are instructions on how to clear enshroud in the various browsers:

  • How to Strength Refresh a Unmarried Page for All Browsers
  • How to Clear Browser Cache for Google Chrome
  • How to Clear Browser Enshroud for Mozilla Firefox
  • How to Clear Browser Cache for Safari
  • How to Clear Browser Cache for Internet Explorer
  • How to Clear Browser Enshroud for Microsoft Edge
  • How to Clear Browser Enshroud for Opera

3. Check Your Server Logs

You lot should also take reward of your error logs. If y'all're a Kinsta client, you tin easily see errors in the log viewer in the MyKinsta dashboard. This tin help you quickly narrow downwards the issue, especially if information technology's resulting from a plugin on your site.

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Check error logs for 500 internal server errors
Check error logs for 500 internal server errors

If your host doesn't have a logging tool, y'all tin can as well enable WordPress debugging mode past calculation the following code to your wp-config.php file to enable logging:

          define( 'WP_DEBUG', true ); define( 'WP_DEBUG_LOG', true ); define( 'WP_DEBUG_DISPLAY', false );

The logs are typically located in the /wp-content directory. Others, like hither at Kinsta might have a dedicated binder called "logs".

WordPress error logs folder (SFTP)
WordPress fault logs folder (SFTP)

You tin also check the log files in Apache and Nginx, which are unremarkably located here:

  • Apache: /var/log/apache2/fault.log
  • Nginx: /var/log/nginx/mistake.log

If you're a Kinsta client you can also take reward of our analytics tool to get a breakdown of the total number of 500 errors and meet how often and when they are occurring. This tin can help y'all troubleshoot if this is an ongoing issue, or perhaps something that has resolved itself.

Response analysis 500 error breakdown
Response assay 500 error breakdown

If the 500 mistake is displaying because of a fatal PHP error, you tin also effort enabling PHP error reporting. Simply add together the following code to the file throwing the error. Typically you tin can narrow down the file in the console tab of Google Chrome DevTools.

          ini_set('display_errors', i); ini_set('display_startup_errors', 1); error_reporting(E_ALL);

And you lot might need to also modify your php.ini file with the following:

          display_errors = on

4. Fault Establishing a Database Connection

500 internal server errors tin can also occur from a database connectedness error. Depending upon your browser yous might see different errors. But both will generate a 500 HTTP status lawmaking regardless in your server logs.

Beneath is an case of what an "error establishing a database connection" bulletin looks similar your browser. The unabridged folio is blank because no data tin be retrieved to return the folio, as the connexion is non working properly. Not only does this suspension the forepart-end of your site, but it will likewise prevent you from accessing your WordPress dashboard.

Example of error establishing a database connection
Example of fault establishing a database connection

And so why exactly does this happen? Well, here are a few common reasons below.

  • The almost common effect is that yourdatabase login credentials are incorrect. Your WordPress site uses divide login data to connect to its MySQL database.
  • Your WordPress database is corrupted. With so many moving parts with themes, plugins, and users constantly deleting and installing them, sometimes databases go corrupted. This can be due to a missing or individually corrupted table, or perhaps some information was deleted by accident.
  • You lot may have decadent files in your WordPress installation. This can fifty-fifty happen sometimes due to hackers.
  • Issues with your database server. A number of things could be wrong on the web hosts finish, such as the database being overloaded from a traffic spike or unresponsive from too many concurrent connections. This is actually quite mutual with shared hosts as they are utilizing the aforementioned resources for a lot of users on the same servers.

Check out our in-depth post on how to set up the error establishing a database connection in WordPress.

5. Check Your Plugins and Themes

3rd-political party plugins and themes tin easily crusade 500 internal server errors. Nosotros've seen all types cause them here at Kinsta, from slider plugins to advertising rotator plugins. A lot of times you lot should run across the error immediately later on installing something new or running an update. This is one reason why we ever recommend utilizing a staging surroundings for updates or at least running updates one by one. Otherwise, if y'all encounter a 500 internal server error you lot're suddenly scrambling to figure out which one caused it.

A few ways you tin can troubleshoot this is past deactivating all your plugins. Remember, you won't lose whatsoever information if you only deactivate a plugin. If yous can however admission your admin, a quick manner to practice this is to browse to "Plugins" and select "Conciliate" from the bulk actions carte. This will disable all of your plugins.

Deactivate all plugins
Conciliate all plugins

If this fixes the event you'll need to find the culprit. Start activating them i by one, reloading the site after each activation. When you run into the 500 internal server error render, y'all've found the misbehaving plugin. You can so reach out to the plugin developer for assist or post a support ticket in the WordPress repository.

If you can't login to WordPress admin yous can FTP into your server and rename your plugins folder to something like plugins_old. So bank check your site again. If it works, so you lot will demand to test each plugin i past ane. Rename your plugin folder dorsum to "plugins" and so rename each plugin folder within of if it, 1 by one, until you notice it. You lot could as well attempt to replicate this on a staging site outset.

Rename plugin folder
Rename plugin folder

E'er makes sure your plugins, themes, and WordPress core are upwards to date. And bank check to ensure you are running a supported version of PHP. If it turns out to exist a disharmonize with bad lawmaking in a plugin, you might need to bring in a WordPress developer to fix the upshot.

half dozen. Reinstall WordPress Cadre

Sometimes WordPress core files tin can get corrupted, especially on older sites. It'due south actually quite easy to re-upload only the core of WordPress without impacting your plugins or themes. We have an in-depth guide with v different ways to reinstall WordPress. And of course, make sure to have a backup earlier proceeding. Skip to 1 of the sections below:

  • How to reinstall WordPress from the WordPress dashboard while preserving existing content
  • How to manually reinstall WordPress via FTP while preserving existing content
  • How to manually reinstall WordPress via WP-CLI while preserving existing content

vii. Permissions Mistake

A permissions error with a file or folder on your server can likewise cause a 500 internal server error to occur. Here are some typical recommendations for permissions when it comes to file and folder permissions in WordPress:

  • All files should be 644 (-rw-r–r–) or 640.
  • All directories should exist 755 (drwxr-xr-ten) or 750.
  • No directories should ever be given 777, even upload directories.
  • Hardening: wp-config.php could likewise be ready to 440 or 400 to prevent other users on the server from reading it.

See the WordPress Codex article on irresolute file permissions for a more in-depth explanation.

You can easily come across your file permissions with an FTP client (equally seen below). Yous could too achieve out to your WordPress host support team and ask them to quickly GREP file permissions on your folders and files to ensure they're setup properly.

File permissions SFTP
File permissions SFTP

8. PHP Memory Limit

A 500 internal server error could also be caused past exhausting the PHP memory limit on your server. You could try increasing the limit. Follow the instructions below on how to change this limit in cPanel, Apache, your php.ini file, and wp-config.php file.

Increment PHP Retentivity Limit in cPanel

If yous're running on a host that uses cPanel, you can easily change this from the UI. Under Software click on "Select PHP Version."

Select PHP version
Select PHP version

Click on "Switch to PHP Options."

Switch to PHP options
Switch to PHP options

Y'all can then click on the memory_limit attribute and change its value. And so click on "Save."

Increase PHP memory limit in cPanel
Increase PHP retentivity limit in cPanel

Increase PHP Memory Limit in Apache

The .htaccess file is a special hidden file that contains various settings you can use to modify the server behavior, right down to a directory specific level. First login to your site via FTP or SSH, accept a wait at your root directory and meet if there is a .htaccess file there.

.htaccess file
.htaccess file

If in that location is you tin can edit that file to add the necessary code for increasing the PHP retention limit. Most likely it is set at 64M or below, you can try increasing this value.

          php_value memory_limit 128M

Increase PHP Retentivity Limit in php.ini File

If the above doesn't work for you might attempt editing your php.ini file. Log in to your site via FTP or SSH, go to your site's root directory and open up or create a php.ini file.

php.ini file
php.ini file

If the file was already there, search for the three settings and modify them if necessary. If yous just created the file, or the settings are nowhere to be institute you can paste the code below. You can modify of class the values to meet your needs.

          memory_limit = 128M

Some shared hosts might also require that y'all add the suPHP directive in your .htaccess file for the above php.ini file settings to work. To do this, edit your .htaccess file, also located at the root of your site, and add the following code towards the acme of the file:

          <IfModule mod_suphp.c>  suPHP_ConfigPath /habitation/yourusername/public_html </IfModule>

If the above didn't work for you, it could exist that your host has the global settings locked downwards and instead have it configured to utilize .user.ini files. To edit your .user.ini file, login to your site via FTP or SSH, get to your site'due south root directory and open up or create a .user.ini file. You can and then paste in the following code:

          memory_limit = 128M

Increment PHP Retentiveness Limit in wp-config.php

The last selection is not one nosotros are fans of, but if all else fails yous tin can requite it a get. First, log in to your site via FTP or SSH, and locate your wp-config.php file, which is typically in the root of your site.

wp-config.php file
wp-config.php file

Add the following lawmaking to the top of your wp-config.php file:

          define('WP_MEMORY_LIMIT', '128M');

You can also ask your host if you're running into retentiveness limit bug. We utilize New Relic and other troubleshooting methods hither at Kinsta to assist clients narrow down what plugin, query, or script might be exhausting the limit. Yous tin also utilize your own custom New Relic cardinal.

Debugging with New Relic
Debugging with New Relic

nine. Problem With Your .htaccess File

Kinsta simply uses Nginx, but if you're using a WordPress host that is running Apache, it could very well be that your .htaccess file has a problem or has go corrupted. Follow the steps beneath to recreate a new one from scratch.

Outset, log in to your site via FTP or SSH, and rename your .htaccess file to .htaccess_old.

Rename .htaccess file
Rename .htaccess file

Normally to recreate this file you can simply re-save your permalinks in WordPress. Still, if you're in the middle of a 500 internal server fault you most probable tin't access your WordPress admin, and so this isn't an pick. Therefore you can create a new .htaccess file and input the following contents. Then upload it to your server.

          # BEGIN WordPress <IfModule mod_rewrite.c> RewriteEngine On RewriteBase / RewriteRule ^alphabetize\.php$ - [Fifty] RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d RewriteRule . /index.php [Fifty] </IfModule> # END WordPress

Run across the WordPress Codex for more than examples, such as a default .htaccess file for multisite.

10. Coding or Syntax Errors in Your CGI/Perl Script

500 errors being caused by errors in CGI and Perl is a lot less mutual than it used to be. Although it's still worth mentioning, especially for those using cPanel where in that location are a lot of one-click CGI scripts still being used. Equally AEM on Stack Overflow says:

CGI has been replaced by a vast diverseness of web programming technologies, including PHP, various Apache extensions similar mod_perl, Java of various flavors and frameworks including Java EE, Struts, Spring, etc, Python-based frameworks like Django, Ruby on Track and many other Cherry frameworks, and various Microsoft technologies.

Hither are a few tips when working with CGI scripts:

  • When editing, always used a apparently text editor, such as Cantlet, Sublime, or Notepad++. This ensures they remain in ASCII format.
  • Ensure correct permissions of chmod 755 are used on CGI scripts and directories.
  • Upload your CGI scripts in ASCII style (which you tin select in your FTP editor) into the cgi-bin directory on your server.
  • Confirm that the Perl modules you require for your script are installed and supported.

xi. Server Result (Bank check With Your Host)

Finally, because 500 internal server errors tin can also occur from PHP timing out or fatal PHP errors with third-party plugins, yous can always cheque with your WordPress host. Sometimes these errors can be difficult to troubleshoot without an skillful. Here are simply a few common examples of some errors that trigger 500 HTTP status codes on the server that might take you scratching your head.

          PHP message: PHP Fatal error: Uncaught Mistake: Call to undefined function mysql_error()...        
          PHP bulletin: PHP Fatal fault: Uncaught Error: Cannot use object of blazon WP_Error equally array in /www/folder/spider web/shared/content/plugins/plugin/functions.php:525

Nosotros monitor all customer'due south sites hither at Kinsta and are automatically notified when these types of errors occur. This allows us to exist pro-active and start fixing the consequence right away. Nosotros besides utilize LXD managed hosts and orchestrated LXC software containers for each site. This ways that every WordPress site is housed in its own isolated container, which has all of the software resources required to run it (Linux, Nginx, PHP, MySQL). The resources are 100% private and are non shared with anyone else or even your ain sites.

PHP timeouts could too occur from the lack of PHP workers, although typically these cause 504 errors, not 500 errors. These make up one's mind how many simultaneous requests your site can handle at a given time. To put information technology merely, each uncached request for your website is handled by a PHP Worker.

When PHP workers are already busy on a site, they start to build up a queue. In one case yous've reached your limit of PHP workers, the queue starts to push out older requests which could effect in 500 errors or incomplete requests. Read our in-depth article nearly PHP workers.

Monitor Your Site

If you're worried about these types of errors happening on your site in the future, you can too use a tool like updown.io to monitor and notify y'all immediately if they occur. Information technology periodically sends an HTTP HEAD request to the URL of your pick. Yous can simply use your homepage. The tool allows you to prepare bank check frequencies of:

  • xv seconds
  • thirty seconds
  • 1 minute
  • ii minutes
  • 5 minutes
  • 10 minutes

It will ship y'all an email if and when your site goes downwardly. Here is an example below.

Email notification of 500 error
Email notification of 500 error

This can be specially useful if you're trying to debug a faulty plugin or are on a shared host, who tend to overcrowd their servers. This can give you proof of how often your site might actually be doing down (even during the middle of the nighttime). That's why nosotros ever recommend going with a managed WordPress host. Make sure to cheque out our mail service that explores the top 9 reasons to choose managed WordPress hosting.

Summary

500 internal server errors are always frustrating, merely hopefully, now you know a few additional ways to troubleshoot them to rapidly get your site back up and running. Recollect, typically these types of errors are caused by third-party plugins, fatal PHP errors, database connection issues, issues with your .htaccess file or PHP memory limits, and sometimes PHP timeouts.

Was there anything we missed? Perhaps y'all have another tip on troubleshooting 500 internal server errors. If then, let us know beneath in the comments.

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