The dreaded 500 internal server mistake. Information technology ever seems to come at the most inopportune time and you're all of a sudden left scrambling to figure out how to get your WordPress site back online. Trust united states of america, we've all been there. Other errors that comport similarly that you might have besides seen include the frightening error establishing a database connection and the dreaded white screen of death. But from the moment your site goes downward, y'all're losing visitors and customers. Not to mention it only looks bad for your make.

Today we're going to dive into the 500 internal server error and walk you through some ways to get your site back online quickly. Read more below most what causes this error and what you can exercise to prevent it in the future.

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

Cheque Out Our Ultimate Guide to Fixing the 500 Internal Server Fault

What is a 500 Internal Server Mistake?

The Internet Engineering Chore Forcefulness (IETF) defines the 500 Internal Server Error as:

The 500 (Internal Server Error) status lawmaking indicates that the server encountered an unexpected condition 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.) forth with an HTTP header. The HTTP also includes what they call an HTTP status code. A status code is a manner to notify you nearly the condition of the request. It could be a 200 condition code which means "Everything is OK" or a 500 status code which ways something has gone wrong.

At that place are a lot of different types of 500 condition error codes (500, 501, 502, 503, 504, etc.) and they all hateful something different. In this case, a 500 internal server mistake indicates that the server encountered an unexpected condition that prevented it from fulfilling the asking(RFC 7231, section 6.half dozen.1).

500 internal server error in WordPress
500 internal server fault in WordPress

500 Internal Server Error Variations

Due to the various web servers, operating systems, and browsers, a 500 internal server error can present itself in a number of different ways. Only they are all communicating the same affair. Beneath are just a couple of the many different variations you might encounter on the web:

    • "500 Internal Server Error"
    • "HTTP 500"
    • "Internal Server Error"
    • "HTTP 500 – Internal Server Error"
    • "500 Mistake"
    • "HTTP Error 500"
    • "500 – Internal Server Error"
    • "500 Internal Server Mistake. Lamentable something went wrong."
    • "500. That'south an mistake. There was an error. Please try over again later. That'south all we know."
    • "The website cannot display the page – HTTP 500."
    • "Is currently unable to handle this request. HTTP ERROR 500."

You might also run into this message accompanying information technology:

The server encountered an internal error or misconfiguration and was unable to consummate your asking. Please contact the server administrator, [email protected] and inform them of the time the mistake occurred, and anything you might have done that may have caused the error. More information virtually this fault may be bachelor in the server error log.

Internal Server Error
Internal Server Error

Other times, y'all might just see a bare white screen. When dealing with 500 internal server errors, this is actually quite common in browsers similar Firefox and Safari.

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

Bigger brands might fifty-fifty have their own custom 500 internal server error messages, such as this one from Airbnb.

Airbnb 500 internal server error
Airbnb 500 internal server error

Here is some other 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 rubber from 500 internal server errors.

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

If it's an IIS vii.0 (Windows) or higher server, they have boosted HTTP status codes to more closely indicate the cause of the 500 mistake:

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

500 Errors Impact on SEO

Unlike 503 errors, which are used for WordPress maintenance mode and tell Google to check dorsum at a later time, a 500 error can take a negative touch on on SEO if non fixed correct away. If your site is only down for say ten minutes and it'south being crawled consistently a lot of times the crawler will just get the page delivered from cache. Or Google might not even have a take a chance to re-crawl it before it'due south support. In this scenario, you're completely fine.

Withal, if the site is down for an extended menstruation of time, say 6+ hours, then Google might see the 500 error as a site level upshot that needs to exist addressed. This could impact your rankings. If yous're worried well-nigh echo 500 errors y'all should effigy out why they are happening to brainstorm with. Some of the solutions below can help.

How to Fix the 500 Internal Server Error

Where should you start troubleshooting when you encounter a 500 internal server error on your WordPress site? Sometimes you might non 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 issue), and the second is that there is a problem with the server. So nosotros'll dive into a little of both.

Bank check out these common causes and ways to fix the 500 internal server error and get support and running in no time.

one. Endeavour Reloading the Page

This might seem a little obvious to some, but one of the easiest and first things you should try when encountering a 500 internal server error is to simply expect a infinitesimal or so and reload the page (F5 or Ctrl + F5). It could be that the host or server is simply overloaded and the site volition come correct back. While y'all're waiting, you could likewise quickly endeavour a different browser to rule that out as an issue.

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

downforeveryoneorjustme
downforeveryoneorjustme

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

2. Clear Your Browser Cache

Immigration your browser cache is always some other skillful troubleshooting step before diving into deeper debugging on your site. Below are instructions on how to articulate cache in the various browsers:

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

iii. Bank check Your Server Logs

You should besides take advantage of your mistake logs. If y'all're a Kinsta customer, you tin easily see errors in the log viewer in the MyKinsta dashboard. This tin aid you quickly narrow down the issue, especially if it's resulting from a plugin on your site.

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

If your host doesn't accept a logging tool, y'all can also enable WordPress debugging mode by adding the following lawmaking to your wp-config.php file to enable logging:

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

The logs are typically located in the /wp-content directory. Others, similar here at Kinsta might take a dedicated folder chosen "logs".

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

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

  • Apache: /var/log/apache2/error.log
  • Nginx: /var/log/nginx/error.log

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

Response analysis 500 error breakdown
Response analysis 500 error breakdown

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

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

And y'all might need to also modify your php.ini file with the following:

          display_errors = on

4. Error Establishing a Database Connection

500 internal server errors tin can besides occur from a database connection error. Depending upon your browser you might see different errors. But both volition generate a 500 HTTP status code regardless in your server logs.

Below is an example of what an "error establishing a database connection" message looks similar your browser. The entire page is bare considering no data can exist retrieved to render the page, equally the connexion is non working properly. Not only does this break the front-finish of your site, just it will also foreclose you from accessing your WordPress dashboard.

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

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

  • The most common effect is that yourdatabase login credentials are incorrect. Your WordPress site uses split login information to connect to its MySQL database.
  • Your WordPress database is corrupted. With and then many moving parts with themes, plugins, and users constantly deleting and installing them, sometimes databases get corrupted. This tin can be due to a missing or individually corrupted table, or maybe some information was deleted by accident.
  • You may have corrupt files in your WordPress installation. This can even happen sometimes due to hackers.
  • Problems with your database server. A number of things could exist wrong on the web hosts end, such equally the database existence overloaded from a traffic fasten or unresponsive from besides many concurrent connections. This is actually quite mutual with shared hosts as they are utilizing the same resource for a lot of users on the aforementioned servers.

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

five. Bank check Your Plugins and Themes

Third-political party plugins and themes can easily cause 500 internal server errors. We've seen all types cause them here at Kinsta, from slider plugins to advert rotator plugins. A lot of times you lot should come across the error immediately after installing something new or running an update. This is ane reason why nosotros ever recommend utilizing a staging environment for updates or at least running updates one by one. Otherwise, if you lot meet a 500 internal server mistake you're suddenly scrambling to figure out which one acquired it.

A few means you lot tin can troubleshoot this is by deactivating all your plugins. Remember, y'all won't lose any information if you only deactivate a plugin. If you tin even so access your admin, a quick style to do this is to browse to "Plugins" and select "Deactivate" from the majority deportment menu. This volition disable all of your plugins.

Deactivate all plugins
Conciliate all plugins

If this fixes the consequence y'all'll need to find the culprit. Start activating them one by one, reloading the site after each activation. When you see the 500 internal server mistake return, you've institute the misbehaving plugin. You can then reach out to the plugin developer for help or mail service a back up ticket in the WordPress repository.

If you tin can't login to WordPress admin you tin can FTP into your server and rename your plugins binder to something like plugins_old. Then cheque your site again. If information technology works, then you volition demand to test each plugin one by i. Rename your plugin folder dorsum to "plugins" and then rename each plugin binder inside of if it, one past one, until you find it. Y'all could as well try to replicate this on a staging site starting time.

Rename plugin folder
Rename plugin folder

Always makes sure your plugins, themes, and WordPress cadre are up to date. And check to ensure you are running a supported version of PHP. If information technology turns out to be a conflict with bad lawmaking in a plugin, you might need to bring in a WordPress programmer to fix the issue.

6. Reinstall WordPress Core

Sometimes WordPress core files can become corrupted, especially on older sites. It'south really quite easy to re-upload merely the cadre of WordPress without impacting your plugins or themes. We take an in-depth guide with five unlike means to reinstall WordPress. And of course, brand sure to take a backup before proceeding. Skip to i of the sections beneath:

  • 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

7. Permissions Error

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

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

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

You can easily see your file permissions with an FTP client (as seen below). You lot could too reach out to your WordPress host back up 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

viii. PHP Memory Limit

A 500 internal server error could too be caused by exhausting the PHP memory limit on your server. You could endeavor 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.

Increase PHP Retentiveness Limit in cPanel

If you lot're running on a host that uses cPanel, you can hands 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

You tin and then click on the memory_limit aspect and change its value. Then click on "Salvage."

Increase PHP memory limit in cPanel
Increment PHP memory limit in cPanel

Increase PHP Retentiveness Limit in Apache

The .htaccess file is a special hidden file that contains diverse settings y'all tin apply to change the server behavior, right down to a directory specific level. First login to your site via FTP or SSH, take a look at your root directory and see if there is a .htaccess file in that location.

.htaccess file
.htaccess file

If there is you can edit that file to add the necessary code for increasing the PHP memory limit. Well-nigh likely it is set at 64M or beneath, you can try increasing this value.

          php_value memory_limit 128M

Increase PHP Retentiveness Limit in php.ini File

If the above doesn't piece of work for yous might try editing your php.ini file. Log in to your site via FTP or SSH, go to your site'due south root directory and open or create a php.ini file.

php.ini file
php.ini file

If the file was already in that location, search for the three settings and change them if necessary. If you lot just created the file, or the settings are nowhere to exist found you can paste the code below. You tin can change of class the values to meet your needs.

          memory_limit = 128M

Some shared hosts might also crave that you add the suPHP directive in your .htaccess file for the higher up php.ini file settings to work. To exercise this, edit your .htaccess file, as well located at the root of your site, and add the following code towards the top of the file:

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

If the above didn't piece of work for you, it could exist that your host has the global settings locked downwards and instead take it configured to utilize .user.ini files. To edit your .user.ini file, login to your site via FTP or SSH, go to your site's root directory and open or create a .user.ini file. Y'all tin so paste in the following code:

          memory_limit = 128M

Increase PHP Memory Limit in wp-config.php

The last option is not one nosotros are fans of, just if all else fails you tin requite information technology a go. Get-go, 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 code to the peak of your wp-config.php file:

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

You tin also inquire your host if you're running into retentiveness limit issues. We use the Kinsta APM tool and other troubleshooting methods here at Kinsta to aid clients narrow down what plugin, query, or script might be exhausting the limit. You tin can also use your own custom New Relic cardinal from your own license.

Debugging with New Relic
Debugging with New Relic

9. Trouble With Your .htaccess File

Kinsta only uses Nginx, simply 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 below to recreate a new 1 from scratch.

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

Rename .htaccess file
Rename .htaccess file

Unremarkably to recreate this file you can just re-save your permalinks in WordPress. However, if you lot're in the middle of a 500 internal server mistake you near likely can't admission your WordPress admin, so this isn't an selection. Therefore you lot 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 ^index\.php$ - [L] RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d RewriteRule . /index.php [Fifty] </IfModule> # Finish WordPress

See the WordPress Codex for more examples, such every bit a default .htaccess file for multisite.

x. 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 exist. Although it's even so worth mentioning, especially for those using cPanel where there are a lot of one-click CGI scripts even so existence used. Every bit AEM on Stack Overflow says:

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

Here are a few tips when working with CGI scripts:

  • When editing, always used a plain text editor, such equally Atom, 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 manner (which you can select in your FTP editor) into the cgi-bin directory on your server.
  • Ostend that the Perl modules you require for your script are installed and supported.

11. Server Issue (Check With Your Host)

Finally, because 500 internal server errors tin too occur from PHP timing out or fatal PHP errors with 3rd-political party plugins, you can always check with your WordPress host. Sometimes these errors can be hard to troubleshoot without an skilful. Here are but a few mutual examples of some errors that trigger 500 HTTP status codes on the server that might have you scratching your head.

          PHP bulletin: PHP Fatal fault: Uncaught Error: Phone call to undefined function mysql_error()...        
          PHP message: PHP Fatal error: Uncaught Mistake: Cannot utilize object of type WP_Error as array in /www/folder/web/shared/content/plugins/plugin/functions.php:525

We monitor all client'due south sites here at Kinsta and are automatically notified when these types of errors occur. This allows united states of america to be pro-active and start fixing the issue right away. We as well utilize LXD managed hosts and orchestrated LXC software containers for each site. This means that every WordPress site is housed in its ain isolated container, which has all of the software resources required to run it (Linux, Nginx, PHP, MySQL). The resources are 100% individual and are not shared with anyone else or even your own sites.

PHP timeouts could also occur from the lack of PHP workers, although typically these cause 504 errors, non 500 errors. These determine how many simultaneous requests your site can handle at a given fourth dimension. To put it only, 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 upward a queue. Once y'all've reached your limit of PHP workers, the queue starts to push button out older requests which could result in 500 errors or incomplete requests. Read our in-depth commodity about PHP workers.

Monitor Your Site

If you lot're worried near these types of errors happening on your site in the future, you tin can likewise utilize a tool like updown.io to monitor and notify you immediately if they occur. It periodically sends an HTTP Head request to the URL of your selection. You can but use your homepage. The tool allows you to gear up check frequencies of:

  • fifteen seconds
  • 30 seconds
  • 1 minute
  • 2 minutes
  • 5 minutes
  • 10 minutes

It will send y'all an electronic mail if and when your site goes downwardly. Here is an case below.

Email notification of 500 error
Email notification of 500 error

This can be peculiarly useful if yous'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 oft your site might actually be doing down (even during the middle of the night). That'due south why nosotros always recommend going with a managed WordPress host. Make sure to check out our postal service that explores the pinnacle 9 reasons to choose managed WordPress hosting.

Summary

500 internal server errors are ever frustrating, but hopefully, at present yous know a few additional means to troubleshoot them to apace become your site back upwardly and running. Remember, typically these types of errors are acquired past third-political party plugins, fatal PHP errors, database connexion bug, bug with your .htaccess file or PHP memory limits, and sometimes PHP timeouts.

Was there anything nosotros missed? Mayhap you accept another tip on troubleshooting 500 internal server errors. If and then, allow us know beneath in the comments.

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