The dreaded 500 internal server error. It always seems to come at the most inopportune time and you're all of a sudden left scrambling to figure out how to go your WordPress site dorsum online. Trust us, nosotros've all been there. Other errors that behave similarly that you might accept also seen include the frightening error establishing a database connectedness and the dreaded white screen of expiry. Merely from the moment your site goes downwardly, you're losing visitors and customers. Not to mention it but looks bad for your brand.

Today we're going to dive into the 500 internal server error and walk y'all through some means to get your site dorsum online apace. Read more than below about what causes this mistake and what y'all tin can practice to forbid information technology in the future.

  • What is a 500 internal server error?
  • How to fix 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 Internet Engineering Chore Force (IETF) defines the 500 Internal Server Error as:

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

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

In that location are a lot of different types of 500 status mistake codes (500, 501, 502, 503, 504, etc.) and they all mean something different. In this example, a 500 internal server error indicates that the server encountered an unexpected condition that prevented information technology from fulfilling the request(RFC 7231, section 6.vi.1).

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

500 Internal Server Error Variations

Due to the various spider web servers, operating systems, and browsers, a 500 internal server error tin can present itself in a number of unlike ways. But they are all communicating the aforementioned matter. Below are simply a couple of the many different variations you might encounter on the web:

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

You might too meet this message accompanying it:

The server encountered an internal error or misconfiguration and was unable to consummate your request. Please contact the server administrator, [e-mail protected] and inform them of the time the error occurred, and annihilation you might have done that may have caused the fault. More data nigh this error may exist available in the server error log.

Internal Server Error
Internal Server Mistake

Other times, you might simply meet a blank 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 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 fault

Fifty-fifty the mighty YouTube isn't safe from 500 internal server errors.

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

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

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

500 Errors Bear upon on SEO

Unlike 503 errors, which are used for WordPress maintenance mode and tell Google to check back at a later on fourth dimension, a 500 error tin accept a negative touch on on SEO if not fixed correct away. If your site is only downward for say ten minutes and it's existence crawled consistently a lot of times the crawler will simply get the page delivered from enshroud. Or Google might non even take a take a chance to re-crawl it earlier it's back up. In this scenario, yous're completely fine.

Yet, if the site is downward for an extended period of fourth dimension, say 6+ hours, and then Google might see the 500 error as a site level event that needs to exist addressed. This could impact your rankings. If you're worried about repeat 500 errors you should figure out why they are happening to begin with. Some of the solutions below tin can assistance.

How to Fix the 500 Internal Server Error

Where should you outset troubleshooting when you see 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, but from our experience, these errors originate from ii things, the first isuser error (customer-side issue), and the second is that there is a problem with the server. So we'll swoop into a little of both.

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

1. Endeavor Reloading the Page

This might seem a petty obvious to some, but one of the easiest and start things you should endeavour when encountering a 500 internal server error is to only wait a minute or so and reload the page (F5 or Ctrl + F5). It could be that the host or server is simply overloaded and the site will come up right back. While you're waiting, you could also apace try a dissimilar browser to rule that out as an issue.

Another thing you can do is to paste the website into downforeveryoneorjustme.com. This website will tell you if the site is downwards 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 it's anything other than a 200 "Everything is OK" then it will return a down indication.

downforeveryoneorjustme
downforeveryoneorjustme

We've also noticed that sometimes this can occur immediately later on you 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 correct after. All the same, things usually resolve themselves in a couple of seconds and therefore refreshing is all you need to do.

2. Articulate Your Browser Cache

Clearing your browser cache is always another good troubleshooting step before diving into deeper debugging on your site. Below are instructions on how to clear enshroud in the various browsers:

  • How to Forcefulness Refresh a Single Page for All Browsers
  • How to Articulate 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 Cache for Microsoft Border
  • How to Clear Browser Enshroud for Opera

3. Cheque Your Server Logs

You should also have advantage of your error logs. If you lot're a Kinsta client, you lot can easily see errors in the log viewer in the MyKinsta dashboard. This tin assistance you speedily narrow down the consequence, especially if it'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 can besides enable WordPress debugging mode by adding the following lawmaking 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 here at Kinsta might have a dedicated folder called "logs".

WordPress error logs folder (SFTP)
WordPress mistake logs binder (SFTP)

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

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

If you're a Kinsta client yous can also have advantage of our analytics tool to become a breakdown of the full number of 500 errors and come across how often and when they are occurring. This can help you lot troubleshoot if this is an ongoing outcome, or perhaps something that has resolved itself.

Response analysis 500 error breakdown
Response assay 500 mistake breakdown

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

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

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

          display_errors = on

four. Fault Establishing a Database Connection

500 internal server errors can besides occur from a database connection mistake. Depending upon your browser yous might see unlike errors. But both will generate a 500 HTTP status code regardless in your server logs.

Beneath is an example of what an "error establishing a database connection" bulletin looks like your browser. The unabridged page is blank considering no data can be retrieved to render the page, as the connexion is not working properly. Not only does this intermission the front-end of your site, but it will also prevent y'all from accessing your WordPress dashboard.

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

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

  • The most common event is that yourdatabase login credentials are incorrect. Your WordPress site uses divide login information to connect to its MySQL database.
  • Your WordPress database is corrupted. With and so many moving parts with themes, plugins, and users constantly deleting and installing them, sometimes databases get corrupted. This can be due to a missing or individually corrupted table, or perhaps some information was deleted by accident.
  • You lot 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 be wrong on the spider web hosts stop, such equally the database being overloaded from a traffic fasten or unresponsive from too many concurrent connections. This is actually quite mutual with shared hosts as they are utilizing the same resources for a lot of users on the same servers.

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

5. Check Your Plugins and Themes

Third-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 should see the error immediately after installing something new or running an update. This is one reason why we always recommend utilizing a staging environment for updates or at least running updates one by i. Otherwise, if yous encounter a 500 internal server mistake yous're suddenly scrambling to figure out which one caused it.

A few ways you can troubleshoot this is past deactivating all your plugins. Remember, you won't lose any data if yous merely deactivate a plugin. If you can however access your admin, a quick mode to practice this is to browse to "Plugins" and select "Conciliate" from the majority actions carte. This volition disable all of your plugins.

Deactivate all plugins
Deactivate all plugins

If this fixes the issue you'll need to notice the culprit. Kickoff activating them 1 by one, reloading the site later each activation. When you see the 500 internal server error return, you've found the misbehaving plugin. You can then achieve out to the plugin developer for assistance or mail a support ticket in the WordPress repository.

If you can't login to WordPress admin you lot tin FTP into your server and rename your plugins binder to something like plugins_old. Then cheque your site once more. If information technology works, then you volition need to test each plugin one past i. Rename your plugin folder back to "plugins" and and then rename each plugin folder inside of if it, one by one, until you observe it. Y'all could also try to replicate this on a staging site offset.

Rename plugin folder
Rename plugin folder

Always makes sure your plugins, themes, and WordPress cadre are upwardly to date. And check to ensure you lot are running a supported version of PHP. If it turns out to be a conflict with bad lawmaking in a plugin, you might need to bring in a WordPress developer to ready the effect.

6. Reinstall WordPress Core

Sometimes WordPress cadre files tin go corrupted, particularly on older sites. Information technology's really quite easy to re-upload just the cadre of WordPress without impacting your plugins or themes. We accept an in-depth guide with 5 dissimilar ways to reinstall WordPress. And of course, make sure to take a fill-in before proceeding. Skip to one 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

7. Permissions Fault

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

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

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

Yous can easily run across your file permissions with an FTP customer (as seen below). Yous could also attain out to your WordPress host support squad and ask them to apace GREP file permissions on your folders and files to ensure they're setup properly.

File permissions SFTP
File permissions SFTP

8. PHP Retention Limit

A 500 internal server error could also be caused by exhausting the PHP retentiveness limit on your server. You lot could attempt increasing the limit. Follow the instructions beneath on how to alter this limit in cPanel, Apache, your php.ini file, and wp-config.php file.

Increment PHP Memory Limit in cPanel

If you're running on a host that uses cPanel, you tin easily change this from the UI. Nether 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 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 memory limit in cPanel

Increment PHP Retention Limit in Apache

The .htaccess file is a special hidden file that contains various settings you can use to alter the server behavior, correct downwards to a directory specific level. Start login to your site via FTP or SSH, accept a wait at your root directory and see if at that place is a .htaccess file there.

.htaccess file
.htaccess file

If there is y'all tin can edit that file to add together the necessary code for increasing the PHP memory limit. Most likely information technology is set at 64M or below, you tin try increasing this value.

          php_value memory_limit 128M

Increment PHP Memory Limit in php.ini File

If the to a higher place doesn't work for you might try editing your php.ini file. Log in to your site via FTP or SSH, get to your site's root directory and open or create a php.ini file.

php.ini file
php.ini file

If the file was already there, search for the iii settings and modify them if necessary. If you just created the file, or the settings are nowhere to exist found y'all can paste the code beneath. You tin can alter of class the values to meet your needs.

          memory_limit = 128M

Some shared hosts might also require that you lot add together the suPHP directive in your .htaccess file for the above php.ini file settings to piece of work. To practise this, edit your .htaccess file, besides located at the root of your site, and add the post-obit lawmaking towards the superlative of the file:

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

If the higher up didn't work for yous, it could be that your host has the global settings locked downward and instead have 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'due south root directory and open up or create a .user.ini file. Y'all can and so paste in the following code:

          memory_limit = 128M

Increase PHP Memory Limit in wp-config.php

The last option is not one we are fans of, but if all else fails you lot can give 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 tin can also ask your host if you're running into retentivity limit issues. We utilise New Relic and other troubleshooting methods here at Kinsta to assistance clients narrow down what plugin, query, or script might exist exhausting the limit. You can also utilise your own custom New Relic key.

Debugging with New Relic
Debugging with New Relic

ix. Problem With Your .htaccess File

Kinsta but uses Nginx, just if you're using a WordPress host that is running Apache, information technology could very well exist that your .htaccess file has a trouble or has become corrupted. Follow the steps beneath to recreate a new 1 from scratch.

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

Rename .htaccess file
Rename .htaccess file

Usually to recreate this file yous can but re-salvage your permalinks in WordPress. However, if you're in the middle of a 500 internal server error you lot nearly likely tin't access your WordPress admin, and then this isn't an option. Therefore yous tin can create a new .htaccess file and input the post-obit contents. Then upload it to your server.

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

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

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

500 errors being caused past errors in CGI and Perl is a lot less common than it used to be. Although information technology'south still worth mentioning, particularly for those using cPanel where there are a lot of 1-click CGI scripts yet being used. As AEM on Stack Overflow says:

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

Here are a few tips when working with CGI scripts:

  • When editing, always used a plain text editor, such every bit 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 mode (which you can 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.

11. Server Issue (Bank check With Your Host)

Finally, considering 500 internal server errors tin likewise occur from PHP timing out or fatal PHP errors with third-party plugins, yous can ever check with your WordPress host. Sometimes these errors tin can be difficult to troubleshoot without an practiced. Here are just a few mutual examples of some errors that trigger 500 HTTP condition codes on the server that might accept you scratching your head.

          PHP message: PHP Fatal fault: Uncaught Mistake: Call to undefined role mysql_error()...        
          PHP message: PHP Fatal error: Uncaught Error: Cannot utilize object of type WP_Error every bit array in /world wide web/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 us to be pro-active and start fixing the issue right abroad. We as well 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 fifty-fifty your own sites.

PHP timeouts could also occur from the lack of PHP workers, although typically these cause 504 errors, non 500 errors. These decide how many simultaneous requests your site tin handle at a given time. To put it simply, each uncached request for your website is handled by a PHP Worker.

When PHP workers are already decorated on a site, they start to build upward a queue. Once you've reached your limit of PHP workers, the queue starts to push out older requests which could result in 500 errors or incomplete requests. Read our in-depth article virtually PHP workers.

Monitor Your Site

If y'all're worried about these types of errors happening on your site in the future, you lot can also utilize a tool like updown.io to monitor and notify you lot immediately if they occur. It periodically sends an HTTP Caput asking to the URL of your choice. You lot can simply use your homepage. The tool allows you lot to set bank check frequencies of:

  • fifteen seconds
  • thirty seconds
  • 1 minute
  • 2 minutes
  • 5 minutes
  • x minutes

Information technology will ship you lot an email if and when your site goes downwardly. Here is an instance beneath.

Email notification of 500 error
Email notification of 500 fault

This can be especially 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 often your site might actually be doing down (even during the middle of the night). That's why nosotros e'er recommend going with a managed WordPress host. Brand sure to check out our post that explores the superlative 9 reasons to cull managed WordPress hosting.

Summary

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

Was there anything we missed? Perhaps you lot have another tip on troubleshooting 500 internal server errors. If so, let united states know beneath in the comments.

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