The dreaded 500 internal server error. It e'er seems to come at the most inopportune time and you lot're suddenly left scrambling to figure out how to get your WordPress site back online. Trust united states, nosotros've all been there. Other errors that behave similarly that you might accept also seen include the frightening fault establishing a database connection 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 simply looks bad for your make.

Today nosotros're going to swoop into the 500 internal server error and walk you through some ways to go your site back online speedily. Read more below about what causes this fault and what you can do to prevent information technology in the hereafter.

  • What is a 500 internal server mistake?
  • How to fix the 500 internal server error

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

What is a 500 Internal Server Error?

The Net Engineering science Task Force (IETF) defines the 500 Internal Server Error as:

The 500 (Internal Server Mistake) status lawmaking indicates that the server encountered an unexpected condition that prevented information technology from fulfilling the request.

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

At that place are a lot of unlike types of 500 status error codes (500, 501, 502, 503, 504, etc.) and they all hateful something dissimilar. In this case, a 500 internal server error indicates that the server encountered an unexpected condition that prevented information technology from fulfilling the request(RFC 7231, department six.six.one).

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. But they are all communicating the same thing. Below are simply a couple of the many dissimilar variations you might see on the spider web:

    • "500 Internal Server Error"
    • "HTTP 500"
    • "Internal Server Fault"
    • "HTTP 500 – Internal Server Fault"
    • "500 Mistake"
    • "HTTP Error 500"
    • "500 – Internal Server Error"
    • "500 Internal Server Error. Sorry something went incorrect."
    • "500. That'due south an error. There was an fault. Please endeavor again later. That'south all we know."
    • "The website cannot display the page – HTTP 500."
    • "Is currently unable to handle this request. HTTP Fault 500."

You might too see this bulletin accompanying it:

The server encountered an internal mistake or misconfiguration and was unable to complete your asking. Please contact the server administrator, [email protected] and inform them of the time the error occurred, and anything y'all might have done that may have caused the error. More data well-nigh this error may exist available in the server error log.

Internal Server Error
Internal Server Error

Other times, you might simply meet a blank 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 even have their ain custom 500 internal server mistake messages, such every bit this one from Airbnb.

Airbnb 500 internal server error
Airbnb 500 internal server error

Here is some other creative 500 server fault example from the folks over at readme.

readme 500 internal server error
readme 500 internal server error

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

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

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

  • 500.0 – Module or ISAPI error occurred.
  • 500.eleven – Application is shutting down on the web server.
  • 500.12 – Application is busy restarting on the web server.
  • 500.13 – Web server is besides busy.
  • 500.fifteen – Directly requests for global.asax are not immune.
  • 500.19 – Configuration data is invalid.
  • 500.21 – Module not recognized.
  • 500.22 – An ASP.NET httpModules configuration does not apply in Managed Pipeline mode.
  • 500.23 – An ASP.NET httpHandlers configuration does not use in Managed Pipeline way.
  • 500.24 – An ASP.Net impersonation configuration does not utilize in Managed Pipeline fashion.
  • 500.l – A rewrite error occurred during RQ_BEGIN_REQUEST notification handling. A configuration or inbound rule execution error occurred.
  • 500.51 – A rewrite error occurred during GL_PRE_BEGIN_REQUEST notification handling. A global configuration or global rule execution error occurred.
  • 500.52 – A rewrite fault occurred during RQ_SEND_RESPONSE notification treatment. An outbound rule execution occurred.
  • 500.53 – A rewrite error occurred during RQ_RELEASE_REQUEST_STATE notification handling. An outbound rule execution error occurred. The rule is configured to exist executed earlier the output user enshroud gets updated.
    500.100 – Internal ASP error.

500 Errors Touch on SEO

Dissimilar 503 errors, which are used for WordPress maintenance mode and tell Google to check dorsum at a later on time, a 500 error can accept a negative affect on SEO if non fixed correct abroad. If your site is only downwardly for say 10 minutes and information technology's being crawled consistently a lot of times the crawler will merely get the page delivered from enshroud. Or Google might non even have a adventure to re-crawl information technology earlier information technology'south back up. In this scenario, you lot're completely fine.

However, if the site is downwardly for an extended menstruum of time, say 6+ hours, then Google might meet the 500 error as a site level issue that needs to be addressed. This could impact your rankings. If you're worried most repeat 500 errors yous should figure out why they are happening to begin with. Some of the solutions beneath tin can help.

How to Fix the 500 Internal Server Error

Where should you commencement troubleshooting when yous see a 500 internal server error on your WordPress site? Sometimes you might non fifty-fifty know where to begin. Typically 500 errors are on the server itself, but from our experience, these errors originate from two things, the first isuser error (client-side issue), and the second is that at that place is a problem with the server. So we'll dive into a niggling of both.

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

1. Endeavor Reloading the Folio

This might seem a little obvious to some, but 1 of the easiest and first things you should try when encountering a 500 internal server fault is to merely wait 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 right back. While you're waiting, you could also quickly try a different 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 down or if it's a problem on your side. A tool similar this checks the HTTP status code 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 after y'all update a plugin or theme on your WordPress site. Typically this is on hosts that aren't gear up upward 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 need to practise.

2. Clear Your Browser Enshroud

Clearing your browser cache is ever another good troubleshooting pace before diving into deeper debugging on your site. Below 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 Cache for Mozilla Firefox
  • How to Articulate Browser Enshroud for Safari
  • How to Clear Browser Cache for Net Explorer
  • How to Clear Browser Cache for Microsoft Edge
  • How to Clear Browser Cache for Opera

three. Check Your Server Logs

You should besides have advantage of your fault logs. If you lot're a Kinsta customer, yous tin can easily see errors in the log viewer in the MyKinsta dashboard. This can help you apace narrow down the upshot, especially if it'due south 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, you can also enable WordPress debugging mode by adding 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', imitation );        

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

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

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

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

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

Response analysis 500 error breakdown
Response analysis 500 fault breakdown

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

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

And you might need to as well change your php.ini file with the following:

          display_errors = on        

4. Error Establishing a Database Connection

500 internal server errors tin can also occur from a database connection error. Depending upon your browser you might come across different 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 connectedness" message looks like your browser. The entire page is bare because no data can be retrieved to render the page, as the connection is not working properly. Non only does this break the forepart-terminate of your site, merely it will also prevent you from accessing your WordPress dashboard.

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

So why exactly does this happen? Well, hither are a few common reasons below.

  • The most common issue is that yourdatabase login credentials are incorrect. Your WordPress site uses split up login information 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 get corrupted. This tin can exist due to a missing or individually corrupted tabular array, or perchance some information was deleted by blow.
  • You may have corrupt 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 incorrect on the web hosts end, such equally the database being overloaded from a traffic fasten or unresponsive from also many concurrent connections. This is really quite common with shared hosts equally they are utilizing the aforementioned resources for a lot of users on the same servers.

Check out our in-depth mail service on how to set up the mistake 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 advertising 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 nosotros always recommend utilizing a staging surroundings for updates or at least running updates 1 by one. Otherwise, if yous encounter a 500 internal server fault you're all of a sudden scrambling to figure out which one caused it.

A few ways you tin troubleshoot this is by deactivating all your plugins. Remember, you won't lose any data if you simply deactivate a plugin. If yous can still access your admin, a quick way to do this is to browse to "Plugins" and select "Deactivate" from the bulk actions menu. This will disable all of your plugins.

Deactivate all plugins
Deactivate all plugins

If this fixes the issue you'll need to find the culprit. Kickoff activating them one by one, reloading the site afterward each activation. When you see the 500 internal server fault return, y'all've found the misbehaving plugin. Y'all tin then reach out to the plugin programmer for help or post a support ticket in the WordPress repository.

If you tin can't login to WordPress admin you 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 will need to test each plugin i by one. Rename your plugin folder back to "plugins" and and then rename each plugin binder within of if it, one past one, until yous find it. You lot could also try to replicate this on a staging site start.

Rename plugin folder
Rename plugin folder

Always makes sure your plugins, themes, and WordPress core are upward to date. And check to ensure you are running a supported version of PHP. If it turns out to exist a disharmonize with bad code in a plugin, you lot might need to bring in a WordPress developer to fix the issue.

6. Reinstall WordPress Core

Sometimes WordPress cadre files can become corrupted, especially on older sites. It's really quite like shooting fish in a barrel to re-upload just the core of WordPress without impacting your plugins or themes. Nosotros have an in-depth guide with 5 different ways to reinstall WordPress. And of form, make certain to take a backup earlier 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 Error

A permissions fault with a file or binder on your server tin can also cause a 500 internal server mistake to occur. Hither 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-ten) or 750.
  • No directories should e'er be given 777, even upload directories.
  • Hardening: wp-config.php could besides be set to 440 or 400 to prevent other users on the server from reading it.

Encounter the WordPress Codex article on irresolute file permissions for a more in-depth caption.

You can easily see your file permissions with an FTP client (equally seen below). You could too reach out to your WordPress host support squad and ask them to speedily GREP file permissions on your folders and files to ensure they're setup properly.

File permissions SFTP
File permissions SFTP

8. PHP Retentivity Limit

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

Increment PHP Memory Limit in cPanel

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

You can then click on the memory_limit aspect and change its value. Then click on "Save."

Increase PHP memory limit in cPanel
Increase PHP retentiveness limit in cPanel

Increment PHP Retention Limit in Apache

The .htaccess file is a special subconscious file that contains various settings you can utilise to modify the server behavior, right downwards to a directory specific level. Starting time login to your site via FTP or SSH, take a look at your root directory and see if in that location is a .htaccess file there.

.htaccess file
.htaccess file

If in that location is you lot can edit that file to add the necessary code for increasing the PHP memory limit. Most likely it is ready at 64M or below, you can endeavour increasing this value.

          php_value memory_limit 128M        

Increase PHP Retentivity Limit in php.ini File

If the in a higher place doesn't work for you might endeavour editing your php.ini file. Log in to your site via FTP or SSH, go 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 at that place, search for the three settings and modify them if necessary. If you just created the file, or the settings are nowhere to be found you can paste the lawmaking beneath. Yous tin can modify of course the values to meet your needs.

          memory_limit = 128M        

Some shared hosts might also require that you 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 post-obit code towards the top of the file:

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

If the above didn't work for you lot, it could be that your host has the global settings locked downwardly and instead have it configured to employ .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. You can then paste in the post-obit lawmaking:

          memory_limit = 128M        

Increase PHP Retentivity Limit in wp-config.php

The last pick is not one we are fans of, but if all else fails you lot tin 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 code 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 retentivity limit issues. We use New Relic and other troubleshooting methods hither at Kinsta to help clients narrow downwardly what plugin, query, or script might be exhausting the limit. You tin also use your own custom New Relic cardinal.

Debugging with New Relic
Debugging with New Relic

9. Problem With Your .htaccess File

Kinsta but uses Nginx, simply if you're using a WordPress host that is running Apache, it could very well exist that your .htaccess file has a problem or has get corrupted. Follow the steps below to recreate a new ane 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

Normally to recreate this file you can just re-salvage your permalinks in WordPress. However, if you're in the middle of a 500 internal server error you most probable tin't access your WordPress admin, so this isn't an selection. Therefore you can create a new .htaccess file and input the post-obit contents. Then upload information technology to your server.

          # Begin WordPress <IfModule mod_rewrite.c> RewriteEngine On RewriteBase / RewriteRule ^index\.php$ - [50] RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d RewriteRule . /alphabetize.php [Fifty] </IfModule> # END WordPress        

See 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 existence 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 at that place are a lot of i-click CGI scripts still 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, Spring, etc, Python-based frameworks similar Django, Blood-red 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 as 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 mode (which you tin select in your FTP editor) into the cgi-bin directory on your server.
  • Confirm that the Perl modules yous require for your script are installed and supported.

11. Server Issue (Check With Your Host)

Finally, because 500 internal server errors can likewise occur from PHP timing out or fatal PHP errors with third-party plugins, you tin always check with your WordPress host. Sometimes these errors tin can be difficult to troubleshoot without an expert. Here are just a few mutual 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 Error: Telephone call to undefined role mysql_error()...        
          PHP message: PHP Fatal fault: Uncaught Error: Cannot use object of type WP_Error as array in /www/folder/spider web/shared/content/plugins/plugin/functions.php:525        

Nosotros monitor all client's 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 correct abroad. We also 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 ain sites.

PHP timeouts could also occur from the lack of PHP workers, although typically these crusade 504 errors, non 500 errors. These make up one's mind how many simultaneous requests your site can handle at a given time. To put information technology simply, 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 upwardly a queue. In one case you lot've reached your limit of PHP workers, the queue starts to button out older requests which could result in 500 errors or incomplete requests. Read our in-depth article near PHP workers.

Monitor Your Site

If you're worried about these types of errors happening on your site in the hereafter, you can besides utilize a tool like updown.io to monitor and notify you immediately if they occur. Information technology periodically sends an HTTP Head request to the URL of your choice. You can but apply your homepage. The tool allows you lot to set check frequencies of:

  • 15 seconds
  • xxx seconds
  • 1 minute
  • 2 minutes
  • 5 minutes
  • 10 minutes

Information technology volition transport you an email if and when your site goes downwards. Here is an example below.

Email notification of 500 error
Email notification of 500 mistake

This can be especially useful if you're trying to debug a faulty plugin or are on a shared host, who tend to overcrowd their servers. This tin can give y'all proof of how ofttimes your site might really exist doing down (even during the middle of the night). That'southward why we e'er recommend going with a managed WordPress host. Make sure to check out our post that explores the height 9 reasons to choose managed WordPress hosting.

Summary

500 internal server errors are always frustrating, but hopefully, now you know a few additional ways to troubleshoot them to speedily become your site back up and running. Remember, typically these types of errors are caused by third-political party plugins, fatal PHP errors, database connectedness bug, problems with your .htaccess file or PHP retention limits, and sometimes PHP timeouts.

Was there annihilation we missed? Perhaps you lot have another tip on troubleshooting 500 internal server errors. If and so, permit u.s.a. know beneath in the comments.


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