The dreaded 500 internal server fault. It e'er seems to come at the most inopportune time and you're suddenly left scrambling to figure out how to get your WordPress site dorsum online. Trust us, we've all been there. Other errors that deport similarly that you might take also seen include the frightening error establishing a database connection and the dreaded white screen of death. But from the moment your site goes downwardly, y'all're losing visitors and customers. Not to mention it simply looks bad for your brand.

Today we're going to dive into the 500 internal server error and walk you through some means to get your site back online quickly. Read more beneath about what causes this fault and what you can do to prevent information technology in the time to come.

  • What is a 500 internal server fault?
  • How to gear 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 Cyberspace Engineering Task Strength (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 request, processes it, and sends dorsum the requested resources (PHP, HTML, CSS, etc.) along with an HTTP header. The HTTP too includes what they call an HTTP condition code. A status code is a manner to notify you about the condition of the asking. Information technology could be a 200 status code which means "Everything is OK" or a 500 status code which ways something has gone wrong.

There are a lot of different types of 500 condition fault 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 information technology from fulfilling the request(RFC 7231, section half-dozen.vi.1).

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

500 Internal Server Fault Variations

Due to the various web servers, operating systems, and browsers, a 500 internal server error can nowadays itself in a number of different ways. Simply they are all communicating the aforementioned thing. Below are merely a couple of the many different variations y'all might come across on the web:

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

You might also encounter this message accompanying information technology:

The server encountered an internal error or misconfiguration and was unable to complete your asking. Delight contact the server administrator, [e-mail protected] and inform them of the time the error occurred, and anything you might have done that may accept caused the mistake. More information almost this error may be 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 like Firefox and Safari.

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

Bigger brands might even have their own custom 500 internal server error letters, 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 fault

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

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

If it's an IIS 7.0 (Windows) or college server, they have additional HTTP condition codes to more closely indicate the cause of the 500 error:

  • 500.0 – Module or ISAPI mistake occurred.
  • 500.11 – Awarding is shutting down on the web server.
  • 500.12 – Application is busy restarting on the web server.
  • 500.thirteen – Web server is too busy.
  • 500.15 – Straight requests for global.asax are not allowed.
  • 500.19 – Configuration information is invalid.
  • 500.21 – Module not recognized.
  • 500.22 – An ASP.NET httpModules configuration does non 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 apply in Managed Pipeline manner.
  • 500.fifty – A rewrite error occurred during RQ_BEGIN_REQUEST notification treatment. 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 handling. An outbound rule execution mistake occurred. The rule is configured to be executed before the output user cache gets updated.
    500.100 – Internal ASP error.

500 Errors Touch on SEO

Unlike 503 errors, which are used for WordPress maintenance mode and tell Google to cheque back at a subsequently time, a 500 error can have a negative impact on SEO if not fixed right away. If your site is only down for say ten minutes and information technology's being crawled consistently a lot of times the crawler will simply get the folio delivered from cache. Or Google might non even have a chance to re-crawl it before it's dorsum up. In this scenario, you're completely fine.

However, 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 issue that needs to be addressed. This could impact your rankings. If yous're worried about echo 500 errors you lot should effigy out why they are happening to begin with. Some of the solutions below can help.

How to Fix the 500 Internal Server Mistake

Where should you commencement 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, merely from our feel, these errors originate from ii things, the first isuser mistake (client-side issue), and the second is that in that location is a problem with the server. Then nosotros'll swoop into a little of both.

Check out these common causes and ways to fix the 500 internal server mistake and get back up and running in no fourth dimension.

1. Try Reloading the Page

This might seem a little obvious to some, but one of the easiest and get-go things you should attempt when encountering a 500 internal server error is to simply wait a infinitesimal or and so and reload the page (F5 or Ctrl + F5). Information technology could exist that the host or server is only overloaded and the site will come up right dorsum. While y'all're waiting, you could also quickly try a different browser to rule that out as an event.

Another thing you tin do is to paste the website into downforeveryoneorjustme.com. This website will tell you if the site is down or if information technology's a problem on your side. A tool like this checks the HTTP condition lawmaking that is returned from the server. If it's anything other than a 200 "Everything is OK" and then information technology will return a down indication.

downforeveryoneorjustme
downforeveryoneorjustme

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

two. Clear Your Browser Enshroud

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

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

3. Cheque Your Server Logs

You should also take advantage of your mistake logs. If yous're a Kinsta client, you tin easily see errors in the log viewer in the MyKinsta dashboard. This can assistance yous quickly narrow down the upshot, especially if information technology'southward 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 have a logging tool, y'all can as well enable WordPress debugging mode by adding the following code to your wp-config.php file to enable logging:

          define( 'WP_DEBUG', truthful ); ascertain( 'WP_DEBUG_LOG', true ); define( 'WP_DEBUG_DISPLAY', fake );

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

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

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

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

If you're a Kinsta customer you tin can also take advantage of our analytics tool to become a breakup of the total number of 500 errors and encounter how often and when they are occurring. This can help 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 tin likewise try enabling PHP mistake reporting. Only add the post-obit lawmaking to the file throwing the error. Typically you tin narrow down the file in the panel tab of Google Chrome DevTools.

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

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

          display_errors = on

iv. Error Establishing a Database Connectedness

500 internal server errors tin can also occur from a database connexion error. Depending upon your browser you might run into dissimilar errors. But both will generate a 500 HTTP status code regardless in your server logs.

Beneath is an example of what an "fault establishing a database connection" bulletin looks like your browser. The entire page is blank because no data can be retrieved to render the page, as the connection is non working properly. Not only does this intermission the forepart-stop of your site, but it will also prevent yous from accessing your WordPress dashboard.

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

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

  • The virtually common consequence is that yourdatabase login credentials are incorrect. Your WordPress site uses separate 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 can exist due to a missing or individually corrupted table, or perhaps some information was deleted by accident.
  • Y'all may have corrupt files in your WordPress installation. This can even happen sometimes due to hackers.
  • Bug with your database server. A number of things could be wrong on the web hosts cease, such every bit the database beingness overloaded from a traffic fasten or unresponsive from too many concurrent connections. This is really quite mutual with shared hosts equally they are utilizing the same resources for a lot of users on the same servers.

Check out our in-depth post on how to fix the error establishing a database connexion in WordPress.

five. Bank check Your Plugins and Themes

Third-party plugins and themes can easily cause 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 should see the error immediately after installing something new or running an update. This is one reason why nosotros always recommend utilizing a staging environment for updates or at least running updates i past ane. Otherwise, if yous come across a 500 internal server error you're suddenly scrambling to figure out which 1 caused it.

A few ways you tin can troubleshoot this is by deactivating all your plugins. Call back, you won't lose any data if you simply conciliate a plugin. If you can notwithstanding admission your admin, a quick way to do this is to browse to "Plugins" and select "Deactivate" from the majority actions menu. This will disable all of your plugins.

Deactivate all plugins
Conciliate all plugins

If this fixes the issue you lot'll need to find the culprit. Kickoff activating them one past i, reloading the site after each activation. When you run into the 500 internal server error return, y'all've found the misbehaving plugin. Yous can so reach out to the plugin developer for assistance or post a back up ticket in the WordPress repository.

If yous tin't login to WordPress admin you can FTP into your server and rename your plugins folder to something like plugins_old. Then check your site again. If it works, then yous will demand to test each plugin one past 1. Rename your plugin folder back to "plugins" and then rename each plugin folder inside of if it, 1 by one, until you notice information technology. You lot could also try to replicate this on a staging site starting time.

Rename plugin folder
Rename plugin folder

Always makes sure your plugins, themes, and WordPress core are upwards to date. And cheque to ensure you lot are running a supported version of PHP. If information technology turns out to be a conflict with bad code in a plugin, you might need to bring in a WordPress developer to ready the issue.

6. Reinstall WordPress Core

Sometimes WordPress core files tin get corrupted, especially on older sites. Information technology's actually quite easy to re-upload just the core of WordPress without impacting your plugins or themes. We have an in-depth guide with 5 different ways to reinstall WordPress. And of course, make certain to take a backup before proceeding. Skip to one 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 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 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-x) or 750.
  • No directories should ever exist given 777, even upload directories.
  • Hardening: wp-config.php could also be gear up to 440 or 400 to forestall other users on the server from reading it.

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

You tin easily see your file permissions with an FTP client (equally seen beneath). You could also achieve out to your WordPress host support team and ask them to rapidly GREP file permissions on your folders and files to ensure they're setup properly.

File permissions SFTP
File permissions SFTP

eight. PHP Retentivity Limit

A 500 internal server error could also be caused by exhausting the PHP retention 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, yous can easily modify 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 attribute and alter its value. And then click on "Save."

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

Increase PHP Retention Limit in Apache

The .htaccess file is a special hidden file that contains various settings you can use to change the server behavior, correct down to a directory specific level. Offset login to your site via FTP or SSH, take a expect at your root directory and see if there is a .htaccess file there.

.htaccess file
.htaccess file

If at that place is y'all can edit that file to add the necessary lawmaking for increasing the PHP memory limit. Almost probable it is ready at 64M or below, you can effort increasing this value.

          php_value memory_limit 128M

Increment PHP Memory Limit in php.ini File

If the above doesn't work for you might endeavor editing your php.ini file. Log in to your site via FTP or SSH, go to your site'south 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 3 settings and change them if necessary. If yous just created the file, or the settings are nowhere to be constitute y'all can paste the lawmaking below. You can modify of form the values to see your needs.

          memory_limit = 128M

Some shared hosts might also require that yous add together the suPHP directive in your .htaccess file for the in a higher place 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 top of the file:

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

If the higher up didn't piece of work for you, information technology could exist that your host has the global settings locked down and instead have it configured to utilize .user.ini files. To edit your .user.ini file, login to your site via FTP or SSH, become to your site's root directory and open or create a .user.ini file. You tin can and then paste in the following lawmaking:

          memory_limit = 128M

Increment PHP Memory Limit in wp-config.php

The last pick is not one we are fans of, but if all else fails you can give it a go. 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 acme of your wp-config.php file:

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

You can also enquire your host if you're running into retention limit issues. We utilize the Kinsta APM tool and other troubleshooting methods hither at Kinsta to help clients narrow downward what plugin, query, or script might exist exhausting the limit. Yous can also use your own custom New Relic cardinal from your own license.

Debugging with New Relic
Debugging with New Relic

9. Problem With Your .htaccess File

Kinsta merely uses Nginx, but 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 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

Commonly to recreate this file you can just re-salve your permalinks in WordPress. Even so, if you're in the middle of a 500 internal server error you lot most probable can't access your WordPress admin, so this isn't an option. Therefore y'all can create a new .htaccess file and input the following contents. Then upload information technology 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 . /alphabetize.php [L] </IfModule> # Cease WordPress

See the WordPress Codex for more examples, such every bit 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'southward still worth mentioning, especially for those using cPanel where there are a lot of 1-click CGI scripts still being used. As AEM on Stack Overflow says:

CGI has been replaced past a vast variety of web programming technologies, including PHP, diverse Apache extensions like mod_perl, Java of diverse flavors and frameworks including Coffee EE, Struts, Jump, etc, Python-based frameworks like Django, Carmine on Track and many other Carmine 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 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 yous tin select in your FTP editor) into the cgi-bin directory on your server.
  • Confirm that the Perl modules y'all require for your script are installed and supported.

11. Server Issue (Cheque With Your Host)

Finally, because 500 internal server errors can likewise occur from PHP timing out or fatal PHP errors with 3rd-party plugins, y'all tin can always check with your WordPress host. Sometimes these errors can be hard to troubleshoot without an expert. Here are simply a few common examples of some errors that trigger 500 HTTP status codes on the server that might accept you lot scratching your caput.

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

We monitor all client's sites hither at Kinsta and are automatically notified when these types of errors occur. This allows us to be pro-active and offset fixing the issue correct away. We likewise use LXD managed hosts and orchestrated LXC software containers for each site. This means 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 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, not 500 errors. These determine how many simultaneous requests your site tin can handle at a given time. To put it simply, each uncached asking for your website is handled by a PHP Worker.

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

Monitor Your Site

If y'all're worried about these types of errors happening on your site in the future, you can as well 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 choice. You can simply use your homepage. The tool allows you to set check frequencies of:

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

It will send yous an e-mail if and when your site goes down. Here is an example below.

Email notification of 500 error
Email notification of 500 error

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 oft your site might actually be doing down (even during the center of the night). That's why we always recommend going with a managed WordPress host. Make sure to check out our mail that explores the top 9 reasons to cull managed WordPress hosting.

Summary

500 internal server errors are ever frustrating, just hopefully, now yous know a few additional ways to troubleshoot them to quickly get your site back upwards and running. Recollect, typically these types of errors are caused past third-party plugins, fatal PHP errors, database connexion issues, problems with your .htaccess file or PHP memory limits, and sometimes PHP timeouts.

Was there anything we missed? Mayhap y'all have another tip on troubleshooting 500 internal server errors. If so, permit u.s. know below in the comments.

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