The dreaded 500 internal server error. It always seems to come at the virtually inopportune fourth dimension and you lot're of a sudden left scrambling to figure out how to become your WordPress site back online. Trust united states, we've all been there. Other errors that deport similarly that you might have also seen include the frightening error establishing a database connexion 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 but looks bad for your brand.

Today nosotros're going to dive into the 500 internal server error and walk you through some means to become your site back online rapidly. Read more than below nigh what causes this error and what you can practise to foreclose it in the future.

  • 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 Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) defines the 500 Internal Server Error as:

The 500 (Internal Server Fault) status lawmaking 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 information technology, and sends back the requested resources (PHP, HTML, CSS, etc.) along with an HTTP header. The HTTP also includes what they telephone call an HTTP status code. A status code is a way to notify you about the status of the request. It could be a 200 condition code which means "Everything is OK" or a 500 status code which means something has gone incorrect.

At that place 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 instance, a 500 internal server error indicates that the server encountered an unexpected status that prevented it from fulfilling the request(RFC 7231, section 6.6.1).

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

500 Internal Server Error Variations

Due to the various web servers, operating systems, and browsers, a 500 internal server mistake can nowadays itself in a number of different ways. But they are all communicating the same affair. Below are just a couple of the many unlike variations you might see on the web:

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

You might also run into this message accompanying it:

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

Internal Server Error
Internal Server Error

Other times, y'all might simply run into 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 letters, such as this ane from Airbnb.

Airbnb 500 internal server error
Airbnb 500 internal server fault

Hither is another creative 500 server mistake example from the folks over at readme.

readme 500 internal server error
readme 500 internal server fault

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

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

If information technology'due south an IIS 7.0 (Windows) or higher server, they have boosted HTTP status codes to more closely signal the cause of the 500 error:

  • 500.0 – Module or ISAPI error occurred.
  • 500.11 – Application is shutting down on the web server.
  • 500.12 – Application is busy restarting on the web server.
  • 500.13 – Web server is also busy.
  • 500.15 – Direct requests for global.asax are not allowed.
  • 500.xix – Configuration data is invalid.
  • 500.21 – Module not recognized.
  • 500.22 – An ASP.NET httpModules configuration does not apply in Managed Pipeline manner.
  • 500.23 – An ASP.NET httpHandlers configuration does non apply in Managed Pipeline mode.
  • 500.24 – An ASP.Internet impersonation configuration does non apply in Managed Pipeline mode.
  • 500.fifty – A rewrite mistake occurred during RQ_BEGIN_REQUEST notification handling. A configuration or inbound dominion 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 dominion execution occurred.
  • 500.53 – A rewrite mistake occurred during RQ_RELEASE_REQUEST_STATE notification treatment. An outbound rule execution error occurred. The rule is configured to be executed earlier the output user cache gets updated.
    500.100 – Internal ASP error.

500 Errors Impact on SEO

Unlike 503 errors, which are used for WordPress maintenance style and tell Google to check back at a later time, a 500 error tin can have a negative impact on SEO if not stock-still right abroad. If your site is only down for say 10 minutes and it'due south existence crawled consistently a lot of times the crawler will but become the page delivered from cache. Or Google might not fifty-fifty have a gamble to re-crawl it before it's back upwards. In this scenario, y'all're completely fine.

Nevertheless, if the site is down for an extended menses of time, say 6+ hours, then Google might see the 500 error equally a site level issue that needs to be addressed. This could impact your rankings. If you're worried about repeat 500 errors you should effigy out why they are happening to brainstorm with. Some of the solutions beneath 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 not even know where to brainstorm. 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 nosotros'll dive into a fiddling of both.

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

1. Try 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 mistake is to simply 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 will come right back. While y'all're waiting, yous could likewise speedily endeavour a dissimilar browser to rule that out as an issue.

Another thing you can practice 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 like this checks the HTTP condition code that is returned from the server. If it's annihilation other than a 200 "Everything is OK" then it volition return a down indication.

downforeveryoneorjustme
downforeveryoneorjustme

We've too noticed that sometimes this tin occur immediately after you update a plugin or theme on your WordPress site. Typically this is on hosts that aren't ready properly. What happens is they feel a temporary timeout correct afterwards. However, things usually resolve themselves in a couple of seconds and therefore refreshing is all y'all need to do.

2. Articulate Your Browser Cache

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

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

3. Check Your Server Logs

You should also take advantage of your fault logs. If you lot're a Kinsta client, y'all can easily see errors in the log viewer in the MyKinsta dashboard. This can help y'all rapidly narrow down the effect, particularly if it's resulting from a plugin on your site.

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

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

          ascertain( '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 take a defended binder called "logs".

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

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

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

If you're a Kinsta client you can also take advantage of our analytics tool to go a breakdown of the total number of 500 errors and encounter how frequently 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 considering of a fatal PHP error, you tin also attempt enabling PHP fault reporting. Simply add the following code to the file throwing the fault. Typically you can narrow down the file in the console tab of Google Chrome DevTools.

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

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

          display_errors = on        

4. Fault Establishing a Database Connexion

500 internal server errors tin can also occur from a database connection mistake. Depending upon your browser you might see different errors. Only both will generate a 500 HTTP condition code regardless in your server logs.

Below is an case of what an "error establishing a database connection" bulletin looks similar your browser. The entire folio is blank because no data can be retrieved to render the page, as the connection is not working properly. Not only does this interruption the front-end of your site, but it will also prevent you from accessing your WordPress dashboard.

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

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

  • The well-nigh common issue is that yourdatabase login credentials are wrong. Your WordPress site uses separate login information to connect to its MySQL database.
  • Your WordPress database is corrupted. With then 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.
  • You may have decadent 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 end, such equally the database beingness overloaded from a traffic spike or unresponsive from too many concurrent connections. This is actually quite common 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 fix the error establishing a database connexion 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 crusade them here at Kinsta, from slider plugins to ad rotator plugins. A lot of times y'all should meet 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 one. Otherwise, if you encounter a 500 internal server error you're suddenly scrambling to effigy out which one caused it.

A few ways you can troubleshoot this is past deactivating all your plugins. Retrieve, you won't lose any data if you merely deactivate a plugin. If you can yet access your admin, a quick fashion to exercise this is to browse to "Plugins" and select "Conciliate" from the bulk deportment menu. This will disable all of your plugins.

Deactivate all plugins
Deactivate all plugins

If this fixes the result y'all'll need to observe the culprit. Offset activating them 1 by i, reloading the site after each activation. When yous run across the 500 internal server error return, you've found the misbehaving plugin. You can then reach out to the plugin developer for help or postal service a support ticket in the WordPress repository.

If you can't login to WordPress admin you tin FTP into your server and rename your plugins folder to something similar plugins_old. Then check your site again. If it works, then you will demand to examination each plugin one by one. Rename your plugin folder back to "plugins" and so rename each plugin binder inside of if it, i by one, until y'all find it. You lot could also try to replicate this on a staging site first.

Rename plugin folder
Rename plugin folder

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

vi. Reinstall WordPress Core

Sometimes WordPress core files tin get corrupted, particularly on older sites. It's actually quite like shooting fish in a barrel to re-upload just the core of WordPress without impacting your plugins or themes. We have an in-depth guide with v different means to reinstall WordPress. And of form, make certain to have a backup 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 Error

A permissions error with a file or folder on your server can also crusade 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 be 644 (-rw-r–r–) or 640.
  • All directories should be 755 (drwxr-xr-ten) or 750.
  • No directories should always exist given 777, even upload directories.
  • Hardening: wp-config.php could as well be prepare to 440 or 400 to foreclose other users on the server from reading it.

See the WordPress Codex article on changing file permissions for a more in-depth caption.

You can hands see your file permissions with an FTP customer (every bit seen below). You could as well 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

8. PHP Memory Limit

A 500 internal server mistake could also exist caused by exhausting the PHP memory limit on your server. You could try increasing the limit. Follow the instructions beneath 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 y'all're running on a host that uses cPanel, you can easily change this from the UI. Under Software click on "Select PHP Version."

Select PHP version
Select PHP version

Click on "Switch to PHP Options."

Switch to PHP options
Switch to PHP options

You lot tin so click on the memory_limit attribute and change its value. Then click on "Save."

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

Increase PHP Memory Limit in Apache

The .htaccess file is a special hidden file that contains various settings yous can utilize to alter the server behavior, right down to a directory specific level. First login to your site via FTP or SSH, have a look at your root directory and see if there is a .htaccess file there.

.htaccess file
.htaccess file

If at that place is you lot tin edit that file to add the necessary code for increasing the PHP retentivity limit. Most likely it is set at 64M or below, you lot can attempt increasing this value.

          php_value memory_limit 128M        

Increase PHP Memory Limit in php.ini File

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

php.ini file
php.ini file

If the file was already there, search for the iii settings and modify them if necessary. If yous simply created the file, or the settings are nowhere to be found you can paste the lawmaking below. You lot can modify of course the values to meet your needs.

          memory_limit = 128M        

Some shared hosts might too 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, too 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 /home/yourusername/public_html </IfModule>        

If the in a higher place didn't work for you, information technology could be that your host has the global settings locked down and instead have it configured to utilise .user.ini files. To edit your .user.ini file, login to your site via FTP or SSH, get to your site's root directory and open up or create a .user.ini file. You lot can and so paste in the following code:

          memory_limit = 128M        

Increase PHP Retentiveness Limit in wp-config.php

The final option is not i we are fans of, but if all else fails you can give it a go. Kickoff, 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 tin also ask your host if yous're running into memory limit problems. Nosotros utilize New Relic and other troubleshooting methods here at Kinsta to assist clients narrow down what plugin, query, or script might exist exhausting the limit. You can also use your own custom New Relic key.

Debugging with New Relic
Debugging with New Relic

9. Problem With Your .htaccess File

Kinsta only uses Nginx, but if y'all're using a WordPress host that is running Apache, it could very well be that your .htaccess file has a trouble or has become corrupted. Follow the steps beneath to recreate a new 1 from scratch.

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

Rename .htaccess file
Rename .htaccess file

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

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

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

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

500 errors beingness caused past errors in CGI and Perl is a lot less common than it used to exist. Although it'south all the same worth mentioning, especially for those using cPanel where at that place are a lot of i-click CGI scripts still existence used. Equally 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 various flavors and frameworks including Java EE, Struts, Jump, etc, Python-based frameworks like Django, Ruby on Rail and many other Carmine frameworks, and various Microsoft technologies.

Hither 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 right 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 (Cheque With Your Host)

Finally, considering 500 internal server errors can too occur from PHP timing out or fatal PHP errors with third-political party plugins, you can always check with your WordPress host. Sometimes these errors tin exist difficult to troubleshoot without an practiced. Hither are simply a few common examples of some errors that trigger 500 HTTP status codes on the server that might take you scratching your caput.

          PHP bulletin: PHP Fatal error: Uncaught Error: Telephone call to undefined function mysql_error()...        
          PHP message: PHP Fatal error: Uncaught Error: Cannot use object of blazon WP_Error as assortment in /www/folder/spider web/shared/content/plugins/plugin/functions.php:525        

We monitor all client'south sites here at Kinsta and are automatically notified when these types of errors occur. This allows us to be pro-active and commencement fixing the issue right abroad. We also utilize 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 non 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 tin can handle at a given fourth dimension. To put it merely, each uncached request for your website is handled past a PHP Worker.

When PHP workers are already busy on a site, they start to build up 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 you're worried about these types of errors happening on your site in the time to come, y'all can besides employ 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 tin can merely use your homepage. The tool allows you to prepare check frequencies of:

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

Information technology will ship you an email if and when your site goes down. Hither is an example below.

Email notification of 500 error
Email notification of 500 fault

This can be specially 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 yous proof of how often your site might really be doing downwards (even during the heart of the night). That'south why we e'er recommend going with a managed WordPress host. Make sure to check out our post that explores the elevation ix reasons to choose managed WordPress hosting.

Summary

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

Was at that place annihilation nosotros missed? Mayhap you have another tip on troubleshooting 500 internal server errors. If so, let us know below in the comments.


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