The dreaded 500 internal server error. It e'er seems to come up at the well-nigh inopportune time and you're suddenly left scrambling to figure out how to get your WordPress site back online. Trust us, we've all been there. Other errors that behave similarly that you might have also seen include the frightening error establishing a database connectedness and the dreaded white screen of expiry. Only from the moment your site goes down, yous're losing visitors and customers. Not to mention information technology simply looks bad for your make.

Today we're going to dive into the 500 internal server error and walk you through some ways to get your site dorsum online quickly. Read more than below about what causes this error and what you can do to forestall it in the future.

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

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 every bit:

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

When yous visit a website your browser sends a asking 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 likewise includes what they phone call an HTTP condition code. A condition code is a manner to notify y'all well-nigh the status of the request. It could be a 200 status code which means "Everything is OK" or a 500 status code which means something has gone incorrect.

In that location are a lot of different types of 500 status fault codes (500, 501, 502, 503, 504, etc.) and they all hateful something different. In this instance, a 500 internal server mistake indicates that the server encountered an unexpected condition that prevented it from fulfilling the asking(RFC 7231, department vi.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 present itself in a number of different means. Simply they are all communicating the same thing. Below are just a couple of the many different variations yous might run into on the web:

    • "500 Internal Server Fault"
    • "HTTP 500"
    • "Internal Server Error"
    • "HTTP 500 – Internal Server Error"
    • "500 Error"
    • "HTTP Error 500"
    • "500 – Internal Server Error"
    • "500 Internal Server Mistake. Pitiful something went wrong."
    • "500. That's an mistake. At that place was an error. Please try again later. That's all we know."
    • "The website cannot display the page – HTTP 500."
    • "Is currently unable to handle this request. HTTP Fault 500."

You might also see this bulletin accompanying it:

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

Internal Server Error
Internal Server Mistake

Other times, you 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 even have their own custom 500 internal server error messages, such as this one from Airbnb.

Airbnb 500 internal server error
Airbnb 500 internal server mistake

Here is another creative 500 server mistake case from the folks over at readme.

readme 500 internal server error
readme 500 internal server error

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 higher server, they take additional HTTP status codes to more than closely indicate the cause of the 500 error:

  • 500.0 – Module or ISAPI error occurred.
  • 500.xi – Application is shutting down on the web server.
  • 500.12 – Awarding is busy restarting on the web server.
  • 500.13 – Web server is also busy.
  • 500.15 – Direct requests for global.asax are not allowed.
  • 500.19 – Configuration data is invalid.
  • 500.21 – Module not recognized.
  • 500.22 – An ASP.NET httpModules configuration does not utilize in Managed Pipeline way.
  • 500.23 – An ASP.Cyberspace httpHandlers configuration does not apply in Managed Pipeline mode.
  • 500.24 – An ASP.Net impersonation configuration does non utilize in Managed Pipeline mode.
  • 500.50 – A rewrite error occurred during RQ_BEGIN_REQUEST notification handling. A configuration or inbound dominion execution error occurred.
  • 500.51 – A rewrite mistake occurred during GL_PRE_BEGIN_REQUEST notification handling. A global configuration or global rule execution mistake 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 dominion execution error occurred. The rule is configured to be executed before the output user cache gets updated.
    500.100 – Internal ASP fault.

500 Errors Impact on SEO

Unlike 503 errors, which are used for WordPress maintenance mode and tell Google to check back at a later fourth dimension, a 500 error can have a negative impact on SEO if not stock-still right away. If your site is merely downwardly for say x minutes and it's beingness crawled consistently a lot of times the crawler will simply get the page delivered from cache. Or Google might not even take a chance to re-clamber information technology before it's support. In this scenario, you're completely fine.

However, if the site is down for an extended period of time, say half-dozen+ hours, and so Google might see the 500 error every bit a site level effect that needs to exist addressed. This could affect your rankings. If y'all're worried about repeat 500 errors you should effigy out why they are happening to begin with. Some of the solutions beneath tin aid.

How to Ready the 500 Internal Server Error

Where should y'all starting time troubleshooting when you encounter a 500 internal server error on your WordPress site? Sometimes you might non even know where to begin. Typically 500 errors are on the server itself, but from our experience, these errors originate from ii things, the first isuser fault (client-side issue), and the second is that there is a problem with the server. So we'll dive into a piffling of both.

Check out these common causes and means to fix the 500 internal server error and go back upwards and running in no time.

1. Try Reloading the Page

This might seem a niggling obvious to some, only 1 of the easiest and outset things you lot 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 you're waiting, yous could also rapidly endeavour a dissimilar browser to rule that out as an issue.

Another matter you can do is to paste the website into downforeveryoneorjustme.com. This website volition tell yous if the site is down or if information technology'due south a problem on your side. A tool like 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 afterwards yous update a plugin or theme on your WordPress site. Typically this is on hosts that aren't ready properly. What happens is they experience a temporary timeout correct afterward. Even so, things usually resolve themselves in a couple of seconds and therefore refreshing is all you demand to exercise.

ii. Clear Your Browser Cache

Immigration your browser cache is e'er another good troubleshooting step before diving into deeper debugging on your site. Beneath are instructions on how to clear 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 Articulate Browser Enshroud for Mozilla Firefox
  • How to Articulate Browser Cache 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 also take reward of your error logs. If you lot're a Kinsta client, you tin easily run into errors in the log viewer in the MyKinsta dashboard. This can assist you chop-chop narrow down the effect, especially if it's resulting from a plugin on your site.

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

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

          define( 'WP_DEBUG', truthful ); define( 'WP_DEBUG_LOG', truthful ); define( 'WP_DEBUG_DISPLAY', false );

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

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

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

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

If you're a Kinsta client you can also take advantage of our analytics tool to get a breakdown of the full number of 500 errors and meet how often and when they are occurring. This tin 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 breakup

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

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

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

          display_errors = on

4. Mistake Establishing a Database Connection

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

Below is an case of what an "fault establishing a database connectedness" message looks like your browser. The entire page is blank because no data can be retrieved to render the folio, equally the connection is not working properly. Not only does this break the front-end of your site, only information technology volition also prevent y'all 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, hither are a few common reasons below.

  • The virtually common effect is that yourdatabase login credentials are incorrect. Your WordPress site uses divide login data to connect to its MySQL database.
  • Your WordPress database is corrupted. With and then many moving parts with themes, plugins, and users constantly deleting and installing them, sometimes databases get corrupted. This tin exist due to a missing or individually corrupted tabular array, or peradventure some information was deleted by accident.
  • Yous may accept corrupt files in your WordPress installation. This tin can even happen sometimes due to hackers.
  • Problems with your database server. A number of things could exist incorrect on the spider web hosts stop, such as the database being 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 aforementioned servers.

Check out our in-depth mail service on how to fix the fault establishing a database connection in WordPress.

5. Check Your Plugins and Themes

Third-party plugins and themes tin 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 yous 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 ane. Otherwise, if you encounter a 500 internal server error you're suddenly scrambling to figure out which one acquired information technology.

A few ways you can troubleshoot this is by deactivating all your plugins. Remember, you lot won't lose any data if you simply conciliate a plugin. If you can nonetheless 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 result you'll need to find the culprit. Kickoff activating them 1 by 1, reloading the site after each activation. When y'all run into the 500 internal server mistake return, you lot've found the misbehaving plugin. You lot can then reach out to the plugin developer for assist or post a support ticket in the WordPress repository.

If you can't login to WordPress admin you can FTP into your server and rename your plugins folder to something similar plugins_old. Then check your site again. If it works, then y'all will demand to examination each plugin one by one. Rename your plugin folder dorsum to "plugins" and then rename each plugin folder inside of if information technology, one by one, until you discover information technology. You could as well try to replicate this on a staging site first.

Rename plugin folder
Rename plugin folder

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

6. Reinstall WordPress Cadre

Sometimes WordPress cadre files can get corrupted, especially 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 take an in-depth guide with five different means to reinstall WordPress. And of form, brand sure 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 Fault

A permissions fault with a file or binder on your server can also crusade 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 be 755 (drwxr-xr-x) or 750.
  • No directories should ever be given 777, even upload directories.
  • Hardening: wp-config.php could also be gear up to 440 or 400 to prevent other users on the server from reading it.

Run into the WordPress Codex article on changing file permissions for a more in-depth explanation.

You tin can hands see your file permissions with an FTP client (equally seen below). You lot could also reach out to your WordPress host support team and ask them to chop-chop 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 mistake could also be caused by exhausting the PHP memory 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 Memory Limit in cPanel

If you're running on a host that uses cPanel, y'all 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 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 Retentiveness Limit in Apache

The .htaccess file is a special subconscious file that contains various settings you lot tin can utilize to change the server behavior, right down to a directory specific level. Beginning login to your site via FTP or SSH, take a look at your root directory and see if there is a .htaccess file at that place.

.htaccess file
.htaccess file

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

          php_value memory_limit 128M

Increase PHP Memory Limit in php.ini File

If the to a higher place doesn't work for yous 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 up or create a php.ini file.

php.ini file
php.ini file

If the file was already there, search for the 3 settings and modify them if necessary. If you just created the file, or the settings are nowhere to be constitute you can paste the code below. Yous can modify of grade 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 /home/yourusername/public_html </IfModule>

If the above didn't piece of work for yous, it could be that your host has the global settings locked down and instead have it configured to use .user.ini files. To edit your .user.ini file, login to your site via FTP or SSH, become to your site'southward root directory and open up or create a .user.ini file. You tin then paste in the following code:

          memory_limit = 128M

Increment PHP Memory Limit in wp-config.php

The last pick is not one nosotros are fans of, but if all else fails yous can requite information technology a go. Outset, 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 inquire your host if yous're running into memory limit issues. We utilize 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 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 you're using a WordPress host that is running Apache, information technology could very well be that your .htaccess file has a problem or has become corrupted. Follow the steps below to recreate a new one 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 tin can but re-save your permalinks in WordPress. However, if you're in the middle of a 500 internal server error you lot nigh probable tin't access your WordPress admin, so this isn't an pick. Therefore you can create a new .htaccess file and input the following contents. And then upload it to your server.

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

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

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

500 errors existence caused by errors in CGI and Perl is a lot less common than it used to be. Although it's nonetheless worth mentioning, especially for those using cPanel where at that place are a lot of one-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, diverse Apache extensions like mod_perl, Coffee of various flavors and frameworks including Java EE, Struts, Jump, etc, Python-based frameworks like Django, Ruby-red on Rails and many other Ruddy frameworks, and diverse Microsoft technologies.

Here are a few tips when working with CGI scripts:

  • When editing, always used a plain text editor, such every bit 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 yous can select in your FTP editor) into the cgi-bin directory on your server.
  • Confirm that the Perl modules you crave for your script are installed and supported.

xi. Server Issue (Cheque With Your Host)

Finally, because 500 internal server errors can also occur from PHP timing out or fatal PHP errors with third-party plugins, you tin always check with your WordPress host. Sometimes these errors can be difficult to troubleshoot without an skilful. Here are just a few common examples of some errors that trigger 500 HTTP status codes on the server that might take you scratching your head.

          PHP message: PHP Fatal mistake: Uncaught Error: Telephone call to undefined function mysql_error()...        
          PHP message: PHP Fatal error: Uncaught Error: Cannot use object of type WP_Error every bit array in /world wide web/binder/web/shared/content/plugins/plugin/functions.php:525

We monitor all client's sites here at Kinsta and are automatically notified when these types of errors occur. This allows the states to be pro-agile and start fixing the event correct abroad. We also employ LXD managed hosts and orchestrated LXC software containers for each site. This means that every WordPress site is housed in its ain isolated container, which has all of the software resources required to run information technology (Linux, Nginx, PHP, MySQL). The resources are 100% individual and are non shared with anyone else or even your own sites.

PHP timeouts could as well occur from the lack of PHP workers, although typically these cause 504 errors, not 500 errors. These determine how many simultaneous requests your site can handle at a given time. To put it only, each uncached request for your website is handled by a PHP Worker.

When PHP workers are already busy on a site, they start to build up 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 most PHP workers.

Monitor Your Site

If you lot're worried about these types of errors happening on your site in the future, yous can likewise 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 pick. You can only apply your homepage. The tool allows you to ready check frequencies of:

  • 15 seconds
  • 30 seconds
  • one minute
  • ii minutes
  • 5 minutes
  • 10 minutes

It volition send you an electronic mail if and when your site goes down. Here is an case below.

Email notification of 500 error
Email notification of 500 fault

This can be peculiarly useful if you'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 frequently your site might actually exist doing down (even during the middle of the night). That'due south why we ever recommend going with a managed WordPress host. Make certain to cheque out our postal service that explores the top 9 reasons to choose managed WordPress hosting.

Summary

500 internal server errors are always frustrating, but hopefully, at present you lot know a few additional means to troubleshoot them to quickly go your site support and running. Remember, typically these types of errors are caused by tertiary-political party plugins, fatal PHP errors, database connectedness issues, problems with your .htaccess file or PHP memory limits, and sometimes PHP timeouts.

Was there anything we missed? Maybe yous have another tip on troubleshooting 500 internal server errors. If so, let usa know beneath in the comments.

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