The dreaded 500 internal server error. Information technology e'er seems to come up at the near inopportune time and you're suddenly left scrambling to figure out how to get your WordPress site dorsum online. Trust u.s.a., we've all been in that location. Other errors that behave similarly that you might have as well seen include the frightening error establishing a database connection and the dreaded white screen of death. But from the moment your site goes down, y'all're losing visitors and customers. Not to mention it just looks bad for your make.

Today we're going to swoop into the 500 internal server fault and walk you through some ways to get your site back online speedily. Read more than beneath nearly what causes this fault and what you tin do to prevent information technology in the future.

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

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

What is a 500 Internal Server Fault?

The Internet Technology Task Force (IETF) defines the 500 Internal Server Error as:

The 500 (Internal Server Mistake) condition code indicates that the server encountered an unexpected condition that prevented it 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 asking, processes it, and sends dorsum the requested resources (PHP, HTML, CSS, etc.) forth with an HTTP header. The HTTP as well includes what they call an HTTP status code. A condition lawmaking is a mode to notify you about the status of the request. It could exist a 200 status code 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 unlike. In this case, a 500 internal server error indicates that the server encountered an unexpected condition that prevented it from fulfilling the request(RFC 7231, section six.vi.one).

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

500 Internal Server Mistake Variations

Due to the various spider web servers, operating systems, and browsers, a 500 internal server mistake can nowadays itself in a number of dissimilar means. Only 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 Fault"
    • "HTTP 500"
    • "Internal Server Error"
    • "HTTP 500 – Internal Server Error"
    • "500 Error"
    • "HTTP Mistake 500"
    • "500 – Internal Server Error"
    • "500 Internal Server Error. Sorry something went wrong."
    • "500. That's an error. At that place was an error. Please attempt again later. That's all nosotros know."
    • "The website cannot display the page – HTTP 500."
    • "Is currently unable to handle this request. HTTP Fault 500."

You might besides see this message accompanying it:

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

Internal Server Error
Internal Server Mistake

Other times, yous might merely come across a blank white screen. When dealing with 500 internal server errors, this is actually quite mutual in browsers like Firefox and Safari.

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

Bigger brands might fifty-fifty have their own custom 500 internal server fault messages, such equally this 1 from Airbnb.

Airbnb 500 internal server error
Airbnb 500 internal server mistake

Here is another creative 500 server fault case 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's an IIS 7.0 (Windows) or college server, they have additional HTTP status codes to more than closely indicate the cause of the 500 error:

  • 500.0 – Module or ISAPI fault occurred.
  • 500.xi – Application is shutting downwards on the web server.
  • 500.12 – Awarding is decorated restarting on the spider web server.
  • 500.13 – Web server is likewise busy.
  • 500.xv – Direct 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 employ in Managed Pipeline way.
  • 500.23 – An ASP.Internet httpHandlers configuration does not apply in Managed Pipeline fashion.
  • 500.24 – An ASP.NET impersonation configuration does not apply in Managed Pipeline style.
  • 500.50 – A rewrite error occurred during RQ_BEGIN_REQUEST notification handling. A configuration or inbound rule execution fault occurred.
  • 500.51 – A rewrite error occurred during GL_PRE_BEGIN_REQUEST notification treatment. 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 fault occurred. The rule is configured to exist executed before 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 fashion and tell Google to bank check back at a later time, a 500 mistake can accept a negative impact on SEO if not fixed right away. If your site is only downwardly for say 10 minutes and it's being crawled consistently a lot of times the crawler will simply get the page delivered from cache. Or Google might non even have a chance to re-crawl it before it's back upwards. In this scenario, you're completely fine.

Withal, if the site is downwards for an extended catamenia 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 lot're worried nigh repeat 500 errors you should effigy out why they are happening to begin with. Some of the solutions below can help.

How to Gear up the 500 Internal Server Error

Where should y'all offset troubleshooting when you encounter 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, just from our experience, these errors originate from two things, the commencement isuser error (client-side issue), and the second is that there is a trouble with the server. So nosotros'll dive into a footling of both.

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

1. Try Reloading the Page

This might seem a footling obvious to some, but one of the easiest and first things you lot should try when encountering a 500 internal server error is to simply wait a minute or so and reload the folio (F5 or Ctrl + F5). It could exist that the host or server is only overloaded and the site will come up right dorsum. While you lot're waiting, you could also quickly try a different browser to rule that out as an issue.

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

downforeveryoneorjustme
downforeveryoneorjustme

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

2. Clear Your Browser Cache

Clearing your browser enshroud is always another good troubleshooting step before diving into deeper debugging on your site. Below 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 Clear Browser Cache for Mozilla Firefox
  • How to Clear Browser Cache for Safari
  • How to Clear Browser Enshroud for Cyberspace Explorer
  • How to Clear Browser Enshroud for Microsoft Border
  • How to Articulate Browser Enshroud for Opera

iii. Check Your Server Logs

You should also take reward of your error logs. If y'all're a Kinsta client, you tin easily see errors in the log viewer in the MyKinsta dashboard. This can help you lot speedily narrow down the consequence, specially if information technology's resulting from a plugin on your site.

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

If your host doesn't accept a logging tool, you tin can also enable WordPress debugging way past calculation the post-obit code to your wp-config.php file to enable logging:

          define( 'WP_DEBUG', true ); ascertain( '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 accept a dedicated folder called "logs".

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

Y'all can also check the log files in Apache and Nginx, which are commonly located hither:

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

If you lot're a Kinsta client yous can also have advantage of our analytics tool to become a breakdown of the total number of 500 errors and see how often and when they are occurring. This can help you troubleshoot if this is an ongoing outcome, or mayhap 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 lot tin can also try enabling PHP error reporting. But add the following code to the file throwing the fault. Typically you tin narrow down the file in the console tab of Google Chrome DevTools.

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

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

          display_errors = on

4. Mistake Establishing a Database Connexion

500 internal server errors can also occur from a database connection error. Depending upon your browser y'all might encounter different errors. Simply both will generate a 500 HTTP status code regardless in your server logs.

Below is an instance of what an "error establishing a database connexion" message looks similar your browser. The entire page is bare because no information can be retrieved to render the page, every bit the connexion is not working properly. Not but does this interruption the front-end of your site, but it will as well 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, here are a few mutual reasons below.

  • The most common upshot is that yourdatabase login credentials are incorrect. Your WordPress site uses split up login data 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 go corrupted. This can be due to a missing or individually corrupted table, or possibly some information was deleted by accident.
  • You may have corrupt files in your WordPress installation. This can fifty-fifty happen sometimes due to hackers.
  • Problems with your database server. A number of things could be wrong on the web hosts cease, such as the database being overloaded from a traffic spike or unresponsive from likewise many concurrent connections. This is really quite mutual with shared hosts as they are utilizing the same resources for a lot of users on the same servers.

Cheque out our in-depth postal service on how to fix the error establishing a database connection in WordPress.

5. Cheque Your Plugins and Themes

Third-party plugins and themes tin can easily crusade 500 internal server errors. Nosotros've seen all types cause them here at Kinsta, from slider plugins to advertizement rotator plugins. A lot of times y'all should see the error immediately later 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 1 by one. Otherwise, if y'all encounter a 500 internal server mistake y'all're suddenly scrambling to figure out which one caused it.

A few ways you can troubleshoot this is by deactivating all your plugins. Remember, you lot won't lose whatever data if you simply conciliate a plugin. If y'all can nevertheless access your admin, a quick manner to do this is to browse to "Plugins" and select "Deactivate" from the bulk deportment 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. Start activating them ane by i, reloading the site after each activation. When you lot meet the 500 internal server error return, yous've found the misbehaving plugin. You tin then reach out to the plugin developer for aid or post a support ticket in the WordPress repository.

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

Rename plugin folder
Rename plugin folder

Always makes certain your plugins, themes, and WordPress core are up to date. And check to ensure y'all are running a supported version of PHP. If it turns out to be a disharmonize with bad lawmaking in a plugin, you might need to bring in a WordPress programmer to fix the issue.

6. Reinstall WordPress Core

Sometimes WordPress core files can go corrupted, especially on older sites. It'due south actually quite easy to re-upload just the cadre of WordPress without impacting your plugins or themes. We take an in-depth guide with 5 dissimilar ways to reinstall WordPress. And of class, make sure to have a fill-in before proceeding. Skip to one of the sections below:

  • How to reinstall WordPress from the WordPress dashboard while preserving existing content
  • How to manually reinstall WordPress via FTP while preserving existing content
  • How to manually reinstall WordPress via WP-CLI while preserving existing content

vii. Permissions Error

A permissions fault with a file or binder on your server can also crusade a 500 internal server mistake to occur. Here are some typical recommendations for permissions when it comes to file and folder permissions in WordPress:

  • All files should exist 644 (-rw-r–r–) or 640.
  • All directories should exist 755 (drwxr-xr-10) or 750.
  • No directories should ever exist given 777, even upload directories.
  • Hardening: wp-config.php could as well be set to 440 or 400 to prevent other users on the server from reading it.

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

You tin can easily encounter your file permissions with an FTP client (as seen beneath). Yous could likewise reach out to your WordPress host back up squad 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 Retentiveness Limit

A 500 internal server fault could also exist acquired past exhausting the PHP retentivity limit on your server. You could endeavor 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.

Increase PHP Retentiveness Limit in cPanel

If you'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 can then click on the memory_limit aspect and alter its value. And so click on "Relieve."

Increase PHP memory limit in cPanel
Increment PHP retentivity limit in cPanel

Increment PHP Memory Limit in Apache

The .htaccess file is a special hidden file that contains diverse settings you tin can use to modify the server behavior, right downward to a directory specific level. First login to your site via FTP or SSH, take 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 can edit that file to add the necessary code for increasing the PHP memory limit. Most probable it is ready at 64M or below, y'all can try increasing this value.

          php_value memory_limit 128M

Increase PHP Memory Limit in php.ini File

If the above doesn't work for you might try editing your php.ini file. Log in to your site via FTP or SSH, go to your site'due 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 three settings and modify them if necessary. If you just created the file, or the settings are nowhere to exist constitute y'all tin can paste the lawmaking below. You tin can modify of grade the values to meet your needs.

          memory_limit = 128M

Some shared hosts might likewise require that you add together the suPHP directive in your .htaccess file for the above php.ini file settings to work. To do this, edit your .htaccess file, as well located at the root of your site, and add together the following code towards the top of the file:

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

If the in a higher place didn't 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'southward root directory and open or create a .user.ini file. You can so paste in the post-obit code:

          memory_limit = 128M

Increase PHP Memory Limit in wp-config.php

The last choice is non one we are fans of, only if all else fails you can give information technology a go. Commencement, 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 tiptop of your wp-config.php file:

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

You can besides ask your host if y'all're running into memory limit issues. Nosotros apply the Kinsta APM tool and other troubleshooting methods hither at Kinsta to help clients narrow down what plugin, query, or script might be exhausting the limit. You lot can also use your own custom New Relic key from your own license.

Debugging with New Relic
Debugging with New Relic

nine. Problem With Your .htaccess File

Kinsta only uses Nginx, but 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 go corrupted. Follow the steps below to recreate a new one 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 heart of a 500 internal server error you lot near likely tin't admission your WordPress admin, and then this isn't an option. Therefore you tin create a new .htaccess file and input the post-obit contents. Then upload it to your server.

          # Begin WordPress <IfModule mod_rewrite.c> RewriteEngine On RewriteBase / RewriteRule ^alphabetize\.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.

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

500 errors being caused by errors in CGI and Perl is a lot less common than it used to be. Although information technology's still worth mentioning, especially for those using cPanel where in that location are a lot of ane-click CGI scripts nonetheless being used. As AEM on Stack Overflow says:

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

Hither are a few tips when working with CGI scripts:

  • When editing, ever used a plain text editor, such as Cantlet, 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 style (which you can select in your FTP editor) into the cgi-bin directory on your server.
  • Ostend that the Perl modules you require for your script are installed and supported.

11. Server Issue (Check With Your Host)

Finally, because 500 internal server errors tin also occur from PHP timing out or fatal PHP errors with third-party plugins, you can e'er check with your WordPress host. Sometimes these errors tin can be difficult to troubleshoot without an adept. Hither are just a few mutual examples of some errors that trigger 500 HTTP status codes on the server that might have y'all scratching your head.

          PHP bulletin: PHP Fatal error: Uncaught Error: Call to undefined function mysql_error()...        
          PHP message: PHP Fatal error: Uncaught Mistake: Cannot utilize object of type WP_Error as assortment in /www/folder/web/shared/content/plugins/plugin/functions.php:525

We monitor all client'southward sites hither at Kinsta and are automatically notified when these types of errors occur. This allows us to be pro-active and first fixing the issue right away. We too 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 resource required to run it (Linux, Nginx, PHP, MySQL). The resource are 100% private and are not shared with anyone else or fifty-fifty your own sites.

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

When PHP workers are already busy on a site, they get-go to build upwards 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 about PHP workers.

Monitor Your Site

If you're worried near these types of errors happening on your site in the future, yous can besides employ a tool similar updown.io to monitor and notify you immediately if they occur. Information technology periodically sends an HTTP Caput asking to the URL of your option. You lot tin merely use your homepage. The tool allows yous to set check frequencies of:

  • 15 seconds
  • thirty seconds
  • one minute
  • 2 minutes
  • five minutes
  • ten minutes

Information technology will send y'all an electronic mail if and when your site goes downwards. Hither is an example below.

Email notification of 500 error
Email notification of 500 error

This tin can be specially useful if you lot'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 oft your site might actually be doing down (even during the centre of the night). That's why we always recommend going with a managed WordPress host. Make certain to check out our postal service that explores the tiptop 9 reasons to choose managed WordPress hosting.

Summary

500 internal server errors are always frustrating, merely hopefully, at present you lot know a few additional ways to troubleshoot them to quickly become your site support and running. Think, typically these types of errors are caused past third-party plugins, fatal PHP errors, database connectedness issues, bug with your .htaccess file or PHP memory limits, and sometimes PHP timeouts.

Was there anything we missed? Perhaps you have some other tip on troubleshooting 500 internal server errors. If so, permit u.s.a. know below in the comments.

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