The dreaded 500 internal server error. It always seems to come up at the well-nigh inopportune time and you're suddenly left scrambling to effigy out how to go your WordPress site back online. Trust us, we've all been there. Other errors that behave similarly that you might take also seen include the frightening mistake establishing a database connection and the dreaded white screen of death. But from the moment your site goes downward, you're losing visitors and customers. Not to mention information technology simply looks bad for your brand.

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

  • What is a 500 internal server error?
  • 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 Technology Task Force (IETF) defines the 500 Internal Server Error as:

The 500 (Internal Server Error) status 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 request, processes it, and sends dorsum the requested resources (PHP, HTML, CSS, etc.) forth with an HTTP header. The HTTP besides includes what they call an HTTP status code. A status code is a mode to notify yous about the status of the request. Information technology could be a 200 status code which means "Everything is OK" or a 500 status lawmaking which ways something has gone incorrect.

In that location are a lot of different types of 500 status error 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, department half-dozen.vi.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 fault tin present itself in a number of dissimilar ways. But they are all communicating the same thing. Beneath are just a couple of the many different variations yous might run across on the spider web:

    • "500 Internal Server Error"
    • "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 incorrect."
    • "500. That's an mistake. At that place was an error. Please try over again after. That's all nosotros know."
    • "The website cannot display the folio – HTTP 500."
    • "Is currently unable to handle this asking. HTTP Error 500."

You lot might besides come across this message accompanying it:

The server encountered an internal error or misconfiguration and was unable to complete your request. Delight contact the server administrator, [email protected] and inform them of the fourth dimension the error occurred, and anything yous might have washed that may have caused the error. More than information about this error may be available in the server mistake log.

Internal Server Error
Internal Server Mistake

Other times, you lot might simply come across a bare 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 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 fault

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

readme 500 internal server error
readme 500 internal server fault

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

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

If it's an IIS 7.0 (Windows) or higher server, they have boosted HTTP status codes to more closely indicate the cause of the 500 mistake:

  • 500.0 – Module or ISAPI error occurred.
  • 500.eleven – Awarding is shutting down on the web server.
  • 500.12 – Application is busy restarting on the spider web server.
  • 500.13 – Web server is besides decorated.
  • 500.fifteen – Direct requests for global.asax are non immune.
  • 500.19 – Configuration data is invalid.
  • 500.21 – Module not recognized.
  • 500.22 – An ASP.NET httpModules configuration does not apply in Managed Pipeline style.
  • 500.23 – An ASP.NET httpHandlers configuration does not employ in Managed Pipeline mode.
  • 500.24 – An ASP.NET impersonation configuration does non employ in Managed Pipeline mode.
  • 500.l – A rewrite error occurred during RQ_BEGIN_REQUEST notification handling. A configuration or inbound dominion execution mistake 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 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 fault occurred. The rule is configured to exist executed before the output user enshroud 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 check back at a later time, a 500 error tin accept a negative impact on SEO if not fixed right away. If your site is merely downwards for say 10 minutes and it's being crawled consistently a lot of times the crawler will just get the folio delivered from cache. Or Google might not even have a chance to re-crawl it before it's back up. In this scenario, you're completely fine.

Nevertheless, if the site is down for an extended menses of time, say vi+ hours, so Google might encounter the 500 mistake as a site level upshot that needs to be addressed. This could impact your rankings. If you're worried about repeat 500 errors you should figure out why they are happening to begin with. Some of the solutions below can help.

How to Set the 500 Internal Server Error

Where should y'all start 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, just from our feel, these errors originate from two things, the first isuser error (client-side upshot), and the second is that there is a trouble with the server. So we'll dive into a little of both.

Check out these common causes and ways to set the 500 internal server error and get support and running in no time.

one. Try Reloading the Page

This might seem a little obvious to some, but i of the easiest and first things y'all should endeavour when encountering a 500 internal server mistake is to simply wait a minute or so and reload the page (F5 or Ctrl + F5). It could be that the host or server is merely overloaded and the site will come right back. While you lot're waiting, you could also quickly try a different browser to dominion that out as an issue.

Another thing you can do is to paste the website into downforeveryoneorjustme.com. This website will tell you if the site is down or if it'due south a trouble 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 it will return a downward indication.

downforeveryoneorjustme
downforeveryoneorjustme

We've as well noticed that sometimes this can occur immediately after 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 correct later. However, things ordinarily resolve themselves in a couple of seconds and therefore refreshing is all you need to exercise.

ii. Articulate Your Browser Cache

Clearing your browser cache is ever another good troubleshooting stride before diving into deeper debugging on your site. Beneath are instructions on how to articulate cache in the various browsers:

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

3. Check Your Server Logs

You should too take advantage of your error logs. If you're a Kinsta customer, you tin easily come across errors in the log viewer in the MyKinsta dashboard. This can help you lot quickly narrow downwards the upshot, especially if it'due south resulting from a plugin on your site.

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

If your host doesn't take a logging tool, you tin also enable WordPress debugging mode past adding the following code to your wp-config.php file to enable logging:

          define( 'WP_DEBUG', true ); 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 have a dedicated binder chosen "logs".

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

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

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

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

Response analysis 500 error breakdown
Response assay 500 error breakdown

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

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

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

          display_errors = on

iv. Error Establishing a Database Connection

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

Beneath is an example of what an "mistake establishing a database connection" message looks like your browser. The unabridged page is blank because no data can be retrieved to return the page, as the connectedness is not working properly. Not simply does this break the front end-end of your site, but it will also foreclose 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, here are a few common reasons below.

  • The most common result 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 become corrupted. This tin be due to a missing or individually corrupted tabular array, or maybe some data was deleted by accident.
  • Y'all may take corrupt files in your WordPress installation. This tin even happen sometimes due to hackers.
  • Issues with your database server. A number of things could be wrong on the web hosts finish, such every bit the database being overloaded from a traffic spike or unresponsive from too many concurrent connections. This is actually quite mutual with shared hosts as they are utilizing the aforementioned resources for a lot of users on the aforementioned servers.

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

5. Cheque Your Plugins and Themes

Third-political party plugins and themes can easily cause 500 internal server errors. We've seen all types cause them here at Kinsta, from slider plugins to advertizement 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 e'er recommend utilizing a staging environment for updates or at least running updates ane past one. Otherwise, if you lot meet a 500 internal server error you lot're suddenly scrambling to figure out which one caused information technology.

A few ways you can troubleshoot this is by deactivating all your plugins. Remember, you won't lose any data if you simply deactivate a plugin. If you tin nevertheless admission your admin, a quick way to do this is to browse to "Plugins" and select "Conciliate" from the bulk actions bill of fare. 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 one by i, reloading the site subsequently each activation. When you lot see the 500 internal server error return, you've institute the misbehaving plugin. You can and so reach out to the plugin developer for aid or post a support ticket in the WordPress repository.

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

Rename plugin folder
Rename plugin folder

Always makes sure your plugins, themes, and WordPress core are up to engagement. And check 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 set up the issue.

6. Reinstall WordPress Core

Sometimes WordPress core files tin get corrupted, especially on older sites. It'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 dissimilar ways to reinstall WordPress. And of course, make certain to take a fill-in before proceeding. Skip to 1 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 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 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 be given 777, even upload directories.
  • Hardening: wp-config.php could also exist set to 440 or 400 to preclude other users on the server from reading it.

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

Y'all can hands see your file permissions with an FTP client (as seen below). You could also achieve out to your WordPress host support team and enquire them to rapidly 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 error could too exist caused past exhausting the PHP memory limit on your server. Y'all 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.

Increase PHP Memory Limit in cPanel

If you're running on a host that uses cPanel, you can easily change this from the UI. Nether 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 change its value. Then click on "Save."

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

Increment PHP Retention Limit in Apache

The .htaccess file is a special hidden file that contains various settings you tin employ to modify 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 in that location is a .htaccess file there.

.htaccess file
.htaccess file

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

          php_value memory_limit 128M

Increase PHP Memory Limit in php.ini File

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

php.ini file
php.ini file

If the file was already there, search for the iii settings and change them if necessary. If you just created the file, or the settings are nowhere to be establish you tin paste the code below. You can modify of course the values to come across 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 piece of work. To practice this, edit your .htaccess file, also located at the root of your site, and add the following code towards the pinnacle of the file:

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

If the above didn't work for you, it could be that your host has the global settings locked down and instead accept it configured to utilize .user.ini files. To edit your .user.ini file, login to your site via FTP or SSH, go to your site's root directory and open up or create a .user.ini file. Y'all can and then paste in the post-obit lawmaking:

          memory_limit = 128M

Increase PHP Memory Limit in wp-config.php

The terminal option is not one nosotros are fans of, but if all else fails you lot can give information technology 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 together the post-obit lawmaking to the top of your wp-config.php file:

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

You lot can as well ask your host if you're running into memory limit issues. Nosotros utilise New Relic and other troubleshooting methods here at Kinsta to aid clients narrow downwards what plugin, query, or script might be 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 you're using a WordPress host that is running Apache, it could very well exist that your .htaccess file has a problem or has become corrupted. Follow the steps beneath to recreate a new one from scratch.

Offset, 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 lot can simply re-save your permalinks in WordPress. Notwithstanding, if you're in the middle of a 500 internal server fault yous most likely can't access your WordPress admin, so this isn't an choice. Therefore you lot can create a new .htaccess file and input the following contents. Then upload it to your server.

          # Brainstorm WordPress <IfModule mod_rewrite.c> RewriteEngine On RewriteBase / RewriteRule ^index\.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 equally a default .htaccess file for multisite.

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

500 errors being caused past errors in CGI and Perl is a lot less mutual than it used to be. Although it's yet worth mentioning, especially for those using cPanel where at that place are a lot of ane-click CGI scripts still existence used. As AEM on Stack Overflow says:

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

Here are a few tips when working with CGI scripts:

  • When editing, always used a plain text editor, such as Atom, Sublime, or Notepad++. This ensures they remain in ASCII format.
  • Ensure 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.

eleven. 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 always check with your WordPress host. Sometimes these errors can be difficult to troubleshoot without an expert. Here are but a few common examples of some errors that trigger 500 HTTP status codes on the server that might have you scratching your head.

          PHP message: PHP Fatal error: Uncaught Error: Telephone call to undefined function mysql_error()...        
          PHP bulletin: PHP Fatal error: Uncaught Error: Cannot use object of type WP_Error every bit array in /www/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 start fixing the event right away. 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% individual and are not shared with anyone else or even your ain sites.

PHP timeouts could also occur from the lack of PHP workers, although typically these cause 504 errors, non 500 errors. These decide how many simultaneous requests your site tin can handle at a given fourth dimension. 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 offset to build upward a queue. Once you've reached your limit of PHP workers, the queue starts to push button out older requests which could issue in 500 errors or incomplete requests. Read our in-depth article near PHP workers.

Monitor Your Site

If you're worried nigh these types of errors happening on your site in the future, you tin can also utilize a tool like updown.io to monitor and notify you lot immediately if they occur. It periodically sends an HTTP Caput asking to the URL of your choice. You can merely use your homepage. The tool allows you lot to ready bank check frequencies of:

  • fifteen seconds
  • thirty seconds
  • one minute
  • 2 minutes
  • 5 minutes
  • x minutes

It will send you an e-mail if and when your site goes down. Hither is an example beneath.

Email notification of 500 error
Email notification of 500 error

This tin be especially 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 you proof of how oft your site might actually exist doing down (even during the middle of the night). That's why nosotros ever recommend going with a managed WordPress host. Make sure to cheque out our post that explores the top nine reasons to choose managed WordPress hosting.

Summary

500 internal server errors are always frustrating, just hopefully, now you lot know a few additional ways to troubleshoot them to quickly become your site back up and running. Remember, typically these types of errors are caused by third-party plugins, fatal PHP errors, database connection problems, problems with your .htaccess file or PHP retention 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 us know beneath in the comments.

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