The dreaded 500 internal server error. It always seems to come at the most inopportune time and you're suddenly left scrambling to figure out how to go your WordPress site back online. Trust the states, we've all been there. Other errors that comport similarly that y'all might have also seen include the frightening fault establishing a database connection and the dreaded white screen of death. But from the moment your site goes down, you lot're losing visitors and customers. Not to mention it merely looks bad for your brand.

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

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

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

When you lot visit a website your browser sends a request over to the server where the site is hosted. The server takes this request, processes it, and sends back the requested resource (PHP, HTML, CSS, etc.) along with an HTTP header. The HTTP also includes what they call an HTTP condition code. A status code is a way to notify you about the status of the request. It could be a 200 status lawmaking which ways "Everything is OK" or a 500 condition lawmaking which means something has gone wrong.

There are a lot of unlike types of 500 status mistake codes (500, 501, 502, 503, 504, etc.) and they all mean something different. In this instance, a 500 internal server fault indicates that the server encountered an unexpected condition that prevented it from fulfilling the asking(RFC 7231, section 6.6.one).

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 error can present itself in a number of unlike ways. Simply they are all communicating the same thing. Below are just a couple of the many different variations you might come across on the web:

    • "500 Internal Server Error"
    • "HTTP 500"
    • "Internal Server Error"
    • "HTTP 500 – Internal Server Fault"
    • "500 Mistake"
    • "HTTP Error 500"
    • "500 – Internal Server Error"
    • "500 Internal Server Error. Sorry something went wrong."
    • "500. That'southward an error. In that location was an fault. Please try again later. 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 likewise see this message accompanying it:

The server encountered an internal error 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 accept done that may have caused the error. More data about this error may be available in the server error log.

Internal Server Error
Internal Server Mistake

Other times, y'all might simply see 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 equally this one from Airbnb.

Airbnb 500 internal server error
Airbnb 500 internal server error

Here is some other creative 500 server error instance 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 mistake on YouTube

If it's an IIS 7.0 (Windows) or college server, they accept additional HTTP status codes to more than closely point the cause of the 500 fault:

  • 500.0 – Module or ISAPI error occurred.
  • 500.11 – Application is shutting downwards on the web server.
  • 500.12 – Application is busy restarting on the web server.
  • 500.xiii – Web server is too 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 utilise in Managed Pipeline mode.
  • 500.23 – An ASP.Cyberspace httpHandlers configuration does not employ in Managed Pipeline mode.
  • 500.24 – An ASP.Internet impersonation configuration does not use in Managed Pipeline way.
  • 500.50 – A rewrite error occurred during RQ_BEGIN_REQUEST notification handling. A configuration or entering rule 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 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 error occurred. The dominion is configured to exist executed before the output user cache gets updated.
    500.100 – Internal ASP mistake.

500 Errors Touch on on SEO

Different 503 errors, which are used for WordPress maintenance manner and tell Google to check dorsum at a later fourth dimension, a 500 mistake can take a negative bear on on SEO if not fixed right away. If your site is only down for say 10 minutes and it'southward being crawled consistently a lot of times the crawler will simply get the page delivered from cache. Or Google might non even have a adventure to re-clamber information technology earlier it's back up. In this scenario, you're completely fine.

Nonetheless, if the site is downwards for an extended flow of time, say vi+ hours, then Google might see the 500 mistake as a site level effect that needs to exist addressed. This could impact your rankings. If yous're worried about repeat 500 errors you should figure out why they are happening to begin with. Some of the solutions beneath tin assistance.

How to Gear up the 500 Internal Server Fault

Where should you start troubleshooting when you run into 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, but from our experience, these errors originate from two things, the first isuser error (customer-side upshot), and the 2d is that there is a trouble with the server. And so we'll dive into a niggling of both.

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

1. Try Reloading the Folio

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 minute or so and reload the page (F5 or Ctrl + F5). Information technology could exist that the host or server is simply overloaded and the site volition come right back. While you're waiting, you lot could also quickly try a different browser to dominion that out as an effect.

Another thing y'all can do 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 status code that is returned from the server. If it'south annihilation other than a 200 "Everything is OK" and then information technology volition render a down indication.

downforeveryoneorjustme
downforeveryoneorjustme

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

2. 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 Articulate Browser Cache for Google Chrome
  • How to Clear Browser Cache for Mozilla Firefox
  • How to Clear Browser Cache for Safari
  • How to Clear Browser Cache for Net Explorer
  • How to Articulate Browser Cache for Microsoft Edge
  • How to Articulate Browser Cache for Opera

3. Cheque Your Server Logs

You should also take advantage of your mistake logs. If y'all're a Kinsta client, you lot can easily see errors in the log viewer in the MyKinsta dashboard. This tin aid you quickly narrow down the consequence, especially 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 take a logging tool, you can besides enable WordPress debugging fashion by adding the following lawmaking to your wp-config.php file to enable logging:

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

The logs are typically located in the /wp-content directory. Others, similar hither at Kinsta might have a dedicated folder called "logs".

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

You lot can too check the log files in Apache and Nginx, which are commonly located hither:

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

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

Response analysis 500 error breakdown
Response analysis 500 error breakdown

If the 500 error is displaying because of a fatal PHP fault, you lot tin can also try enabling PHP error reporting. Just add the post-obit code to the file throwing the error. Typically you lot tin narrow downwards the file in the console tab of Google Chrome DevTools.

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

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

          display_errors = on

4. Error Establishing a Database Connection

500 internal server errors can too occur from a database connection fault. Depending upon your browser you lot might see unlike errors. Merely both will generate a 500 HTTP condition lawmaking regardless in your server logs.

Below is an instance of what an "error establishing a database connexion" message looks like your browser. The unabridged folio is blank considering no data can be retrieved to return the folio, as the connection is not working properly. Not only does this intermission the front-end of your site, only it will also forestall you from accessing your WordPress dashboard.

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

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

  • The virtually common issue is that yourdatabase login credentials are wrong. Your WordPress site uses divide login information to connect to its MySQL database.
  • Your WordPress database is corrupted. With so many moving parts with themes, plugins, and users constantly deleting and installing them, sometimes databases get corrupted. This can be due to a missing or individually corrupted tabular array, or maybe some information was deleted by accident.
  • Y'all may have corrupt files in your WordPress installation. This can even happen sometimes due to hackers.
  • Issues with your database server. A number of things could be wrong on the web hosts end, such as the database beingness overloaded from a traffic spike or unresponsive from too many concurrent connections. This is actually quite common with shared hosts every bit they are utilizing the same resource for a lot of users on the same servers.

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

v. Check Your Plugins and Themes

3rd-party plugins and themes can easily crusade 500 internal server errors. Nosotros've seen all types cause them here at Kinsta, from slider plugins to advertisement rotator plugins. A lot of times yous should see the error immediately after installing something new or running an update. This is 1 reason why we e'er recommend utilizing a staging environment for updates or at least running updates 1 by one. Otherwise, if you encounter a 500 internal server error you're suddenly scrambling to effigy out which one acquired it.

A few ways you can troubleshoot this is by deactivating all your plugins. Remember, y'all won't lose any information if you only conciliate a plugin. If you can even so access your admin, a quick way to do this is to scan to "Plugins" and select "Conciliate" from the majority actions menu. This volition disable all of your plugins.

Deactivate all plugins
Conciliate all plugins

If this fixes the issue you'll demand to find the culprit. Outset activating them one by one, reloading the site later each activation. When you see the 500 internal server error return, y'all've plant the misbehaving plugin. You can and then reach out to the plugin developer for help 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. So check your site again. If information technology works, then you will need to exam each plugin i past one. Rename your plugin folder back to "plugins" and then rename each plugin folder inside of if it, one past one, until you lot find it. You could too try to replicate this on a staging site start.

Rename plugin folder
Rename plugin folder

Ever makes sure your plugins, themes, and WordPress cadre are up to date. 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 fix the issue.

half-dozen. Reinstall WordPress Cadre

Sometimes WordPress core files can get corrupted, especially on older sites. It's really quite like shooting fish in a barrel to re-upload merely the core of WordPress without impacting your plugins or themes. Nosotros have an in-depth guide with v different ways to reinstall WordPress. And of course, make sure to take a fill-in before proceeding. Skip to one of the sections beneath:

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

vii. Permissions Error

A permissions error with a file or folder on your server can also cause 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 be 644 (-rw-r–r–) or 640.
  • All directories should be 755 (drwxr-xr-ten) or 750.
  • No directories should e'er be given 777, even upload directories.
  • Hardening: wp-config.php could besides exist ready to 440 or 400 to foreclose other users on the server from reading information technology.

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

You can hands see your file permissions with an FTP client (as seen below). You could too 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

viii. PHP Retentiveness Limit

A 500 internal server error could also be caused past exhausting the PHP memory limit on your server. You could endeavor increasing the limit. Follow the instructions below on how to alter 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 tin 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 and so click on the memory_limit attribute and change its value. And then click on "Save."

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

Increase PHP Retentiveness Limit in Apache

The .htaccess file is a special hidden file that contains various settings you can utilise to modify the server beliefs, right downwards to a directory specific level. Kickoff login to your site via FTP or SSH, have a look at your root directory and come across 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. Almost likely information technology is set up at 64M or below, you tin try increasing this value.

          php_value memory_limit 128M

Increase PHP Retentivity Limit in php.ini File

If the in a higher place doesn't work for yous might endeavour editing your php.ini file. Log in to your site via FTP or SSH, get 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 in that location, search for the three settings and modify them if necessary. If you merely created the file, or the settings are nowhere to be found you tin paste the code beneath. You can modify of course 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 to a higher place php.ini file settings to work. To do this, edit your .htaccess file, also located at the root of your site, and add the following code towards the top of the file:

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

If the above didn't work for yous, information technology could be that your host has the global settings locked downwards and instead have 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 or create a .user.ini file. You can then paste in the following code:

          memory_limit = 128M

Increase PHP Memory Limit in wp-config.php

The last option is not one we are fans of, merely if all else fails yous tin can requite information technology a become. Start, 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 following code to the top of your wp-config.php file:

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

You lot tin can also ask your host if you're running into memory limit issues. We utilize the Kinsta APM tool and other troubleshooting methods hither at Kinsta to help clients narrow downwards what plugin, query, or script might be exhausting the limit. You can also use your own custom New Relic central from your own license.

Debugging with New Relic
Debugging with New Relic

ix. Trouble With Your .htaccess File

Kinsta just uses Nginx, but if you'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 one from scratch.

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

Rename .htaccess file
Rename .htaccess file

Ordinarily to recreate this file yous can simply re-save your permalinks in WordPress. However, if yous're in the heart of a 500 internal server error y'all most likely can't access your WordPress admin, and so this isn't an choice. Therefore you tin can create a new .htaccess file and input the following contents. Then upload information technology to your server.

          # BEGIN WordPress <IfModule mod_rewrite.c> RewriteEngine On RewriteBase / RewriteRule ^alphabetize\.php$ - [50] RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d RewriteRule . /alphabetize.php [Fifty] </IfModule> # Finish WordPress

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

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

500 errors being acquired 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 at that place are a lot of one-click CGI scripts notwithstanding beingness used. As AEM on Stack Overflow says:

CGI has been replaced by a vast diversity of web programming technologies, including PHP, various Apache extensions like mod_perl, Java of diverse flavors and frameworks including Java EE, Struts, Bound, etc, Python-based frameworks similar Django, Cerise on Track and many other Ruby 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 correct 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 can also occur from PHP timing out or fatal PHP errors with third-political party plugins, you can e'er cheque with your WordPress host. Sometimes these errors tin can be hard to troubleshoot without an skilful. Hither are merely a few mutual examples of some errors that trigger 500 HTTP condition codes on the server that might have yous scratching your head.

          PHP message: PHP Fatal error: Uncaught Fault: Call to undefined function mysql_error()...        
          PHP message: PHP Fatal error: Uncaught Mistake: Cannot use object of type WP_Error every bit array in /world wide web/folder/spider 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 the states to be pro-agile and starting time 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 resource required to run information technology (Linux, Nginx, PHP, MySQL). The resource are 100% individual 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, not 500 errors. These determine 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 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 virtually PHP workers.

Monitor Your Site

If yous're worried virtually these types of errors happening on your site in the future, you can also apply a tool like updown.io to monitor and notify y'all immediately if they occur. Information technology periodically sends an HTTP Caput request to the URL of your pick. You can simply use your homepage. The tool allows you to set cheque frequencies of:

  • 15 seconds
  • xxx seconds
  • 1 minute
  • 2 minutes
  • five minutes
  • 10 minutes

It will send you an email if and when your site goes down. Here is an example beneath.

Email notification of 500 error
Email notification of 500 mistake

This tin can be especially 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 be doing downward (even during the centre of the night). That'southward why we always recommend going with a managed WordPress host. Make certain to check out our post that explores the peak 9 reasons to choose managed WordPress hosting.

Summary

500 internal server errors are always frustrating, but hopefully, at present you know a few boosted ways to troubleshoot them to speedily get your site back up and running. Remember, typically these types of errors are caused by third-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? Perhaps y'all have another tip on troubleshooting 500 internal server errors. If so, let u.s.a. know beneath in the comments.

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