The dreaded 500 internal server fault. It always seems to come up at the most inopportune time and you're suddenly left scrambling to figure out how to get your WordPress site back online. Trust united states, we've all been in that location. Other errors that behave similarly that you might accept too seen include the frightening error establishing a database connexion and the dreaded white screen of death. Only from the moment your site goes down, yous're losing visitors and customers. Non to mention it simply looks bad for your brand.

Today we're going to swoop into the 500 internal server fault and walk yous through some ways to go your site back online apace. Read more below well-nigh what causes this error and what you can exercise to prevent it in the hereafter.

  • 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 Fault

What is a 500 Internal Server Error?

The Net Engineering Task Force (IETF) defines the 500 Internal Server Error every bit:

The 500 (Internal Server Fault) condition lawmaking indicates that the server encountered an unexpected condition 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 dorsum the requested resources (PHP, HTML, CSS, etc.) along with an HTTP header. The HTTP besides includes what they call an HTTP status code. A status code is a way to notify y'all about the condition of the asking. Information technology could be a 200 status lawmaking which means "Everything is OK" or a 500 status lawmaking which means something has gone wrong.

There are a lot of different types of 500 status error codes (500, 501, 502, 503, 504, etc.) and they all mean something unlike. In this case, a 500 internal server fault indicates that the server encountered an unexpected condition that prevented it from fulfilling the request(RFC 7231, section vi.6.ane).

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

500 Internal Server Fault Variations

Due to the various web servers, operating systems, and browsers, a 500 internal server fault tin can present itself in a number of different ways. But they are all communicating the same thing. Below are merely a couple of the many different variations you lot might see on the web:

    • "500 Internal Server Error"
    • "HTTP 500"
    • "Internal Server Mistake"
    • "HTTP 500 – Internal Server Error"
    • "500 Mistake"
    • "HTTP Fault 500"
    • "500 – Internal Server Fault"
    • "500 Internal Server Error. Sorry something went incorrect."
    • "500. That's an error. There was an mistake. Delight attempt again after. That's all we know."
    • "The website cannot display the folio – HTTP 500."
    • "Is currently unable to handle this asking. HTTP Mistake 500."

You might also encounter this message accompanying it:

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

Internal Server Error
Internal Server Error

Other times, you might but come across a bare 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 fault

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

readme 500 internal server error
readme 500 internal server fault

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'due south an IIS 7.0 (Windows) or higher server, they take boosted HTTP status codes to more closely indicate the crusade of the 500 mistake:

  • 500.0 – Module or ISAPI mistake occurred.
  • 500.eleven – Application is shutting downwardly on the web server.
  • 500.12 – Application is busy restarting on the web server.
  • 500.13 – Web server is also decorated.
  • 500.15 – Straight requests for global.asax are not allowed.
  • 500.19 – Configuration data is invalid.
  • 500.21 – Module non recognized.
  • 500.22 – An ASP.NET httpModules configuration does non employ in Managed Pipeline mode.
  • 500.23 – An ASP.Internet httpHandlers configuration does not use in Managed Pipeline fashion.
  • 500.24 – An ASP.NET impersonation configuration does not utilize in Managed Pipeline style.
  • 500.fifty – A rewrite error occurred during RQ_BEGIN_REQUEST notification treatment. A configuration or inbound 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 treatment. An outbound rule execution occurred.
  • 500.53 – A rewrite error 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 fashion and tell Google to check dorsum at a later fourth dimension, a 500 error tin can have a negative bear upon on SEO if not stock-still right away. If your site is just down for say 10 minutes and it's being crawled consistently a lot of times the crawler volition simply get the folio delivered from cache. Or Google might not fifty-fifty take a chance to re-crawl information technology before information technology's dorsum up. In this scenario, you're completely fine.

However, if the site is down for an extended period of time, say 6+ hours, then Google might encounter the 500 mistake as a site level issue that needs to be addressed. This could bear upon your rankings. If yous're worried about echo 500 errors you should effigy out why they are happening to begin with. Some of the solutions below can assistance.

How to Fix the 500 Internal Server Error

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, just from our experience, these errors originate from two things, the first isuser fault (client-side issue), and the 2nd is that there is a problem with the server. So we'll dive into a little of both.

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

1. Try Reloading the Folio

This might seem a picayune obvious to some, merely one of the easiest and first things you should try when encountering a 500 internal server error is to simply await a minute or then and reload the page (F5 or Ctrl + F5). It could be that the host or server is merely overloaded and the site will come up right back. While yous're waiting, you could also chop-chop endeavor a different browser to rule that out as an event.

Some other thing you lot can practice is to paste the website into downforeveryoneorjustme.com. This website will tell you if the site is downward or if it's a problem on your side. A tool similar this checks the HTTP condition code that is returned from the server. If it's anything other than a 200 "Everything is OK" then it volition render a down 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 properly. What happens is they experience a temporary timeout right afterward. However, things usually resolve themselves in a couple of seconds and therefore refreshing is all you need to practise.

two. Clear Your Browser Enshroud

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

  • How to Forcefulness Refresh a Single Folio 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 Clear Browser Enshroud for Microsoft Border
  • How to Clear Browser Cache for Opera

3. Bank check Your Server Logs

Y'all should also take reward of your error logs. If you're a Kinsta client, you can easily see errors in the log viewer in the MyKinsta dashboard. This tin help you quickly narrow downwards the issue, especially if it's resulting from a plugin on your site.

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Check error logs for 500 internal server errors
Bank check mistake logs for 500 internal server errors

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

          define( 'WP_DEBUG', true ); define( 'WP_DEBUG_LOG', true ); ascertain( 'WP_DEBUG_DISPLAY', false );

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 tin likewise check the log files in Apache and Nginx, which are usually located here:

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

If you're a Kinsta client you can also have reward of our analytics tool to get a breakdown of the total number of 500 errors and run into how frequently and when they are occurring. This can help you troubleshoot if this is an ongoing result, or peradventure something that has resolved itself.

Response analysis 500 error breakdown
Response analysis 500 fault breakup

If the 500 error is displaying because of a fatal PHP fault, you lot tin too try enabling PHP error reporting. But add together the following code to the file throwing the fault. Typically you lot tin narrow down the file in the console tab of Google Chrome DevTools.

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

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

          display_errors = on

4. Error 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 volition generate a 500 HTTP condition code regardless in your server logs.

Below is an instance of what an "fault establishing a database connexion" bulletin looks similar your browser. The entire page is bare because no data tin can be retrieved to return the page, as the connection is not working properly. Not merely does this break the front end-terminate of your site, but it will too forbid you from accessing your WordPress dashboard.

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

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

  • The well-nigh mutual issue is that yourdatabase login credentials are wrong. Your WordPress site uses separate login data to connect to its MySQL database.
  • Your WordPress database is corrupted. With then many moving parts with themes, plugins, and users constantly deleting and installing them, sometimes databases get corrupted. This can be due to a missing or individually corrupted table, or perhaps some information was deleted past accident.
  • You 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 spider web hosts end, 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 same servers.

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

v. Bank check Your Plugins and Themes

3rd-party plugins and themes can easily cause 500 internal server errors. We've seen all types crusade them here at Kinsta, from slider plugins to ad rotator plugins. A lot of times y'all should encounter the mistake immediately afterward installing something new or running an update. This is one reason why we always recommend utilizing a staging environs for updates or at least running updates i by one. Otherwise, if you encounter a 500 internal server error you're all of a sudden scrambling to effigy out which one caused it.

A few ways you tin troubleshoot this is by deactivating all your plugins. Recall, you won't lose any data if you simply conciliate a plugin. If you lot tin even so access your admin, a quick way to do this is to browse to "Plugins" and select "Conciliate" from the bulk actions menu. This volition disable all of your plugins.

Deactivate all plugins
Deactivate all plugins

If this fixes the effect you'll need to find the culprit. Start activating them one past one, reloading the site after each activation. When you see the 500 internal server error return, y'all've found the misbehaving plugin. You can so reach out to the plugin programmer for assistance or mail a back up ticket in the WordPress repository.

If you can't login to WordPress admin you can FTP into your server and rename your plugins binder to something like plugins_old. Then cheque your site again. If it works, then you volition need to test each plugin one by one. Rename your plugin folder back to "plugins" and and then rename each plugin folder inside of if information technology, one by ane, until you detect it. Y'all could also try to replicate this on a staging site first.

Rename plugin folder
Rename plugin binder

Always 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 demand to bring in a WordPress developer to ready the consequence.

6. Reinstall WordPress Core

Sometimes WordPress core files tin can go corrupted, specially on older sites. It's actually quite easy to re-upload merely the core of WordPress without impacting your plugins or themes. Nosotros have an in-depth guide with 5 different ways to reinstall WordPress. And of course, brand certain to have a backup before proceeding. Skip to one of the sections below:

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

7. Permissions Mistake

A permissions error with a file or folder on your server can also crusade a 500 internal server error to occur. Hither 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 fix to 440 or 400 to prevent other users on the server from reading it.

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

You can easily see your file permissions with an FTP client (every bit seen below). Y'all could too reach out to your WordPress host support team and ask them to quickly GREP file permissions on your folders and files to ensure they're setup properly.

File permissions SFTP
File permissions SFTP

viii. PHP Memory Limit

A 500 internal server error could also be caused by exhausting the PHP memory limit on your server. Y'all could effort 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 y'all're running on a host that uses cPanel, you tin can easily alter 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 and then click on the memory_limit attribute and change its value. Then click on "Salvage."

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

Increase PHP Retention Limit in Apache

The .htaccess file is a special hidden file that contains various settings y'all tin use to modify the server behavior, correct down to a directory specific level. Start login to your site via FTP or SSH, take a look at your root directory and encounter if at that place is a .htaccess file at that place.

.htaccess file
.htaccess file

If in that location is you lot tin can edit that file to add the necessary lawmaking for increasing the PHP memory limit. Most likely it is set at 64M or below, you lot can try increasing this value.

          php_value memory_limit 128M

Increment PHP Retentiveness Limit in php.ini File

If the above doesn't work for you might attempt editing your php.ini file. Log in to your site via FTP or SSH, become 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 at that place, search for the three settings and modify them if necessary. If you only created the file, or the settings are nowhere to be constitute you can paste the lawmaking below. Y'all 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 practise this, edit your .htaccess file, also located at the root of your site, and add the following code towards the height of the file:

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

If the above didn't work for you, it could be that your host has the global settings locked downwardly 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'southward root directory and open or create a .user.ini file. You can then paste in the following code:

          memory_limit = 128M

Increase PHP Retention Limit in wp-config.php

The final option is non ane we are fans of, but if all else fails you tin can give it 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 lawmaking to the meridian of your wp-config.php file:

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

You tin likewise inquire your host if you lot're running into memory limit issues. We utilise the Kinsta APM tool and other troubleshooting methods here at Kinsta to help clients narrow downwardly what plugin, query, or script might exist exhausting the limit. You tin can also utilize your own custom New Relic key from your own license.

Debugging with New Relic
Debugging with New Relic

9. Problem With Your .htaccess File

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

Unremarkably to recreate this file you can simply re-salve your permalinks in WordPress. However, if you're in the middle of a 500 internal server error you almost likely tin't access your WordPress admin, so this isn't an choice. Therefore you can 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 ^index\.php$ - [Fifty] RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d RewriteRule . /index.php [L] </IfModule> # END WordPress

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

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

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

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

Here are a few tips when working with CGI scripts:

  • When editing, ever 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 style (which you tin can select in your FTP editor) into the cgi-bin directory on your server.
  • Confirm that the Perl modules y'all 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-political party plugins, you tin always check with your WordPress host. Sometimes these errors can exist difficult to troubleshoot without an proficient. Hither are just a few common examples of some errors that trigger 500 HTTP status codes on the server that might have yous scratching your head.

          PHP message: PHP Fatal mistake: Uncaught Error: Telephone call to undefined function mysql_error()...        
          PHP bulletin: PHP Fatal mistake: Uncaught Error: Cannot employ object of type WP_Error as array in /www/folder/web/shared/content/plugins/plugin/functions.php:525

We monitor all customer'southward 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 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 it (Linux, Nginx, PHP, MySQL). The resources are 100% private and are not shared with anyone else or even your ain sites.

PHP timeouts could as well occur from the lack of PHP workers, although typically these crusade 504 errors, not 500 errors. These determine how many simultaneous requests your site can handle at a given time. To put information technology 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. One time 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 commodity about PHP workers.

Monitor Your Site

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

  • fifteen seconds
  • thirty seconds
  • 1 minute
  • 2 minutes
  • 5 minutes
  • 10 minutes

It will transport you an email if and when your site goes downwards. Here is an case below.

Email notification of 500 error
Electronic mail notification of 500 error

This can be especially useful if y'all're trying to debug a faulty plugin or are on a shared host, who tend to overcrowd their servers. This can requite yous proof of how frequently your site might actually exist doing downwardly (even during the middle of the night). That's why we always recommend going with a managed WordPress host. Make sure to bank check out our postal service that explores the top 9 reasons to choose managed WordPress hosting.

Summary

500 internal server errors are e'er frustrating, merely hopefully, now you know a few additional ways to troubleshoot them to quickly get your site support and running. Remember, typically these types of errors are caused by third-party plugins, fatal PHP errors, database connectedness bug, issues with your .htaccess file or PHP memory limits, and sometimes PHP timeouts.

Was there anything we missed? Perhaps yous have some other tip on troubleshooting 500 internal server errors. If so, let us know below in the comments.

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