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

Today we're going to dive into the 500 internal server fault and walk you lot through some ways to become your site back online speedily. Read more than beneath near what causes this fault and what you tin practice to prevent it in the future.

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

Bank check Out Our Ultimate Guide to Fixing the 500 Internal Server Error

What is a 500 Internal Server Fault?

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 request over to the server where the site is hosted. The server takes this request, processes it, and sends back the requested resources (PHP, HTML, CSS, etc.) along with an HTTP header. The HTTP as well includes what they phone call an HTTP status code. A condition code is a way to notify you near the status of the request. It could be a 200 status code which ways "Everything is OK" or a 500 status lawmaking which means something has gone incorrect.

There 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 mistake indicates that the server encountered an unexpected condition that prevented it from fulfilling the request(RFC 7231, section vi.6.1).

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

500 Internal Server Fault Variations

Due to the various web servers, operating systems, and browsers, a 500 internal server error can nowadays 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 you might see on the web:

    • "500 Internal Server Error"
    • "HTTP 500"
    • "Internal Server Error"
    • "HTTP 500 – Internal Server Error"
    • "500 Fault"
    • "HTTP Error 500"
    • "500 – Internal Server Error"
    • "500 Internal Server Error. Sorry something went wrong."
    • "500. That's an error. There was an error. Please endeavour again later. That'south all we know."
    • "The website cannot display the page – HTTP 500."
    • "Is currently unable to handle this asking. HTTP Mistake 500."

You might also come across 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 fault occurred, and anything you might take done that may take acquired the error. More than information about this error may be bachelor in the server error log.

Internal Server Error
Internal Server Error

Other times, you might simply see 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 fault in Firefox

Bigger brands might fifty-fifty have their own custom 500 internal server error letters, such equally this i from Airbnb.

Airbnb 500 internal server error
Airbnb 500 internal server error

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

readme 500 internal server error
readme 500 internal server mistake

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

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

If it's an IIS seven.0 (Windows) or college server, they have additional HTTP status codes to more than closely betoken the cause of the 500 error:

  • 500.0 – Module or ISAPI fault occurred.
  • 500.xi – Application is shutting downward on the web server.
  • 500.12 – Application is busy restarting on the web server.
  • 500.13 – Web server is besides 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.Internet httpModules configuration does non employ in Managed Pipeline mode.
  • 500.23 – An ASP.Cyberspace httpHandlers configuration does non apply in Managed Pipeline style.
  • 500.24 – An ASP.Cyberspace impersonation configuration does not employ in Managed Pipeline manner.
  • 500.50 – A rewrite fault 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 handling. A global configuration or global rule execution error occurred.
  • 500.52 – A rewrite fault 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 dominion execution fault occurred. The dominion is configured to be executed earlier 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 manner and tell Google to cheque back at a later on time, a 500 error can take a negative impact on SEO if non fixed correct abroad. If your site is only down for say 10 minutes and it's existence crawled consistently a lot of times the crawler will simply get the folio delivered from cache. Or Google might non even have a chance to re-crawl information technology earlier it'south support. In this scenario, you're completely fine.

However, if the site is down for an extended menstruation of time, say half dozen+ hours, then Google might come across the 500 fault as a site level upshot that needs to be addressed. This could impact your rankings. If you're worried most repeat 500 errors you should figure out why they are happening to begin with. Some of the solutions below can help.

How to Fix the 500 Internal Server Error

Where should you start troubleshooting when you see a 500 internal server fault on your WordPress site? Sometimes you might non even know where to begin. Typically 500 errors are on the server itself, but from our experience, these errors originate from two things, the get-go isuser error (client-side issue), and the 2nd is that there is a trouble with the server. So nosotros'll dive into a little of both.

Bank check out these mutual causes and ways to prepare the 500 internal server mistake and get dorsum up and running in no time.

one. Try Reloading the Page

This might seem a little obvious to some, but one of the easiest and outset things you should attempt when encountering a 500 internal server fault is to only wait a minute or so and reload the folio (F5 or Ctrl + F5). It could exist that the host or server is simply 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 outcome.

Another thing you lot can practise is to paste the website into downforeveryoneorjustme.com. This website volition tell you if the site is downwards or if it's a problem on your side. A tool like this checks the HTTP condition code that is returned from the server. If information technology'south anything other than a 200 "Everything is OK" then information technology will render a down indication.

downforeveryoneorjustme
downforeveryoneorjustme

We've too 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 upwards properly. What happens is they experience a temporary timeout correct later. However, things commonly resolve themselves in a couple of seconds and therefore refreshing is all you need to do.

ii. Clear Your Browser Cache

Clearing your browser cache is ever another good troubleshooting stride 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 Cache for Internet Explorer
  • How to Clear Browser Enshroud for Microsoft Edge
  • How to Clear Browser Cache for Opera

3. Check Your Server Logs

You should as well take advantage 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 quickly narrow down the issue, particularly if information technology's resulting from a plugin on your site.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

If yous're a Kinsta client you can also have advantage of our analytics tool to get a breakup of the full number of 500 errors and run into how oftentimes and when they are occurring. This tin assist you 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 error, you can also try enabling PHP fault reporting. Simply add together the post-obit code to the file throwing the error. Typically you tin can narrow down the file in the console tab of Google Chrome DevTools.

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

And yous might need to also modify your php.ini file with the post-obit:

          display_errors = on

iv. Error Establishing a Database Connexion

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

Below is an example of what an "fault establishing a database connection" bulletin looks like your browser. The entire page is blank because no data can exist retrieved to return the page, equally the connection is not working properly. Non merely does this break the front-end of your site, but information technology will besides prevent yous from accessing your WordPress dashboard.

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

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

  • The most common issue 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 get corrupted. This can be due to a missing or individually corrupted table, or maybe some information was deleted by blow.
  • Yous may accept 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 incorrect 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 equally 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 connection in WordPress.

5. Check Your Plugins and Themes

Third-party plugins and themes tin easily cause 500 internal server errors. We've seen all types cause them here at Kinsta, from slider plugins to advertizing rotator plugins. A lot of times you should run across the error immediately after installing something new or running an update. This is i reason why nosotros always recommend utilizing a staging environment for updates or at least running updates one by one. Otherwise, if yous run into a 500 internal server fault you're suddenly scrambling to figure out which one caused it.

A few means you can troubleshoot this is by deactivating all your plugins. Remember, y'all won't lose any data if you simply deactivate a plugin. If you lot can nevertheless admission your admin, a quick manner to do this is to browse to "Plugins" and select "Deactivate" 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 demand to observe the culprit. Outset activating them 1 by one, reloading the site after each activation. When y'all see the 500 internal server error render, you've found the misbehaving plugin. Yous can then attain out to the plugin programmer for assistance or mail a support ticket in the WordPress repository.

If you can't login to WordPress admin y'all tin can FTP into your server and rename your plugins folder to something like plugins_old. So check your site again. If it works, then you lot will demand to test each plugin one by one. Rename your plugin binder back to "plugins" and then rename each plugin binder inside of if information technology, one past one, until you observe it. You could besides try to replicate this on a staging site get-go.

Rename plugin folder
Rename plugin folder

Always makes certain your plugins, themes, and WordPress core 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 lot might need to bring in a WordPress developer to fix the issue.

six. Reinstall WordPress Core

Sometimes WordPress cadre files tin get corrupted, especially on older sites. Information technology'south actually quite piece of cake to re-upload only the core of WordPress without impacting your plugins or themes. We take an in-depth guide with five different ways to reinstall WordPress. And of course, make certain to take a backup earlier 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

7. Permissions Mistake

A permissions mistake with a file or folder on your server can besides cause a 500 internal server mistake to occur. Hither 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-x) or 750.
  • No directories should ever be given 777, even upload directories.
  • Hardening: wp-config.php could also be set up to 440 or 400 to prevent other users on the server from reading information technology.

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

You can hands see your file permissions with an FTP client (as seen below). Y'all could besides reach out to your WordPress host back up squad and ask them to apace GREP file permissions on your folders and files to ensure they're setup properly.

File permissions SFTP
File permissions SFTP

viii. PHP Retention Limit

A 500 internal server error could as well exist caused by exhausting the PHP retentiveness limit on your server. You could try increasing the limit. Follow the instructions below on how to modify 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 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 Retentivity Limit in Apache

The .htaccess file is a special hidden file that contains various settings y'all can use to change the server behavior, right down to a directory specific level. Showtime login to your site via FTP or SSH, accept a await at your root directory and see if there is a .htaccess file there.

.htaccess file
.htaccess file

If there is you tin can edit that file to add the necessary lawmaking for increasing the PHP retention limit. Most likely it is set at 64M or below, y'all tin endeavor increasing this value.

          php_value memory_limit 128M

Increment PHP Retention 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, become 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 alter them if necessary. If you lot just created the file, or the settings are nowhere to be found you tin paste the code below. You can change of course the values to meet your needs.

          memory_limit = 128M

Some shared hosts might also require that you lot add the suPHP directive in your .htaccess file for the to a higher place php.ini file settings to piece of work. To practice this, edit your .htaccess file, besides located at the root of your site, and add together the following code towards the elevation of the file:

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

If the above didn't piece of work for y'all, it could be that your host has the global settings locked downwardly 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 or create a .user.ini file. Yous can and so 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, just if all else fails you can give it a become. 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 the post-obit code to the meridian of your wp-config.php file:

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

You can also enquire your host if y'all're running into retentiveness limit issues. We use the Kinsta APM tool and other troubleshooting methods here 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 central 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 lot'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 below to recreate a new one from scratch.

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

Rename .htaccess file
Rename .htaccess file

Normally to recreate this file you can just re-save your permalinks in WordPress. However, if you're in the middle of a 500 internal server error you well-nigh probable can't access your WordPress admin, so this isn't an option. Therefore yous can create a new .htaccess file and input the following contents. So upload information technology to your server.

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

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

10. 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 exist. Although information technology's even so worth mentioning, especially for those using cPanel where at that place are a lot of one-click CGI scripts yet being 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 diverse flavors and frameworks including Java EE, Struts, Jump, etc, Python-based frameworks like Django, Ruby on Rails and many other Crimson frameworks, and diverse Microsoft technologies.

Here are a few tips when working with CGI scripts:

  • When editing, e'er used a patently text editor, such every bit 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 manner (which you can select in your FTP editor) into the cgi-bin directory on your server.
  • Ostend that the Perl modules y'all require for your script are installed and supported.

11. Server Issue (Bank check With Your Host)

Finally, considering 500 internal server errors tin can also occur from PHP timing out or fatal PHP errors with 3rd-party plugins, you tin e'er check with your WordPress host. Sometimes these errors can exist difficult to troubleshoot without an adept. Here are just a few common examples of some errors that trigger 500 HTTP status codes on the server that might have you scratching your caput.

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

We monitor all client's sites here at Kinsta and are automatically notified when these types of errors occur. This allows us to be pro-active and start fixing the issue correct abroad. We also utilise LXD managed hosts and orchestrated LXC software containers for each site. This ways that every WordPress site is housed in its own isolated container, which has all of the software resources required to run information technology (Linux, Nginx, PHP, MySQL). The resources are 100% private and are not shared with anyone else or fifty-fifty your own 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 tin can handle at a given time. To put it simply, each uncached request for your website is handled past a PHP Worker.

When PHP workers are already decorated on a site, they start to build upwards a queue. Once you've reached your limit of PHP workers, the queue starts to push out older requests which could issue in 500 errors or incomplete requests. Read our in-depth article about PHP workers.

Monitor Your Site

If you're worried virtually these types of errors happening on your site in the time to come, you tin can too apply a tool like updown.io to monitor and notify you immediately if they occur. It periodically sends an HTTP Head request to the URL of your selection. You tin can simply use your homepage. The tool allows you lot to gear up cheque frequencies of:

  • 15 seconds
  • 30 seconds
  • 1 infinitesimal
  • 2 minutes
  • v minutes
  • x minutes

It will send 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 mistake

This can exist particularly 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 give you proof of how often your site might actually exist doing downwardly (even during the heart of the nighttime). That'southward why we ever recommend going with a managed WordPress host. Make sure to check out our post that explores the top 9 reasons to choose managed WordPress hosting.

Summary

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

Was there annihilation we missed? Perhaps you have another tip on troubleshooting 500 internal server errors. If so, let united states know beneath in the comments.

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