The dreaded 500 internal server error. Information technology ever seems to come up at the most inopportune fourth dimension and you're suddenly left scrambling to effigy out how to get your WordPress site back online. Trust us, we've all been there. Other errors that behave similarly that yous 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 downwards, you're losing visitors and customers. Not to mention it just looks bad for your brand.

Today we're going to swoop into the 500 internal server fault and walk you through some means to go your site back online quickly. Read more below about what causes this mistake and what you can practise 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 Job Force (IETF) defines the 500 Internal Server Fault every bit:

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

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

In that location are a lot of different types of 500 status mistake 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 condition that prevented it from fulfilling the request(RFC 7231, department 6.six.ane).

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

500 Internal Server Error Variations

Due to the various spider web servers, operating systems, and browsers, a 500 internal server error can present itself in a number of unlike means. But they are all communicating the same thing. Below are just a couple of the many unlike variations y'all might see on the web:

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

You might also meet this message accompanying information technology:

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

Internal Server Error
Internal Server Error

Other times, you might but come across 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 mistake in Firefox

Bigger brands might fifty-fifty accept their ain custom 500 internal server fault letters, such every bit this one from Airbnb.

Airbnb 500 internal server error
Airbnb 500 internal server error

Hither is another creative 500 server error example 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 error on YouTube

If it's an IIS 7.0 (Windows) or higher server, they take additional HTTP condition codes to more closely indicate the cause of the 500 error:

  • 500.0 – Module or ISAPI error occurred.
  • 500.11 – Application is shutting down on the web server.
  • 500.12 – Awarding is busy restarting on the web server.
  • 500.13 – Web server is likewise decorated.
  • 500.fifteen – 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 apply in Managed Pipeline mode.
  • 500.23 – An ASP.NET httpHandlers configuration does non apply in Managed Pipeline mode.
  • 500.24 – An ASP.NET impersonation configuration does not apply in Managed Pipeline mode.
  • 500.50 – A rewrite error occurred during RQ_BEGIN_REQUEST notification handling. 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 dominion execution error occurred.
  • 500.52 – A rewrite error occurred during RQ_SEND_RESPONSE notification treatment. An outbound rule execution occurred.
  • 500.53 – A rewrite fault occurred during RQ_RELEASE_REQUEST_STATE notification handling. An outbound rule execution error occurred. The rule is configured to be executed before the output user cache gets updated.
    500.100 – Internal ASP error.

500 Errors Bear on on SEO

Different 503 errors, which are used for WordPress maintenance fashion and tell Google to cheque back at a later on time, a 500 error can take a negative impact on SEO if non fixed right away. If your site is but down for say 10 minutes and it'due south being crawled consistently a lot of times the crawler will simply go the page delivered from cache. Or Google might not even have a chance to re-crawl it before it'southward support. In this scenario, y'all're completely fine.

However, if the site is downwardly for an extended period of time, say half dozen+ hours, and then Google might see the 500 error equally a site level issue that needs to be addressed. This could touch on your rankings. If you're worried about echo 500 errors you should figure out why they are happening to begin with. Some of the solutions beneath can assistance.

How to Fix the 500 Internal Server Error

Where should you lot showtime troubleshooting when y'all run across a 500 internal server fault on your WordPress site? Sometimes you might not even know where to brainstorm. Typically 500 errors are on the server itself, only from our experience, these errors originate from ii things, the starting time isuser error (customer-side issue), and the second is that there is a problem with the server. So we'll dive into a footling of both.

Check out these mutual causes and ways to ready the 500 internal server error and get back up and running in no time.

1. Try Reloading the Page

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

Another thing you tin practice is to paste the website into downforeveryoneorjustme.com. This website will tell you lot if the site is down or if it's a trouble on your side. A tool like this checks the HTTP condition code that is returned from the server. If it's annihilation other than a 200 "Everything is OK" and so it will render a down indication.

downforeveryoneorjustme
downforeveryoneorjustme

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

2. Clear Your Browser Cache

Immigration your browser enshroud is always another good troubleshooting step before diving into deeper debugging on your site. Below are instructions on how to clear enshroud in the various browsers:

  • How to Strength 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 Clear Browser Enshroud for Internet Explorer
  • How to Clear Browser Cache for Microsoft Edge
  • How to Articulate Browser Cache for Opera

3. Cheque Your Server Logs

You lot should also take advantage of your mistake logs. If you're a Kinsta client, you tin can easily see errors in the log viewer in the MyKinsta dashboard. This can assist you quickly narrow down the upshot, especially if it'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 have a logging tool, yous can also enable WordPress debugging manner by adding the following code to your wp-config.php file to enable logging:

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

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

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

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

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

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

Response analysis 500 error breakdown
Response analysis 500 fault breakdown

If the 500 error is displaying because of a fatal PHP error, you lot can too endeavor enabling PHP error reporting. Merely add together the following lawmaking to the file throwing the error. Typically you 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 you lot 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 status code regardless in your server logs.

Below is an example of what an "error establishing a database connexion" message looks similar your browser. The unabridged folio is blank considering no data can be retrieved to return the folio, as the connection is non working properly. Not only does this suspension the front-cease of your site, but information technology will also forbid yous 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 nearly common issue is that yourdatabase login credentials are wrong. 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 tabular array, or perhaps some information was deleted by accident.
  • You may have decadent 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 cease, such as the database being overloaded from a traffic fasten or unresponsive from likewise many concurrent connections. This is really quite common with shared hosts as they are utilizing the same resource for a lot of users on the same servers.

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

5. Check Your Plugins and Themes

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

A few ways you can troubleshoot this is by deactivating all your plugins. Recollect, y'all won't lose whatsoever data if you lot merely deactivate a plugin. If you tin can all the same admission your admin, a quick manner to do this is to browse to "Plugins" and select "Deactivate" from the majority actions menu. This volition 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 one, reloading the site after each activation. When y'all meet the 500 internal server mistake return, you've plant the misbehaving plugin. You can so attain out to the plugin programmer for aid or mail service a support ticket in the WordPress repository.

If you lot can't login to WordPress admin you can FTP into your server and rename your plugins binder to something similar plugins_old. So cheque your site once again. If it works, and then you lot will need to exam each plugin one by 1. Rename your plugin binder back to "plugins" and then rename each plugin folder inside of if it, i by one, until you find it. You could also try to replicate this on a staging site start.

Rename plugin folder
Rename plugin folder

E'er makes sure your plugins, themes, and WordPress cadre are upwards to date. And cheque to ensure you are running a supported version of PHP. If it turns out to be a conflict with bad code in a plugin, yous might need to bring in a WordPress developer to prepare the result.

6. Reinstall WordPress Cadre

Sometimes WordPress core files can get corrupted, especially on older sites. It'southward actually quite easy to re-upload just the cadre of WordPress without impacting your plugins or themes. We have an in-depth guide with 5 different ways to reinstall WordPress. And of course, make sure to accept 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 Error

A permissions error with a file or folder on your server can also cause 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 be 755 (drwxr-xr-x) or 750.
  • No directories should ever exist given 777, even upload directories.
  • Hardening: wp-config.php could likewise be set to 440 or 400 to preclude other users on the server from reading it.

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

You can easily see your file permissions with an FTP client (as seen below). Yous could also 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

8. PHP Memory Limit

A 500 internal server error could also be acquired by exhausting the PHP retentivity limit on your server. You lot 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 tin easily modify 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 lot can and then click on the memory_limit aspect and alter its value. So click on "Salve."

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

Increase PHP Memory Limit in Apache

The .htaccess file is a special subconscious file that contains various settings you lot can employ to alter the server behavior, right downward to a directory specific level. Outset login to your site via FTP or SSH, accept a await at your root directory and see if there is a .htaccess file in that location.

.htaccess file
.htaccess file

If there is you can edit that file to add the necessary lawmaking for increasing the PHP retentivity limit. About likely information technology is set at 64M or below, you can attempt increasing this value.

          php_value memory_limit 128M

Increase PHP Retentivity Limit in php.ini File

If the above doesn't work for yous 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 three settings and modify them if necessary. If you lot just created the file, or the settings are nowhere to be found you can paste the lawmaking below. Yous can change of course the values to come across your needs.

          memory_limit = 128M

Some shared hosts might also require that yous 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, too located at the root of your site, and add the following code towards the top of the file:

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

If the above didn't work for yous, it could be that your host has the global settings locked down and instead have information technology configured to utilise .user.ini files. To edit your .user.ini file, login to your site via FTP or SSH, get to your site's root directory and open or create a .user.ini file. Y'all can then paste in the following code:

          memory_limit = 128M

Increment PHP Retentiveness Limit in wp-config.php

The last option is not one we are fans of, simply if all else fails you 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 following lawmaking to the top of your wp-config.php file:

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

You can as well ask your host if y'all're running into memory limit problems. Nosotros employ New Relic and other troubleshooting methods here at Kinsta to aid clients narrow down what plugin, query, or script might be exhausting the limit. Yous tin can also apply your own custom New Relic key.

Debugging with New Relic
Debugging with New Relic

nine. Problem With Your .htaccess File

Kinsta only uses Nginx, but if you're using a WordPress host that is running Apache, it could very well exist that your .htaccess file has a problem or has go corrupted. Follow the steps beneath 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

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

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

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

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

500 errors being caused by errors in CGI and Perl is a lot less mutual than information technology used to be. Although it'southward even so 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 by a vast variety of web programming technologies, including PHP, diverse Apache extensions like mod_perl, Java of diverse flavors and frameworks including Java EE, Struts, Spring, etc, Python-based frameworks like Django, Carmine on Rails and many other Ruby frameworks, and various Microsoft technologies.

Here are a few tips when working with CGI scripts:

  • When editing, always used a apparently text editor, such equally 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 crave for your script are installed and supported.

11. Server Issue (Check With Your Host)

Finally, because 500 internal server errors tin likewise occur from PHP timing out or fatal PHP errors with third-party plugins, you can always check with your WordPress host. Sometimes these errors tin can be hard to troubleshoot without an expert. Here are just a few mutual examples of some errors that trigger 500 HTTP status codes on the server that might have yous scratching your head.

          PHP bulletin: PHP Fatal mistake: Uncaught Fault: Phone call to undefined function mysql_error()...        
          PHP bulletin: PHP Fatal fault: Uncaught Error: Cannot employ object of type WP_Error as assortment 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-agile and start fixing the issue right away. Nosotros besides 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% private and are non shared with anyone else or even your own sites.

PHP timeouts could besides occur from the lack of PHP workers, although typically these cause 504 errors, not 500 errors. These make up one's mind 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. Once you lot'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 near PHP workers.

Monitor Your Site

If you lot're worried about these types of errors happening on your site in the hereafter, you lot can too utilize a tool like updown.io to monitor and notify you immediately if they occur. It periodically sends an HTTP HEAD asking to the URL of your choice. Y'all can but use your homepage. The tool allows you to set check frequencies of:

  • 15 seconds
  • 30 seconds
  • 1 minute
  • 2 minutes
  • 5 minutes
  • ten minutes

Information technology will send you lot an email if and when your site goes downward. Here is an example below.

Email notification of 500 error
Electronic mail notification of 500 error

This can be particularly useful if you're trying to debug a faulty plugin or are on a shared host, who tend to overcrowd their servers. This tin can give you lot proof of how often your site might really exist doing down (even during the centre of the night). That'due south why we always recommend going with a managed WordPress host. Brand certain to cheque out our post that explores the top 9 reasons to choose managed WordPress hosting.

Summary

500 internal server errors are always frustrating, only hopefully, at present y'all know a few additional ways to troubleshoot them to quickly get your site back up and running. Remember, typically these types of errors are caused by third-political party plugins, fatal PHP errors, database connexion issues, bug with your .htaccess file or PHP retentiveness limits, and sometimes PHP timeouts.

Was there anything we missed? Perhaps you take another tip on troubleshooting 500 internal server errors. If so, permit us know below in the comments.

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