The dreaded 500 internal server error. It ever seems to come up at the near inopportune time and you're all of a sudden left scrambling to figure out how to become your WordPress site dorsum online. Trust u.s.a., we've all been there. Other errors that behave similarly that you lot might have besides seen include the frightening fault establishing a database connexion and the dreaded white screen of death. But from the moment your site goes downward, you're losing visitors and customers. Non to mention it but looks bad for your brand.

Today we're going to dive into the 500 internal server error and walk you through some ways to get your site back online speedily. Read more below about what causes this error and what you can do to preclude it in the time to come.

  • What is a 500 internal server mistake?
  • How to set up 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 Net Engineering Job Force (IETF) defines the 500 Internal Server Mistake equally:

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

When y'all visit a website your browser sends a request over to the server where the site is hosted. The server takes this request, processes information technology, and sends back the requested resources (PHP, HTML, CSS, etc.) along with an HTTP header. The HTTP also includes what they telephone call an HTTP status code. A status code is a manner to notify you nigh the status of the asking. It 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 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, section 6.6.1).

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

500 Internal Server Error Variations

Due to the various web servers, operating systems, and browsers, a 500 internal server error can present itself in a number of different ways. Merely they are all communicating the same thing. Beneath are but a couple of the many different variations you lot might meet on the web:

    • "500 Internal Server Mistake"
    • "HTTP 500"
    • "Internal Server Error"
    • "HTTP 500 – Internal Server Error"
    • "500 Error"
    • "HTTP Error 500"
    • "500 – Internal Server Error"
    • "500 Internal Server Error. Sorry something went wrong."
    • "500. That's an mistake. There was an fault. Delight try again later. That'southward all we know."
    • "The website cannot brandish the page – HTTP 500."
    • "Is currently unable to handle this request. HTTP Error 500."

You lot might as well run across this message accompanying it:

The server encountered an internal error or misconfiguration and was unable to complete your asking. Delight contact the server ambassador, [electronic mail protected] and inform them of the time the mistake occurred, and anything you lot might have done that may take acquired the error. More information well-nigh this fault may be available in the server error log.

Internal Server Error
Internal Server Error

Other times, y'all might but 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 even have their ain custom 500 internal server fault messages, such every bit this one from Airbnb.

Airbnb 500 internal server error
Airbnb 500 internal server error

Here is another creative 500 server mistake instance from the folks over at readme.

readme 500 internal server error
readme 500 internal server fault

Even the mighty YouTube isn't safety 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 have boosted HTTP status codes to more than closely bespeak the cause of the 500 error:

  • 500.0 – Module or ISAPI error occurred.
  • 500.eleven – Application is shutting down on the spider web server.
  • 500.12 – Application is busy restarting on the spider web server.
  • 500.13 – Web server is also busy.
  • 500.fifteen – Direct requests for global.asax are not immune.
  • 500.19 – Configuration data is invalid.
  • 500.21 – Module not recognized.
  • 500.22 – An ASP.NET httpModules configuration does not apply in Managed Pipeline mode.
  • 500.23 – An ASP.NET httpHandlers configuration does not apply in Managed Pipeline mode.
  • 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 handling. A configuration or inbound rule execution error occurred.
  • 500.51 – A rewrite fault occurred during GL_PRE_BEGIN_REQUEST notification handling. A global configuration or global rule execution mistake occurred.
  • 500.52 – A rewrite mistake 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 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

Unlike 503 errors, which are used for WordPress maintenance mode and tell Google to check back at a later time, a 500 fault can have a negative impact on SEO if non fixed right abroad. If your site is only down for say 10 minutes and information technology'south being crawled consistently a lot of times the crawler will only get the folio delivered from cache. Or Google might not even take a gamble to re-crawl it earlier it'southward dorsum upwards. In this scenario, you're completely fine.

However, if the site is down for an extended period of fourth dimension, say 6+ hours, and so Google might see the 500 error every bit a site level consequence that needs to be addressed. This could impact your rankings. If you're worried about echo 500 errors you should effigy out why they are happening to begin with. Some of the solutions beneath can help.

How to Set up the 500 Internal Server Error

Where should y'all get-go troubleshooting when y'all encounter a 500 internal server error on your WordPress site? Sometimes you lot might not even know where to brainstorm. Typically 500 errors are on the server itself, but from our experience, these errors originate from two things, the first isuser error (customer-side issue), and the second is that there is a problem with the server. So we'll swoop into a little of both.

Cheque out these common causes and means to fix the 500 internal server mistake 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 outset things you should try when encountering a 500 internal server error is to only wait a infinitesimal or so and reload the page (F5 or Ctrl + F5). It could be that the host or server is simply overloaded and the site will come right back. While you lot're waiting, you could likewise quickly endeavour a dissimilar browser to rule that out as an issue.

Some other thing y'all tin can do is to paste the website into downforeveryoneorjustme.com. This website will tell you if the site is down or if it'south a problem on your side. A tool like this checks the HTTP status code that is returned from the server. If it's anything other than a 200 "Everything is OK" and so it volition return a downwardly indication.

downforeveryoneorjustme
downforeveryoneorjustme

We've also noticed that sometimes this tin can occur immediately later on you 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. Yet, things usually resolve themselves in a couple of seconds and therefore refreshing is all y'all need to practise.

two. Articulate Your Browser Cache

Clearing your browser cache is ever another skilful 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 Enshroud for Mozilla Firefox
  • How to Clear Browser Cache for Safari
  • How to Clear Browser Cache for Internet Explorer
  • How to Articulate Browser Cache for Microsoft Edge
  • How to Clear Browser Enshroud for Opera

iii. Check Your Server Logs

Yous should too have advantage of your fault logs. If you're a Kinsta client, you lot can easily see errors in the log viewer in the MyKinsta dashboard. This can help you chop-chop narrow down the issue, especially if information technology's resulting from a plugin on your site.

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

If your host doesn't take a logging tool, yous can also enable WordPress debugging mode by 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', simulated );

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 hither:

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

If you're a Kinsta client you can as well accept advantage of our analytics tool to become a breakdown of the total number of 500 errors and run across how often and when they are occurring. This tin help yous troubleshoot if this is an ongoing event, or perchance something that has resolved itself.

Response analysis 500 error breakdown
Response analysis 500 error breakdown

If the 500 mistake is displaying considering of a fatal PHP error, yous tin can too endeavor enabling PHP fault reporting. Simply add the following code to the file throwing the fault. Typically you tin narrow down the file in the console tab of Google Chrome DevTools.

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

And you lot might need to also change your php.ini file with the post-obit:

          display_errors = on

iv. Error Establishing a Database Connection

500 internal server errors can as well occur from a database connection mistake. Depending upon your browser you might see dissimilar errors. Only both will generate a 500 HTTP status code regardless in your server logs.

Below is an instance of what an "fault establishing a database connection" message looks similar your browser. The entire page is blank considering no data can be retrieved to render the page, as the connectedness is not working properly. Not only does this break the front-stop of your site, but it will also forbid y'all from accessing your WordPress dashboard.

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

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 data to connect to its MySQL database.
  • Your WordPress database is corrupted. With so many moving parts with themes, plugins, and users constantly deleting and installing them, sometimes databases become corrupted. This can be due to a missing or individually corrupted table, or perhaps some information was deleted by blow.
  • You may have corrupt files in your WordPress installation. This can fifty-fifty 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 beingness overloaded from a traffic spike or unresponsive from also many concurrent connections. This is actually quite common with shared hosts as they are utilizing the aforementioned resources for a lot of users on the same servers.

Cheque out our in-depth mail service on how to fix the error establishing a database connectedness in WordPress.

5. Cheque Your Plugins and Themes

Third-political party plugins and themes can easily crusade 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 you should see the mistake immediately afterward installing something new or running an update. This is 1 reason why we always recommend utilizing a staging surround for updates or at least running updates ane by i. Otherwise, if yous run across a 500 internal server error you're suddenly scrambling to figure out which one caused information technology.

A few ways yous can troubleshoot this is by deactivating all your plugins. Recall, you lot won't lose whatsoever information if you simply conciliate a plugin. If you can nonetheless access your admin, a quick way to practise this is to browse to "Plugins" and select "Deactivate" from the bulk actions menu. This will disable all of your plugins.

Deactivate all plugins
Conciliate all plugins

If this fixes the issue you lot'll need to find the culprit. Showtime activating them one past one, reloading the site afterward each activation. When yous see the 500 internal server error return, y'all've found the misbehaving plugin. You tin can then reach out to the plugin developer for help or post 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 folder to something like plugins_old. Then bank check your site again. If information technology works, then you volition need to test each plugin ane by 1. Rename your plugin folder back to "plugins" and then rename each plugin folder within of if it, one by one, until y'all find it. You could also try to replicate this on a staging site get-go.

Rename plugin folder
Rename plugin folder

Ever makes sure your plugins, themes, and WordPress core are up to date. And check to ensure you lot are running a supported version of PHP. If information technology 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.

6. Reinstall WordPress Core

Sometimes WordPress core files can get corrupted, specially on older sites. Information technology'southward actually quite easy to re-upload just the cadre of WordPress without impacting your plugins or themes. Nosotros accept an in-depth guide with v dissimilar ways to reinstall WordPress. And of course, make sure to have a backup 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

7. Permissions Fault

A permissions mistake 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 binder 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 always be given 777, even upload directories.
  • Hardening: wp-config.php could as well be set to 440 or 400 to prevent other users on the server from reading it.

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

You lot can easily see your file permissions with an FTP client (equally seen below). Y'all could also achieve out to your WordPress host support team and enquire them to speedily GREP file permissions on your folders and files to ensure they're setup properly.

File permissions SFTP
File permissions SFTP

8. PHP Retentivity Limit

A 500 internal server mistake could too exist caused by exhausting the PHP retentivity limit on your server. You could try increasing the limit. Follow the instructions beneath on how to change this limit in cPanel, Apache, your php.ini file, and wp-config.php file.

Increase PHP Memory Limit in cPanel

If you're running on a host that uses cPanel, you can hands modify 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 then click on the memory_limit attribute and modify its value. Then click on "Save."

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

Increment PHP Memory Limit in Apache

The .htaccess file is a special subconscious file that contains various settings you can use to modify the server beliefs, correct downwards to a directory specific level. Start login to your site via FTP or SSH, take a look at your root directory and see if at that place is a .htaccess file there.

.htaccess file
.htaccess file

If there is y'all can edit that file to add the necessary lawmaking for increasing the PHP memory limit. Nearly probable information technology is set at 64M or beneath, y'all can endeavour increasing this value.

          php_value memory_limit 128M

Increase PHP Memory Limit in php.ini File

If the higher up doesn't piece of work for you lot might attempt editing your php.ini file. Log in to your site via FTP or SSH, get to your site's root directory and open up 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 yous only created the file, or the settings are nowhere to exist found you can paste the code beneath. You lot tin can modify of form the values to come across your needs.

          memory_limit = 128M

Some shared hosts might also crave that you add the suPHP directive in your .htaccess file for the above php.ini file settings to work. To do this, edit your .htaccess file, also located at the root of your site, and add the post-obit lawmaking towards the top of the file:

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

If the to a higher place didn't piece of work for yous, it could be that your host has the global settings locked down and instead accept information technology configured to apply .user.ini files. To edit your .user.ini file, login to your site via FTP or SSH, get to your site'south root directory and open or create a .user.ini file. You can and then paste in the following code:

          memory_limit = 128M

Increase PHP Memory Limit in wp-config.php

The concluding pick is not one we are fans of, but if all else fails y'all can requite it a go. Beginning, 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 pinnacle of your wp-config.php file:

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

You lot can also inquire your host if you're running into memory limit problems. We utilize 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. Y'all tin can also use your own custom New Relic key from your own license.

Debugging with New Relic
Debugging with New Relic

ix. Trouble With Your .htaccess File

Kinsta merely uses Nginx, just 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 get corrupted. Follow the steps beneath to recreate a new one from scratch.

Starting time, 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 you can just re-save your permalinks in WordPress. Nonetheless, if you're in the middle of a 500 internal server fault you well-nigh likely tin't access your WordPress admin, then 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 . /index.php [L] </IfModule> # Terminate WordPress

See 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 beingness caused past errors in CGI and Perl is a lot less common than it used to be. Although information technology's still worth mentioning, peculiarly for those using cPanel where in that location are a lot of one-click CGI scripts nevertheless being used. Equally AEM on Stack Overflow says:

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

Hither 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 yous require for your script are installed and supported.

xi. Server Event (Check With Your Host)

Finally, because 500 internal server errors can also occur from PHP timing out or fatal PHP errors with tertiary-political party plugins, you can ever bank check with your WordPress host. Sometimes these errors can be difficult to troubleshoot without an proficient. Hither are simply a few mutual examples of some errors that trigger 500 HTTP status codes on the server that might have you scratching your caput.

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

Nosotros monitor all client'southward sites hither at Kinsta and are automatically notified when these types of errors occur. This allows us to be pro-agile and beginning fixing the issue right abroad. Nosotros also utilise 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 not shared with anyone else or fifty-fifty your ain sites.

PHP timeouts could also occur from the lack of PHP workers, although typically these crusade 504 errors, not 500 errors. These decide 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 by a PHP Worker.

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

Monitor Your Site

If you're worried most these types of errors happening on your site in the future, you can too apply a tool like updown.io to monitor and notify yous immediately if they occur. Information technology periodically sends an HTTP HEAD request to the URL of your choice. You can just utilize your homepage. The tool allows you lot to set bank check frequencies of:

  • 15 seconds
  • 30 seconds
  • one minute
  • 2 minutes
  • v minutes
  • 10 minutes

Information technology will send you an electronic mail if and when your site goes down. Here is an example beneath.

Email notification of 500 error
Email notification of 500 fault

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

Summary

500 internal server errors are ever frustrating, but hopefully, now yous know a few boosted ways to troubleshoot them to quickly get your site back up and running. Remember, typically these types of errors are acquired past 3rd-political party plugins, fatal PHP errors, database connection problems, bug with your .htaccess file or PHP retention limits, and sometimes PHP timeouts.

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

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