The dreaded 500 internal server mistake. It always seems to come 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 of america, we've all been there. Other errors that comport similarly that you might have also seen include the frightening error establishing a database connection and the dreaded white screen of death. Just from the moment your site goes down, you lot're losing visitors and customers. Not to mention it simply looks bad for your brand.

Today we're going to swoop into the 500 internal server fault and walk you through some ways to get your site back online quickly. Read more beneath about what causes this error and what you tin do to foreclose it in the future.

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

Check Out Our Ultimate Guide to Fixing the 500 Internal Server Error

What is a 500 Internal Server Error?

The Net Engineering Chore Strength (IETF) defines the 500 Internal Server Error every bit:

The 500 (Internal Server Error) condition lawmaking 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 also includes what they phone call an HTTP status code. A status code is a manner to notify you most the condition of the asking. It could be a 200 condition lawmaking which means "Everything is OK" or a 500 status code which means something has gone wrong.

There are a lot of unlike types of 500 status error codes (500, 501, 502, 503, 504, etc.) and they all hateful something different. 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 half-dozen.6.1).

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

500 Internal Server Error Variations

Due to the various spider web servers, operating systems, and browsers, a 500 internal server fault can nowadays itself in a number of dissimilar ways. Only they are all communicating the same thing. Below are only a couple of the many different variations you might come across on the web:

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

You might as well see this message accompanying it:

The server encountered an internal error or misconfiguration and was unable to complete your request. Please contact the server ambassador, [email protected] and inform them of the time the error occurred, and annihilation you might have washed that may take caused 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 lot 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 error in Firefox

Bigger brands might even have their own custom 500 internal server error letters, such as this one from Airbnb.

Airbnb 500 internal server error
Airbnb 500 internal server mistake

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

readme 500 internal server error
readme 500 internal server error

Fifty-fifty 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 have additional HTTP condition codes to more closely signal the crusade of the 500 fault:

  • 500.0 – Module or ISAPI error occurred.
  • 500.11 – Application is shutting down on the web server.
  • 500.12 – Application is busy restarting on the web server.
  • 500.xiii – Web server is too busy.
  • 500.15 – Direct requests for global.asax are not immune.
  • 500.19 – Configuration data is invalid.
  • 500.21 – Module not recognized.
  • 500.22 – An ASP.Internet httpModules configuration does non apply in Managed Pipeline manner.
  • 500.23 – An ASP.NET httpHandlers configuration does not employ in Managed Pipeline style.
  • 500.24 – An ASP.NET impersonation configuration does not utilise in Managed Pipeline mode.
  • 500.50 – A rewrite error occurred during RQ_BEGIN_REQUEST notification handling. A configuration or entering rule execution error occurred.
  • 500.51 – A rewrite error occurred during GL_PRE_BEGIN_REQUEST notification handling. A global configuration or global rule execution error occurred.
  • 500.52 – A rewrite error occurred during RQ_SEND_RESPONSE notification handling. An outbound rule execution occurred.
  • 500.53 – A rewrite error occurred during RQ_RELEASE_REQUEST_STATE notification handling. An outbound rule execution error occurred. The rule is configured to be executed before 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 fashion and tell Google to bank check back at a later time, a 500 error tin have a negative bear upon on SEO if non fixed correct abroad. If your site is only down for say x minutes and it's being crawled consistently a lot of times the crawler volition simply get the page delivered from cache. Or Google might not even take a chance to re-crawl it before it'due south dorsum upwardly. In this scenario, you're completely fine.

However, if the site is down for an extended period of time, say half dozen+ hours, then Google might see the 500 error as a site level effect that needs to be addressed. This could impact your rankings. If you're worried about 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 Mistake

Where should you commencement troubleshooting when y'all see a 500 internal server error on your WordPress site? Sometimes you might not fifty-fifty know where to begin. Typically 500 errors are on the server itself, but from our experience, these errors originate from two things, the first isuser fault (client-side consequence), and the second is that at that place is a problem with the server. And then we'll dive into a fiddling of both.

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

ane. Effort Reloading the Page

This might seem a little obvious to some, but ane of the easiest and first things you should attempt when encountering a 500 internal server error is to simply expect a minute or so and reload the page (F5 or Ctrl + F5). It could exist that the host or server is simply overloaded and the site volition come up right back. While you're waiting, you could also rapidly try a unlike browser to dominion that out as an issue.

Another matter you tin can do is to paste the website into downforeveryoneorjustme.com. This website volition tell yous if the site is downwardly or if information technology'southward a problem on your side. A tool like this checks the HTTP status code that is returned from the server. If it'southward anything other than a 200 "Everything is OK" then it will return a downward indication.

downforeveryoneorjustme
downforeveryoneorjustme

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

2. Clear Your Browser Cache

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

  • How to Strength Refresh a Single Page for All Browsers
  • How to Clear Browser Enshroud for Google Chrome
  • How to Clear Browser Cache for Mozilla Firefox
  • How to Articulate Browser Cache for Safari
  • How to Clear Browser Cache for Cyberspace Explorer
  • How to Clear Browser Cache for Microsoft Border
  • How to Clear Browser Cache for Opera

3. Bank check Your Server Logs

Y'all should likewise take advantage of your error logs. If yous're a Kinsta customer, you tin can easily come across errors in the log viewer in the MyKinsta dashboard. This can help you speedily narrow downwardly the issue, specially if it'south resulting from a plugin on your site.

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

If your host doesn't have a logging tool, y'all tin can also enable WordPress debugging mode past 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, similar hither at Kinsta might have a dedicated binder called "logs".

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

Yous tin can also bank check the log files in Apache and Nginx, which are unremarkably located hither:

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

If yous're a Kinsta customer you can besides take reward of our analytics tool to become a breakup of the total number of 500 errors and see how often and when they are occurring. This can help you troubleshoot if this is an ongoing consequence, or possibly something that has resolved itself.

Response analysis 500 error breakdown
Response assay 500 error breakdown

If the 500 fault is displaying because of a fatal PHP error, yous tin can also try enabling PHP fault reporting. Simply add together the following lawmaking to the file throwing the error. Typically you tin can narrow downwardly the file in the console tab of Google Chrome DevTools.

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

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

          display_errors = on

4. Error Establishing a Database Connexion

500 internal server errors tin can also occur from a database connection error. Depending upon your browser you might see unlike errors. But both volition generate a 500 HTTP condition code regardless in your server logs.

Below is an example of what an "error establishing a database connection" message looks like 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 intermission the front-end of your site, merely it volition also prevent you from accessing your WordPress dashboard.

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

Then why exactly does this happen? Well, here are a few common reasons beneath.

  • The most common result is that yourdatabase login credentials are wrong. Your WordPress site uses dissever login information 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 by accident.
  • You lot 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 exist wrong on the web hosts end, such as the database being overloaded from a traffic spike or unresponsive from too many concurrent connections. This is actually quite mutual with shared hosts equally they are utilizing the same resources for a lot of users on the same servers.

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

5. Check Your Plugins and Themes

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

A few means yous can troubleshoot this is by deactivating all your plugins. Remember, you won't lose any data if you but deactivate a plugin. If you tin can all the same access your admin, a quick way to do this is to scan 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'll need to detect the culprit. Showtime activating them one by one, reloading the site after each activation. When you see the 500 internal server error return, you've found the misbehaving plugin. You can then reach out to the plugin developer for assist or post a support ticket in the WordPress repository.

If you can't login to WordPress admin you can FTP into your server and rename your plugins folder to something like plugins_old. Then check your site once again. If it works, so you will demand to exam each plugin ane by one. Rename your plugin folder dorsum to "plugins" and and then rename each plugin folder inside of if it, one past one, until you find it. You could likewise try to replicate this on a staging site showtime.

Rename plugin folder
Rename plugin binder

E'er makes sure 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 disharmonize with bad code in a plugin, y'all might demand to bring in a WordPress developer to gear up the issue.

6. Reinstall WordPress Core

Sometimes WordPress core files tin can get corrupted, especially on older sites. It'southward actually quite easy to re-upload just the core of WordPress without impacting your plugins or themes. We have an in-depth guide with 5 different means to reinstall WordPress. And of course, brand sure to take a backup before proceeding. Skip to i 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 Fault

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

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

Yous can easily see your file permissions with an FTP customer (as seen beneath). You could too attain out to your WordPress host support team and inquire 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 fault could also be caused past exhausting the PHP memory limit on your server. Y'all 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 Retention Limit in cPanel

If yous're running on a host that uses cPanel, you can easily change 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 lot can then click on the memory_limit aspect and change its value. Then click on "Save."

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

Increase PHP Memory Limit in Apache

The .htaccess file is a special hidden file that contains various settings y'all can employ to modify the server behavior, correct down to a directory specific level. First login to your site via FTP or SSH, accept a look at your root directory and encounter if there is a .htaccess file there.

.htaccess file
.htaccess file

If there is yous can edit that file to add the necessary code for increasing the PHP memory limit. Most likely it is set at 64M or below, you can try increasing this value.

          php_value memory_limit 128M

Increase PHP Memory Limit in php.ini File

If the above doesn't piece of work for you might try 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 alter them if necessary. If you just created the file, or the settings are nowhere to be found yous tin can paste the code beneath. Y'all can alter of course the values to run into your needs.

          memory_limit = 128M

Some shared hosts might likewise require that yous add together 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 following code towards the top of the file:

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

If the above didn't work for you, information technology could be that your host has the global settings locked down and instead accept information technology 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

Increment PHP Memory Limit in wp-config.php

The concluding pick is not one we are fans of, but if all else fails you lot can give it a go. Kickoff, 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 code to the top of your wp-config.php file:

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

You lot can also inquire your host if y'all're running into memory limit issues. Nosotros 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. You can too use your ain custom New Relic key from your ain license.

Debugging with New Relic
Debugging with New Relic

9. Problem With Your .htaccess File

Kinsta only uses Nginx, but 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 below 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

Normally to recreate this file you tin can merely re-save your permalinks in WordPress. However, if you're in the middle of a 500 internal server mistake y'all nearly likely can't access your WordPress admin, so this isn't an selection. Therefore yous can create a new .htaccess file and input the post-obit contents. And then upload it to your server.

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

See the WordPress Codex for more 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 it'south still worth mentioning, especially for those using cPanel where there are a lot of one-click CGI scripts even so 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 similar mod_perl, Java of various flavors and frameworks including Java EE, Struts, Jump, etc, Python-based frameworks similar Django, Ruddy 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 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 lot can select in your FTP editor) into the cgi-bin directory on your server.
  • Ostend that the Perl modules you require for your script are installed and supported.

11. Server Consequence (Bank check With Your Host)

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

          PHP message: PHP Fatal mistake: Uncaught Error: Call to undefined function mysql_error()...        
          PHP message: PHP Fatal error: Uncaught Fault: Cannot use object of type WP_Error as assortment in /www/binder/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 us to exist pro-active and start fixing the issue right away. We also apply 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 resource are 100% private and are non shared with anyone else or even your own sites.

PHP timeouts could also occur from the lack of PHP workers, although typically these cause 504 errors, not 500 errors. These make up one's mind how many simultaneous requests your site can handle at a given fourth dimension. To put it just, 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 yous'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 nigh PHP workers.

Monitor Your Site

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

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

It will send y'all an email if and when your site goes downward. Here is an case below.

Email notification of 500 error
Email notification of 500 error

This tin exist especially useful if you lot'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 be doing down (even during the eye of the night). That'south why we always recommend going with a managed WordPress host. Brand certain to cheque out our post that explores the tiptop ix reasons to choose managed WordPress hosting.

Summary

500 internal server errors are always frustrating, but hopefully, now you know a few boosted ways to troubleshoot them to quickly get your site dorsum up and running. Remember, typically these types of errors are caused by third-party plugins, fatal PHP errors, database connection issues, bug 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 then, allow us know below in the comments.

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