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

Today we're going to swoop into the 500 internal server error and walk you through some ways to get your site back online quickly. Read more below about what causes this mistake and what you tin can practise to prevent information technology in the future.

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

Cheque Out Our Ultimate Guide to Fixing the 500 Internal Server Mistake

What is a 500 Internal Server Fault?

The Internet Applied science Task Strength (IETF) defines the 500 Internal Server Error equally:

The 500 (Internal Server Error) condition code indicates that the server encountered an unexpected condition that prevented information technology from fulfilling the request.

When yous 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 dorsum the requested resources (PHP, HTML, CSS, etc.) along with an HTTP header. The HTTP also includes what they call an HTTP status code. A status lawmaking is a manner to notify you about the status of the request. Information technology could be a 200 condition code which means "Everything is OK" or a 500 status code which means something has gone incorrect.

There are a lot of different types of 500 status fault codes (500, 501, 502, 503, 504, etc.) and they all mean something dissimilar. In this case, a 500 internal server error indicates that the server encountered an unexpected condition that prevented information technology from fulfilling the request(RFC 7231, section 6.6.one).

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

500 Internal Server Mistake Variations

Due to the various spider web servers, operating systems, and browsers, a 500 internal server error tin can present itself in a number of different ways. But they are all communicating the same thing. Beneath are but a couple of the many different variations yous might run across on the web:

    • "500 Internal Server Error"
    • "HTTP 500"
    • "Internal Server Fault"
    • "HTTP 500 – Internal Server Fault"
    • "500 Error"
    • "HTTP Error 500"
    • "500 – Internal Server Error"
    • "500 Internal Server Mistake. Sad something went wrong."
    • "500. That's an error. In that location was an error. Please try again later. That's all we know."
    • "The website cannot brandish the page – HTTP 500."
    • "Is currently unable to handle this request. HTTP ERROR 500."

You might also see this message accompanying it:

The server encountered an internal mistake or misconfiguration and was unable to consummate your request. Please 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 than information virtually this error may be available in the server fault log.

Internal Server Error
Internal Server Fault

Other times, you might only see a bare white screen. When dealing with 500 internal server errors, this is actually quite mutual 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 error messages, such every bit this one from Airbnb.

Airbnb 500 internal server error
Airbnb 500 internal server error

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

readme 500 internal server error
readme 500 internal server fault

Fifty-fifty the mighty YouTube isn't safe from 500 internal server errors.

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

If information technology'southward an IIS 7.0 (Windows) or college server, they have boosted HTTP status codes to more closely indicate the cause of the 500 error:

  • 500.0 – Module or ISAPI error occurred.
  • 500.11 – Application is shutting downward on the web server.
  • 500.12 – Awarding is busy restarting on the web server.
  • 500.thirteen – Web server is likewise busy.
  • 500.xv – 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 apply in Managed Pipeline mode.
  • 500.23 – An ASP.NET httpHandlers configuration does not apply in Managed Pipeline manner.
  • 500.24 – An ASP.NET impersonation configuration does not utilize in Managed Pipeline style.
  • 500.50 – A rewrite error occurred during RQ_BEGIN_REQUEST notification treatment. A configuration or inbound dominion execution error occurred.
  • 500.51 – A rewrite fault occurred during GL_PRE_BEGIN_REQUEST notification handling. A global configuration or global rule execution error occurred.
  • 500.52 – A rewrite error occurred during RQ_SEND_RESPONSE notification treatment. An outbound dominion 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 exist executed before the output user cache gets updated.
    500.100 – Internal ASP error.

500 Errors Bear on on SEO

Dissimilar 503 errors, which are used for WordPress maintenance mode and tell Google to check dorsum at a later fourth dimension, a 500 error can accept a negative bear on on SEO if not fixed correct abroad. If your site is only down for say x minutes and it's beingness crawled consistently a lot of times the crawler will simply get the page delivered from cache. Or Google might not even have a chance to re-crawl it before it'due south dorsum up. In this scenario, you're completely fine.

Withal, if the site is down for an extended period of fourth dimension, say 6+ hours, then Google might see the 500 fault as a site level outcome that needs to be addressed. This could bear upon 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 Gear up the 500 Internal Server Fault

Where should y'all beginning troubleshooting when you encounter a 500 internal server mistake on your WordPress site? Sometimes yous might not even know where to begin. Typically 500 errors are on the server itself, simply from our feel, these errors originate from 2 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.

Check out these common causes and ways to fix 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 ane of the easiest and first things you should endeavor when encountering a 500 internal server error is to simply look a minute 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 up correct back. While you're waiting, you could also quickly endeavour a different browser to rule that out as an effect.

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

downforeveryoneorjustme
downforeveryoneorjustme

We've also 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 prepare properly. What happens is they feel a temporary timeout right subsequently. Notwithstanding, things usually resolve themselves in a couple of seconds and therefore refreshing is all you demand to do.

2. Clear Your Browser Cache

Immigration your browser enshroud is ever another good troubleshooting pace 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 Enshroud for Mozilla Firefox
  • How to Articulate Browser Cache for Safari
  • How to Clear Browser Cache for Cyberspace Explorer
  • How to Articulate Browser Cache for Microsoft Edge
  • How to Clear Browser Cache for Opera

3. Cheque Your Server Logs

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

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

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

          define( 'WP_DEBUG', truthful ); define( 'WP_DEBUG_LOG', true ); define( 'WP_DEBUG_DISPLAY', simulated );

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

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

Y'all tin can likewise cheque the log files in Apache and Nginx, which are commonly located here:

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

If you're a Kinsta client you can also take advantage of our analytics tool to go 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 upshot, or mayhap something that has resolved itself.

Response analysis 500 error breakdown
Response analysis 500 error breakup

If the 500 fault is displaying because of a fatal PHP error, you can too try enabling PHP fault reporting. Simply add the following lawmaking to the file throwing the error. Typically yous can narrow downward 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 need to also modify your php.ini file with the following:

          display_errors = on

4. Error Establishing a Database Connection

500 internal server errors can as well occur from a database connexion fault. Depending upon your browser y'all might meet different errors. But both will generate a 500 HTTP status code regardless in your server logs.

Below is an example of what an "fault establishing a database connection" message looks like your browser. The entire page is blank because no data can be retrieved to render the page, as the connection is not working properly. Not only does this break the front-stop of your site, just it volition also preclude you from accessing your WordPress dashboard.

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

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

  • The almost common outcome is that yourdatabase login credentials are incorrect. Your WordPress site uses carve up 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 tin 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 even happen sometimes due to hackers.
  • Issues with your database server. A number of things could be 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 common with shared hosts every bit they are utilizing the aforementioned resources for a lot of users on the same servers.

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

5. Bank check Your Plugins and Themes

3rd-party plugins and themes can easily cause 500 internal server errors. We've seen all types cause them hither at Kinsta, from slider plugins to advert rotator plugins. A lot of times you should meet the fault immediately later installing something new or running an update. This is i reason why we always recommend utilizing a staging environs for updates or at to the lowest degree running updates one past i. Otherwise, if y'all encounter a 500 internal server mistake you lot're suddenly scrambling to figure out which one caused it.

A few ways you can troubleshoot this is by deactivating all your plugins. Retrieve, you won't lose any information if yous just deactivate a plugin. If you can notwithstanding access your admin, a quick way to do this is to browse to "Plugins" and select "Deactivate" from the bulk deportment 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. Start activating them one by one, reloading the site after each activation. When you come across the 500 internal server error render, you've plant the misbehaving plugin. You can and then reach out to the plugin developer for help or postal service 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 bank check your site once more. If information technology works, so y'all will need to test each plugin ane by one. Rename your plugin binder dorsum to "plugins" and then rename each plugin folder inside of if it, one by one, until you find it. You could also effort to replicate this on a staging site first.

Rename plugin folder
Rename plugin binder

Always makes sure your plugins, themes, and WordPress core are upward to engagement. And bank check to ensure you are running a supported version of PHP. If information technology turns out to exist a conflict with bad lawmaking in a plugin, you might demand to bring in a WordPress developer to set up the effect.

6. Reinstall WordPress Core

Sometimes WordPress core files can get corrupted, especially on older sites. Information technology'southward actually quite like shooting fish in a barrel to re-upload just the core 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 take 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 binder on your server can as well crusade 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 e'er be given 777, fifty-fifty upload directories.
  • Hardening: wp-config.php could too exist set up to 440 or 400 to prevent other users on the server from reading it.

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

You tin easily see your file permissions with an FTP customer (as seen beneath). You could also accomplish out to your WordPress host support team and enquire 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 Retention Limit

A 500 internal server fault could besides be acquired by exhausting the PHP retentiveness 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 Retention Limit in cPanel

If you lot're running on a host that uses cPanel, y'all 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 tin can then click on the memory_limit attribute and change its value. Then click on "Save."

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

Increment PHP Memory Limit in Apache

The .htaccess file is a special subconscious file that contains various settings you lot can use to alter the server behavior, right downwardly to a directory specific level. First login to your site via FTP or SSH, have a look at your root directory and meet if there is a .htaccess file there.

.htaccess file
.htaccess file

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

          php_value memory_limit 128M

Increase PHP Memory Limit in php.ini File

If the higher up doesn't work for you might endeavour editing your php.ini file. Log in to your site via FTP or SSH, become to your site'south 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 you just created the file, or the settings are nowhere to be found you can paste the code below. You can modify of course the values to run into your needs.

          memory_limit = 128M

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

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

If the higher up didn't work for you, it could be that your host has the global settings locked down and instead have it configured to utilize .user.ini files. To edit your .user.ini file, login to your site via FTP or SSH, go to your site'south root directory and open or create a .user.ini file. You can then paste in the following lawmaking:

          memory_limit = 128M

Increase PHP Memory Limit in wp-config.php

The final option is not one we are fans of, but if all else fails you can give it a go. Showtime, 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 meridian of your wp-config.php file:

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

You lot can also inquire your host if you're running into retentivity limit problems. We utilize the Kinsta APM tool and other troubleshooting methods here at Kinsta to assist clients narrow downward what plugin, query, or script might be exhausting the limit. You tin too employ your own custom New Relic key from your own license.

Debugging with New Relic
Debugging with New Relic

9. Problem With Your .htaccess File

Kinsta only uses Nginx, simply if yous're using a WordPress host that is running Apache, information technology could very well be that your .htaccess file has a trouble 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

Ordinarily to recreate this file y'all tin can just re-save your permalinks in WordPress. However, if you lot're in the middle of a 500 internal server error yous about probable tin can't admission your WordPress admin, then this isn't an option. Therefore yous tin create a new .htaccess file and input the post-obit contents. Then upload it to your server.

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

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

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

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

CGI has been replaced by a vast variety of spider web programming technologies, including PHP, various Apache extensions like mod_perl, Coffee of various flavors and frameworks including Java EE, Struts, Spring, etc, Python-based frameworks similar Django, Cerise 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 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 y'all can select in your FTP editor) into the cgi-bin directory on your server.
  • Ostend that the Perl modules you crave for your script are installed and supported.

11. Server Upshot (Check With Your Host)

Finally, because 500 internal server errors can also occur from PHP timing out or fatal PHP errors with third-party plugins, you can e'er bank check with your WordPress host. Sometimes these errors tin be difficult to troubleshoot without an good. Here are just a few common examples of some errors that trigger 500 HTTP status codes on the server that might have y'all scratching your head.

          PHP message: PHP Fatal fault: Uncaught Error: Phone call to undefined part mysql_error()...        
          PHP bulletin: PHP Fatal mistake: Uncaught Mistake: Cannot use object of type WP_Error as assortment in /www/folder/web/shared/content/plugins/plugin/functions.php:525

We monitor all customer's sites here at Kinsta and are automatically notified when these types of errors occur. This allows usa to be pro-agile and offset fixing the issue correct abroad. We also utilize LXD managed hosts and orchestrated LXC software containers for each site. This means that every WordPress site is housed in its own isolated container, which has all of the software 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 also occur from the lack of PHP workers, although typically these cause 504 errors, not 500 errors. These determine how many simultaneous requests your site tin handle at a given time. To put it but, each uncached asking for your website is handled by a PHP Worker.

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

Monitor Your Site

If you're worried about these types of errors happening on your site in the time to come, you tin also utilize 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 choice. You tin can simply use your homepage. The tool allows you to fix check frequencies of:

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

It volition send you an email if and when your site goes down. Hither is an example below.

Email notification of 500 error
E-mail notification of 500 error

This tin can be peculiarly useful if y'all're trying to debug a faulty plugin or are on a shared host, who tend to overcrowd their servers. This can requite you lot proof of how often your site might actually be doing down (even during the middle of the dark). That'south why nosotros always recommend going with a managed WordPress host. Make sure to bank check out our mail service that explores the top nine reasons to cull managed WordPress hosting.

Summary

500 internal server errors are always frustrating, but hopefully, at present you know a few additional ways to troubleshoot them to speedily get your site back up and running. Remember, typically these types of errors are acquired by tertiary-party plugins, fatal PHP errors, database connection issues, issues with your .htaccess file or PHP memory limits, and sometimes PHP timeouts.

Was at that place anything we missed? Perhaps you have some other tip on troubleshooting 500 internal server errors. If then, let the states know below in the comments.

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