Are You Facing the 500 Internal Server Error? Here’s The Fix!

Handling a WordPress site means you will come across different types of errors depending on the problem you run into. Some of these errors can be fixed by tweaking a thing or two while others need days of troubleshooting to get fixed. I am sure you must have encountered 500 internal server error in WordPress before ?

After all, these are one of the most common errors in the WordPress realm. Unfortunately, people find especially non-techies find this error quite frustrating as it doesn’t give any other information. The following post emphasizes on fixing the 500 internal server error in WordPress.

Imagine a situation where everything was working fine a few days ago. All of a sudden, a minor glitch is found, and you start observing a 500 internal error on every page of your website. Fret not! You don’t have to worry as there is a solution for almost everything on WordPress.

All thanks to its nature and diversity, you can find a solution for everything. What Is a 500 Internal Server Error? This error occurs on the server level when a server is unable to show the requested page. It’s basically an application side issue that can happen on your web server.

Now when you write a specific URL into the address bar, or you click on a website, it means you are requesting the server to show you a page. Due to some reasons, the server can’t show you the specific page you are seeking. This certainly means you are facing an internal server error.

Technically speaking, the 500 internal server error code is a generic “catch-all” that means the server encountered an unexpected condition that prevented it from fulfilling the request. However, you may find many variations of the 500 internal server error message such as 500
internal server error, internal server error, error 500, HTTP 500, HTTP Error 500 – Internal Server Error, temporary error (500), etc. They all mean the same- something has gone wrong with the server.

P.S. – Just be on the safe side, always ask your hosting provider to offer you automated backup.

Create a Backup

Before we begin with any solution, it is essential for you to know that if you think you are responsible for the errors especially those ones which occur on your hosted server, you are mistaken. Some of these errors are severe based (nothing to do with manual efforts) and may end up compromising your whole website. So before anything don’t forget to take adequate backup on your server. Try making it a mandatory practice!

Resolve 500 Internal Server Error

Like I said before, troubleshooting any error can save a lot of time and effort. Doing an initial analysis of the problem can provide some help in identifying the root cause so that you can pave your way towards an appropriate solution. One of the two common reasons of this error is corrupt .htaccess file and PHP memory limit.

#1 corrupt .htaccess file – Do you know which this error is one of the key files in any PHP based

application? The file contains server related configuration rules which means if your .htaccess file is corrupted it may cause the 500 internal server error. Usually affected by a module or a broken installation of a theme, you need to first access your .htaccess file.

Simply log in to your FTP account. After that, you will see a .htaccess file available in the root directory along with other folders such as wp-content, wp-includes, and wp-admin. Something like this:

Now it’s time to download it from the live server to a local location on your PC. And simply open this file in your text editor (Notepad++, Dreamweaver, etc.). Navigate to https://codex.wordpress.org/htaccess and copy – paste the version of code especially the one that fits the best for your website. Lastly, save the htaccess file and upload it to the live server. And reload your website.

#2 PHP memory limit– Usually when a user makes some kind of request, and PHP handles it. A process is triggered which ultimately renders the HTML at the client’s end. PHP memory is allocated to run such kind of procedures. You can even fix the 500 internal error by increasing the PHP memory limit. Your host and WordPress set the PHP memory limits by default.

As soon as a memory drop is observed, the server automatically displays a 500 internal server error. To avoid such discrepancy, simply increase the PHP memory limit in WordPress. Lastly, don’t forget to check whether your website works fine or not. You can also increase the website’s PHP memory limits by altering the code in one of these files:

• Functions.php File
• .htaccess File
• PHP.ini File
• wp-Config.php File

Fresh wp-admin

There are times when it is difficult to resolve an error. A typical WordPress site comprises of third party themes and plugins and auditing their source code is no walk in the park. Here you require downloading new wp-admin & wp-content folders and upload to live host via FTP. Also, make sure you have already backed up the website in prior.

Conclusion

If nothing of these aforementioned pointers work, simply contact with your hosting provider.