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How to Fix the 500 Internal Server Error in WordPress

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When compared to other HTTP error codes and status codes, internal server errors in WordPress are difficult to understand in most of the cases (also known as http error 500). They don’t give you any useful information about the problem, and they’re almost never really related with server faults

Let’s give a detailed look about what this 500 internal server error in WordPress means and how to fix it in this article:

 

What is the 500 internal server error

The definitions of the 500 internal server error on the internet are a little hazy. In other words, there’s no clear evidence of what went wrong and produced the issue.

The only thing that is clear is that the problem is the result of a website activity gone wrong. This can signify that a script included in a theme or plugin performed something it shouldn’t have done, especially in the case of WordPress.

Luckily there are a few solutions to resolve this error

How to resolve 500 internal server error

In most cases, the 500 internal server issue can be resolved in six steps:

1. Edit your wp-config.php file and turn the debugging on

We recommend turning on debugging if WordPress gives you a white screen of death or a server error. While this may not solve the problem, it will provide you with more information about what is going on.

Debugging can be enabled by modifying the wp-config.php file on your site. Look for WP DEBUG constant in this file once you’ve accessed it. You should be able to set it to “true” to turn the debugging mode “On”

define( ‘WP_DEBUG’, true );

Reload your site after saving this file to see if anything has changed. In most of the case the server error will go away and be replaced by a new message that will tell you exactly where the problem is.

If this is the case, investigate the source of the error. Disable the plugin if it’s in a plugin folder, and the error should go away.

2. Deactivate the plugins and switch to another theme

If  you can access the WordPress dashboard, deactivate all the plugins. If your website loads without the server error, it’s likely that one of your plugins caused the problem. You can turn them on one by one to see which one is causing the problems.

You can also use a default, unaltered WordPress theme like Twenty Fifteen or Twenty Sixteen to change your theme. After switching the theme if you can see that the site is loading without any issue , then the culprit it the theme that you have used before the switching process.

3. Check the rules inside your .htaccess file

htaccess is a configuration file for use on web servers running on the web apache server software , Check your WordPress root folder using your FTP client to see if you have an.htaccess file. Before you do this, check sure your FTP editor allows you to see hidden files. Make a backup of your .htaccess file and remove all the lines from it , If it resolve the issue , the culprit is one the rule inside your .htaccess , You analyse it in detail after this process

4. Increase the memory allocated for WordPress

Sometimes the limited memory for the culprit behind a 500 server error , In that case you can increase the memory by adding the following rule in your wp-config.php

define(‘WP_MEMORY_LIMIT’, ’64M’);

5. Contact Your Hosting Provider

There are a few odd issues that can cause internal server failures with WordPress, but it’s probably better to question your hosting provider at this point. They can look into things like file permissions and other sources to see if the problem is a genuine server issue, which they can at least confirm.

6. Reinstall WordPress

In most circumstances, We don’t think this will help in most of the cases in an efficient way, but there are a few exceptions where a WordPress reinstall may help. Along the process, it might even repair file permission issues.

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