This article provides you with steps to fix internal server error 500 received in WordPress
Internal server error is one of the most common WordPress errors. Since the error doesn’t give any other information, many beginners find it quite frustrating. In this article, we will show you how to easily fix internal server error in WordPress.
What Causes Internal Server Error in WordPress?
Internal server error is not specific to WordPress. It can happen with any website running on a web server. Due to the generic nature of this error, it does not tell the developer anything.
Internal server error in WordPress is often caused by plugin or theme functions. Other possible causes of internal server error in WordPress that we know of are: corrupted .htaccess file and PHP memory limit.
We have also heard internal server error only showing up when you are trying to access the admin area while the rest of the site works fine.
Let’s take a look at how to go about troubleshooting the internal server error in WordPress.
Checking for Corrupt .htaccess File
The first thing you should do when troubleshooting the internal server error in WordPress is check for the corrupted .htaccess file.
You can do so by renaming your main .htaccess file to something like .htaccess_old.
- To rename the .htaccess file, you will need to login to File Manager in your hosting account’s cPanel dashboard.
- Once you connected, the .htaccess file will be located in the same directory where you will see folders like wp-content, wp-admin, and wp-includes.
- Once you have renamed the .htaccess file, try visiting your site to see if this solved the problem. If it did, then give yourself a pat on the back because you fixed the internal server error.
Increasing the PHP Memory Limit
Sometimes internal server error can happen if you are exhausting your PHP memory limit. Use our tutorial on how to increase PHP memory limit in WordPress to fix that.
If you are seeing the internal server error only when you try to login to your WordPress admin or uploading an image in your wp-admin, then you should increase the memory limit
- Please see our article here on how to increase your PHP limit in cPanel.
Deactivate all Plugins
If none of the above solutions worked for you, then this error is most likely being caused by a specific plugin.
- It is also possible that it is a combination of plugins that are not playing nice with each other.
- You have to deactivate all WordPress plugins at once.
- If disabling all plugins fixed the error, then you know it is one of the plugins that is causing the error.
- Simply go to the WordPress admin area and click on ‘Plugins’.
- Now you need to reactivate one plugin at a time until you find the one that caused the issue. Get rid of that plugin, and report the error to the plugin author.
Re-uploading Core Files
If the plugin option didn’t fix the internal server error, then it is worth re-uploading the wp-admin and wp-includes folder from a fresh WordPress install.
This will NOT remove any of your information, but it may solve the problem in case any file was corrupted.
TIP: Please see more articles regarding WordPress here.