How to Fix an Internal Server Error on a WordPress Website

WordPress Internal Server Error Troubleshooting Summary

1. Enabling debugging for WordPress is pretty straight forward if your familiar with editing files on a web server. Here’s how to do it:
2. Navigate to your site root directory and edit wp-config.php
3. Once you’ve accessed this file and are editing, look for WP_DEBUG
4. Upon identifying WP_DEBUG simply edit the value and set it to “true”
5. If you don’t see it within the file, you’ll need to generate it yourself (it should look like the code below)
6. Upon completion, reload your website
7. In a best case scenario, the internal server will be replaced with an informative description of the current problem with your website
8. If the error seems to be located within a plugin folder simply disable that plugin and the error should go away
9. If debugging hasn’t given you additional insight, best practice dictates leaving it on until the issue is resolved

define( "WP_DEBUG", true );

Important Note: Upon completion of this procedure make sure to reset your WP_DEBUG value back to false so that it isn’t accidentally left in debug mode. By default, debug notification messages will be displayed on your entire site, which is why its so important to deactivate upon completion (not to mention the potential security risk).

The next part of this procedure is to determine whether or not you can access the WordPress backend dashboard. To check this simply visit your WordPress website’s admin URL (i.e. https://yoursite.com/wp-admin) and if the page loads and you see the login page attempt to log in. If you are able to login successfully you can pretty safely conclude the issue lies within one of your plugins or your theme. If the dashboard loads up without any issues proceed to the next step but if it doesn’t go ahead and skip to step five.

In this step we’re going to test and determine if the issues is being caused by a WordPress plugin. Disabling plugins allows you to determine how your website functions without the influence of that particular plugin. Deactivating a plugin does not delete a plugin or remove any data (important data is stored safely in your database) but what it does do is disable the plugin’s code from running which can potentially fix an issue that is causing a website to crash and triggering an Internal Server Error.

Plugins are a great way to expand the functionality of a WordPress website however do to the fact that plugins are generated by different programmers they can often conflict with other code running on a website. For this reason, it’s important to check and see if there is a conflict occurring that is triggering an Internal Server Error.

Assuming you are able to login to your WordPress dashboard, disable plugins by following these steps:

1. Navigate to the Plugins section in your WordPress dashboard.
2. Use the checkbox to select all plugins.
3. Use the Bulk actions drop-down to Deactivate them.
4. Select Apply.

In the event that you are unable to deactivate plugins via the dashboard you can also deactivate them via FTP by following these steps below:

1. Connect to your WordPress site’s server via FTP using an FTP Client like FileZilla.
2. Navigate to the wp-content folder in your root directory.
3. Rename the plugins folder to plugins-deactivated or download the plugins folder and then remove them.

Once you have disabled your plugins check your website and if it’s still giving you an Internal Server Error proceed to step four. However if your site is now up and running, the next action to take is determining which plugin specifically is causing the problem.

To Identify a Problematic Plugin reactivate your plugins one by one and reload your website after activating each one until you find which plugin triggers the Internal Server Error. Upon identifying the culprit, you have a couple options, you can attempt to update the plugin/reinstall it or you can simply remove it if it isn’t essential. If it is an essential critical plugin, you should notify the plugin author and look for a better alternative solution in the mean time.

Important Note: In the event that you have deactivated plugins via FTP, you will need to ensure plugin files are moved back into your WordPress plugins folder in order to reactivate them. If you believe a plugin is made by a reliable author keep in mind that, in rare cases, the version of PHP on a server can impact the way plugins or themes behave. Make sure to take a look at step eight for more information on PHP Version issues and how they can impact WordPress websites.

Once you have tested your WordPress plugins the next step in the troubleshooting process involves troubleshooting your theme and the various files that work in symphony to generate the look and feel of your website. The quickest way to troubleshoot your theme to verify if its causing issues is by simply deactivating it and activating a default WordPress theme like Twenty Twenty.

Assuming you’re able to access the WordPress dashboard, activate a default WordPress theme by navigating to Appearance -> Themes. In the event that you have removed the default WordPress theme don’t worry, just select “Add New Theme,” and search for it in the WordPress repository or navigate to WordPress.org, search for it, download it, upload it in the themes section of the WordPress dashboard and activate it.

If you are unable to upload or change themes via the dashboard access the site by way of FTP and complete the following instructions:

1. Using an FTP client, connect to your WordPress site (you will need to authenticate using log in credentials)
2. Assuming you’re in the root directory, navigate to the wp-content/themes folder.
3. Missing the Default Twenty Twenty WordPress Theme? No worries! Simply reinstall it. To obtain a copy of a default WordPress theme your going to want to navigate to WordPress.org and download the Twenty Twenty WordPress theme. To install a theme via the dashboard navigate to Appearance -> Themes and upload the theme zip file. To install the theme via FTP your going to want to extract the theme files from the the archived zip format and upload the complete folder to the wp-contents/themes folder.
4. If you are unable to activate the default theme and deactivate the current theme in question you can manually change the active theme via FTP. Simply rename the folder of your currently active theme to [theme-name]-deactivated. When you rename the folder accordingly, WordPress will automatically fall back and implement the default WordPress theme (as long as the default theme is installed).

In the event that switching to the default WordPress theme solves your Internal Server Error problem, you can now re-enable all plugins and focus on finding the issue in the theme’s code. At this point you have a few options to help resolve the issue with this specific theme.

1. Obtain a fresh copy of the theme in question (if the theme in question has been updated – this alone may fix your problem) and then proceed to reinstall the theme
2. If reinstalling the theme is out of the question, you’re going to have to decide if you will troubleshoot the source code and/or activate a new theme while you determine a solution for the theme issue. Additionally, your going to want to contact the developer/author of the theme to communicate your issue and possibly work with the author to resolve the issue or simply communicate the fact that the theme needs to be updated.
3. If you are using a custom theme you have developed you’re going to want to work with a developer to iron out these issues because these types of bugs can be very troublesome and difficult to troubleshoot (even for experienced developers).

Important Note: In rare circumstances, the PHP version utilized by your web server may cause issues with your theme that may send you chasing your own tail. To avoid wasting time check the documentation for your theme and ensure your web host is using the adequate version of PHP. Identifying issues caused by PHP can save you time and money – developers are expensive so you want to make sure you identify issues related to PHP sooner rather than later to avoid unnecessary development costs.

If you create a website that uses excessive programming or simply needs to be optimized it will reach a point where memory use is so high it causes your website to crash and result in an HTTP 500 Internal Server Error. Often times, this is the result of poor development or boggy coding in your theme or plugins. In most cases, the quick fix is to increase the memory limit but it may fix your site temporarily if at all and fail to address the underlying problem.

There are various ways to increase your memory limit but the quality of your web server will impact its limits and capabilities. Often times with cheaper web hosts increasing the memory limit is not possible or severely limited.

How To Increase WordPress Memory Limit

• Edit the wp-config.php file in site root directory
• Modify your PHP.ini or .USER.INI file (if you have access — you may not)
• Configure .htaccess file in root directory

Editing the files above will require a little development know-how however if you need detailed information on the procedure check out our article on Increasing WordPress Memory Limit. In a nutshell your going to need to connect to your web server via FTP or hosting file manager and adding or editing the respective code.

Code Needed to Increase WordPress Memory Limit

The .htaccess file is an Apache Server configuration file that allows you to configure advanced functionality. It allows you to do things like enabling GZIP Compression, configure maximum file upload size, manage 301 redirects, and various other website administration features. WordPress also references this file to manage permalinks, force SSL encryption, restrict access to specific files, and much more. Make sure to check out our article “The Power of .HTACCESS and How to Fully Harness it to Protect Your Website,” for more information on improving security and understanding the sensitive nature of editing this file.

Warning: Proceed with caution. Editing .htaccess is a feature best left to experienced developers because typos in this area can and will cause a 500 Internal Server Error on your WordPress website. In most cases, a problem with .htaccess will break your site in its entirety from front end to back end so be careful.

Troubleshooting .htaccess Involves a Few Steps as Follows:

1. Connect to your server once again via FTP and locate the .htaccess file in your root directory
2. Download and safeguard a copy of your .htaccess file for safety and security
3. Once you have acquired a backup of .htaccess, delete the current copy of it on the server’s root directory

Upon completion, check to see if your website is working, if it is you can assume the issue resides in that .htaccess file. In many cases, your server will automatically generate an .htaccess file or uses default server settings. As long as there is no customized .htaccess rules/code you can easily recreate this file through WordPress by navigating to Settings -> Permalinks and selecting Save (no need to make any changes – simply click save).

If you discover custom edits in the downloaded copy of  .htaccess you can troubleshoot the issue by implementing the code one line at a time until your site breaks (at which point you document and isolate the specific code). If everything goes well, you can update the rest of the code on your new .htaccess file and make sure to upload it or save it (if editing in a web browser server file manager).

At this point you have a couple options to fix the offending code:

1. Scan the problematic line of code for issues like unnecessary text, unclosed quotes, or any other issue. Once completed, modify .htaccess and save it to your web server’s root directory.
2. Remove the Problematic Code – Unless there is an important reason to keep the line simply remove it to get your site back up and running quickly. A crashed website is more problematic than a missing line of configuration in your .htaccess file.
3. Research Online – Search online through forums and websites with key information about the problem like the line of code. There is a high chance someone has experienced the same or similar issue
4. Lastly, you can use this .htaccess Syntax Checker to identify common errors and typos.

If your still having issues or you have questions about editing this configuration file feel free to contact us. We do provide phone technical support or shared screen support which allows us to help you resolve your issue.

In rare circumstances, you may experience issues displaying as an Internal Server Error due to corrupted WordPress system files. Although this may sound daunting its actually pretty easy to fix provided you know your way around by now. Corrupted files occur at times due to the dynamic nature of uploading files and their dependence on a strong internet connection. In any case, what your going to want to do is simply reinstall the WordPress core files by uploading them via an FTP Connection or web browser file manager.

Ready to reinstall your WordPress core files? Proceed as follows:

1. Download the latest copy of WordPress from WordPress.org.
2. Extract the ZIP file.
3. Remove the wp-content folder and the wp-config-sample.php file. Ensure there isn’t a wp-config.php file and delete it if there is (it usually isn’t in there but we’re going to use the current wp-config.php in the root directory of your server for a smoother experience.
4. Authenticate & Connect to your server via FTP using an FTP Client like FileZilla.
5. Upload the remaining files and folders to the root folder overwriting all files.

If you find this process overwhelming or simply don’t want to deal with it feel free to contact us. We help website owners on a per diem basis and help to streamline the web design process so you can focus on the big picture. Give us a call or send us an email if your interested.

In many cases, older PHP versions don’t commonly cause an internal server. However, PHP is an essential part of the infrastructure that makes up your WordPress website so your going to want to have the newest version possible for both convenience, performance and security reasons. If your PHP version is out of date, updating PHP to the newest version possible may resolve various issues including an Internal Server Error (which I have seen as the issue in my experience). One of the key issues with the newest PHP 7 is the fact that it has deprecated some previous features found in older PHP which cause issues with older programming referencing these specific features. For this reason, you want to use the latest version of plugins and themes whenever possible and check documentation for PHP Version requirements.

If your unsure of your PHP version simply ask your host or login to your hosting account scan your services to determine your PHP version. As of September 2020, PHP 5.6 no longer receives updates (or even basic security support) – don’t accept it if your host is running it on your site to avoid issues. You should at least have some flavor of PHP 7 running. Ideally, you’ll want to be on PHP 7.3+ since PHP 7.0-7.2 will stop receiving security updates at the end of 2020.

If your still having issues feel free to contact us for additional support. We can schedule a zoom call or access your site remotely and perform updates for you when needed.