{"id":18268,"date":"2026-09-26T09:26:31","date_gmt":"2026-09-26T06:26:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hyyat.com\/knowledgebase\/fix-500-internal-server-error-wordpress\/"},"modified":"2026-09-26T12:56:47","modified_gmt":"2026-09-26T09:56:47","password":"","slug":"fix-500-internal-server-error-wordpress","status":"publish","type":"docs","link":"https:\/\/www.hyyat.com\/en\/knowledgebase\/fix-500-internal-server-error-wordpress\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Fix the 500 Internal Server Error (WordPress and Any Site)"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"hy-tldr\" style=\"background:#f6f7fb;border-left:4px solid #d83954;border-radius:10px;padding:14px 18px;margin:0 0 20px;line-height:1.8\"><strong>In short:<\/strong> A <strong>500 Internal Server Error<\/strong> in WordPress is usually caused by a broken <strong>.htaccess<\/strong> file, the <strong>PHP memory limit<\/strong>, or a faulty <strong>plugin or theme<\/strong>. Work through the fixes in order: rename .htaccess, raise the memory limit in wp-config.php, disable plugins, switch the theme, then re-upload WordPress core files.<\/div>\n<figure class=\"hy-fig hy-fig-wordpress-500-error-checklist-en\" style=\"margin:0 0 24px\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"940\" src=\"https:\/\/www.hyyat.com\/zasogooh\/2026\/09\/hyyat-wordpress-500-error-checklist-en-1024x940.png\" class=\"attachment-large size-large\" alt=\"Step-by-step checklist to fix the WordPress 500 Internal Server Error\" style=\"width:100%;height:auto;border:1px solid #e5e7eb;border-radius:12px\" decoding=\"async\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.hyyat.com\/zasogooh\/2026\/09\/hyyat-wordpress-500-error-checklist-en-1024x940.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.hyyat.com\/zasogooh\/2026\/09\/hyyat-wordpress-500-error-checklist-en-300x276.png 300w, https:\/\/www.hyyat.com\/zasogooh\/2026\/09\/hyyat-wordpress-500-error-checklist-en-768x705.png 768w, https:\/\/www.hyyat.com\/zasogooh\/2026\/09\/hyyat-wordpress-500-error-checklist-en-1536x1411.png 1536w, https:\/\/www.hyyat.com\/zasogooh\/2026\/09\/hyyat-wordpress-500-error-checklist-en-360x331.png 360w, https:\/\/www.hyyat.com\/zasogooh\/2026\/09\/hyyat-wordpress-500-error-checklist-en.png 1800w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" title=\"\"><\/figure>\n<h2 class=\"hy-500-general\">What does a 500 Internal Server Error mean on any website?<\/h2>\n<p>A <strong>500<\/strong> error is a generic server message meaning &#8220;something went wrong internally and I couldn&#8217;t show the page&#8221;. The problem is on the <strong>server or website<\/strong>, not the visitor&#8217;s device or connection, so refreshing or changing browser won&#8217;t fix it. It can appear as <strong>HTTP 500<\/strong>, <strong>Error 500<\/strong>, <strong>HTTP ERROR 500<\/strong> or &#8220;This page isn&#8217;t working&#8221;.<\/p>\n<h3>Common causes on any website<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>A bad rule in the <strong>.htaccess<\/strong> file.<\/li>\n<li>A PHP code error or a conflict after an update.<\/li>\n<li>Exceeding the site&#8217;s memory or resource limits.<\/li>\n<li>Wrong file or folder permissions (normally 644 for files and 755 for folders).<\/li>\n<li>A PHP version that is incompatible with the site.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>What to do first<\/h3>\n<ol>\n<li>Open <strong>cPanel \u2192 Metrics \u2192 Errors<\/strong> or the <strong>error_log<\/strong> file in your site folder; it usually names the file and line.<\/li>\n<li>Think of the last change you made (update, plugin, code edit) and undo it.<\/li>\n<li>If your site runs WordPress, follow the fixes below in order.<\/li>\n<li>If you can&#8217;t find the cause, open a support ticket and we will check the logs with you.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h2>Fixing the 500 error in WordPress<\/h2>\n<h2>What is the 500 Internal Server Error?<\/h2>\n<p>You may see <strong>Internal Server Error<\/strong>, <strong>HTTP 500 Internal Server Error<\/strong> or just <strong>Error 500<\/strong> in your browser. They all mean the same thing: the server hit a problem and could not load the page. It can appear on the front of the site, in the WordPress dashboard, on both, or only when you do certain actions.<\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-10430\" src=\"https:\/\/www.hyyat.com\/zasogooh\/2018\/07\/500-internal-server-error-\u0641\u0649-\u0648\u0648\u0631\u062f\u0628\u0631\u064a\u0633.png\" alt=\"\u062d\u0644 \u0645\u0634\u0643\u0644\u0629 \u062e\u0637\u0623 Internal Server Error 500 \u0641\u0649 \u0648\u0648\u0631\u062f \u0628\u0631\u064a\u0633\" width=\"613\" height=\"454\" title=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.hyyat.com\/zasogooh\/2018\/07\/500-internal-server-error-\u0641\u0649-\u0648\u0648\u0631\u062f\u0628\u0631\u064a\u0633.png 1509w, https:\/\/www.hyyat.com\/zasogooh\/2018\/07\/500-internal-server-error-\u0641\u0649-\u0648\u0648\u0631\u062f\u0628\u0631\u064a\u0633-300x222.png 300w, https:\/\/www.hyyat.com\/zasogooh\/2018\/07\/500-internal-server-error-\u0641\u0649-\u0648\u0648\u0631\u062f\u0628\u0631\u064a\u0633-768x568.png 768w, https:\/\/www.hyyat.com\/zasogooh\/2018\/07\/500-internal-server-error-\u0641\u0649-\u0648\u0648\u0631\u062f\u0628\u0631\u064a\u0633-1024x758.png 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 613px) 100vw, 613px\"><\/p>\n<h2>Fix 1: Reset the .htaccess file<\/h2>\n<p>WordPress, permalinks and caching plugins write rules to <strong>.htaccess<\/strong>. A bad rule there causes a 500 error.<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Log in to cPanel and open <strong>File Manager<\/strong> (or connect with FTP).<\/li>\n<li>Open the folder where WordPress is installed; for your main site this is <strong>public_html<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>In File Manager, click <strong>Settings<\/strong> (top right) and enable <strong>Show Hidden Files<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>Rename <strong>.htaccess<\/strong> to <strong>.htaccess-old<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>Reload your site. If it works, log in to WordPress and go to <strong>Settings \u2192 Permalinks<\/strong> and click <strong>Save Changes<\/strong> to create a clean .htaccess file.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h2>Fix 2: Increase the PHP memory limit<\/h2>\n<p>If WordPress runs out of the memory PHP allows it, you get a 500 error.<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>In File Manager, open <strong>wp-config.php<\/strong> in the WordPress folder.<\/li>\n<li>Add this line right after <code>&lt;?php<\/code>:<br \/><code>define('WP_MEMORY_LIMIT', '256M');<\/code><\/li>\n<li>Save and reload your site.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h2>Fix 3: Disable all plugins<\/h2>\n<p>A faulty or incompatible plugin is a common cause. If you can&#8217;t reach the dashboard, rename the <strong>wp-content\/plugins<\/strong> folder to <strong>plugins-off<\/strong> in File Manager. If the site loads, rename it back and re-enable plugins one by one to find the culprit.<\/p>\n<h2>Fix 4: Switch to a default theme<\/h2>\n<p>Rename your active theme folder in <strong>wp-content\/themes<\/strong>; WordPress falls back to a default theme such as Twenty Twenty-Four if one is installed. If the error disappears, the theme is the cause.<\/p>\n<h2>Fix 5: Re-upload WordPress core files<\/h2>\n<p>Core files can be damaged by a bad edit, a deleted file or a hack. Download the same WordPress version from wordpress.org and re-upload the <strong>wp-admin<\/strong> and <strong>wp-includes<\/strong> folders. Do not overwrite <strong>wp-config.php<\/strong> or the <strong>wp-content<\/strong> folder.<\/p>\n<h2>Still not fixed? Check the error log<\/h2>\n<p>In cPanel open <strong>Metrics \u2192 Errors<\/strong> to see the latest error, or check the <strong>error_log<\/strong> file in your site folder. It usually names the exact file and line causing the problem. You can also open a ticket and our support team will check it for you.<\/p>\n<p>Related service: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hyyat.com\/en\/wordpress-hosting\/\">fast WordPress hosting<\/a> from Hyyat Host, with 24\/7 support.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In short: A 500 Internal Server Error in WordPress is usually caused by a broken .htaccess file, the PHP memory limit, or a faulty plugin or theme. Work through the fixes in order: rename .htaccess, raise the memory limit in wp-config.php, disable plugins, switch the theme, then re-upload WordPress core files. What does a 500 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_eb_attr":"","inline_featured_image":false,"wprm-recipe-roundup-name":"","wprm-recipe-roundup-description":"","_templately_pack_id":"","_templately_imported_at":"","_templately_source":"","_templately_import_session_id":"","footnotes":""},"doc_category":[2747],"doc_tag":[],"class_list":["post-18268","docs","type-docs","status-publish","hentry","doc_category-wordpress-explanations"],"year_month":"2026-09","word_count":615,"total_views":"5","reactions":{"happy":"0","normal":"0","sad":"0"},"author_info":{"name":"ahmed fathy","author_nicename":"ahmed-fathy","author_url":"https:\/\/www.hyyat.com\/en\/author\/ahmed-fathy\/"},"doc_category_info":[{"term_name":"WordPress explanations","term_url":"https:\/\/www.hyyat.com\/en\/kb\/wordpress-explanations\/"}],"doc_tag_info":[],"knowledge_base_info":[],"knowledge_base_slug":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hyyat.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/docs\/18268","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hyyat.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/docs"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hyyat.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/docs"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyyat.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyyat.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18268"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyyat.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/docs\/18268\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hyyat.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18268"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"doc_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyyat.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/doc_category?post=18268"},{"taxonomy":"doc_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyyat.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/doc_tag?post=18268"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}