In this article, you will learn:

• How to recognize Error 500
• How to troubleshoot Error 500
• Frequently asked questions

You can recognize Error 500 by the large Internal Server Error heading at the top of the page. Below the heading you will find a more detailed description of the error, as well as a link to this article.

You can encounter Error 500 on any website on the Internet. It is a non-specific error that the server returns when it cannot describe its error status with a more specific 5XX code.

Error 500 is most often caused by:

• .htaccess file errors,
• duplicate subdomain directories,
• web hosting limits conflict.

If the Error 500 appears immediately after loading the website, there is a very likely problem with the .htaccess file. You can find .htaccess files in the www folder and may also be in its subfolders. Error 500 can be caused by any of these.

In all web hosting .htaccess files (except for functional alias domains and subdomains), check:

• Blocked commands: .htaccess files installed by content management systems and their plugins may contain blocked commands. Disable lines with these commands by placing a # character at the beginning of the character line. For example, disable Options -MultiViews by changing it to #Options -MultiViews.
• Code errors: If you’re modifying existing code, make sure you haven’t accidentally overwritten or deleted key parts.

Edit the problematic .htaccess files via FTP. Instructions can be found in the article Webhosting – File Management.

If you use the default .htaccess file with your own modifications in the www folder, you can restore it according to the instructions Webhosting – .htaccess File. During this restoration, the system also creates a backup of the modified .htaccess file in the www folder.

If you have a single subdomain created at the same time in the www/domains and www/subdom folder, you will encounter the Error 500. Choose one of these folders as the main one and remove the other completely. You can find more information about subdomains on Webhosting in the article Webhosting – Subdomains.

If Error 500 appears after a longer loading time, your application may have encountered one of the web hosting limits: max_execution_time, memory_limit, post_max_size, or upload_max_filesize. You can optimize the application with these limits in mind, or switch to another service or plan. You can find more information about the Webhosting service and its alternatives, for example, in the article Webhosting in a nutshell.

Question: I see Error 500 on the screen but it looks different, what’s going on?
Answer: Check whether the website is actually running on a Webhosting/WMS service, for example using domain diagnostics. If so, contact support. If it is not our Webhosting (this includes our VPS), troubleshoot the issue according to the instructions of the provider or server software.

Question: Is Error 500 specific to WEDOS servers?
Answer: You can encounter a 500 error on any web server. When troubleshooting this issue, consider the information about your content management system and the plugins used – a frequent source of the Error 500 is their automatic updates and rewriting of the .htaccess file.