How To Fix A 403 Error
In this tutorial we will walk through how to fix Forbidden 403 errors. With these http WordPress Forbidden 403 errors, they are generally caused by the same thing that causes
http 500 errors like your plugin issues and corrupted htaccess files. can also cause this. But we won’t be concentrating on those two issues today. There is a “how to fix http 500 errors” in another video.
We will talk about the most overlook issue in this video that causes 403 Forbidden errors. Some of the issues that can cause these errors are:
- File access permission
- Incorrect values on your WP admin folder
- File set to read only
- incorrect values on your index file
Let’s get started!
You will need access to your cpanel to perform this action. And as always, make sure you have a full backup of your website.
- Scroll down and find file manager and click on it. Make sure the website you’re working is selected. Make sure hidden files is checked. Right click wp-admin and right click “change permissions.”
- YOU ONLY NEED TO CHANGE PERMISSIONS IF IT IS WRONG!
Now that we are in wp.admin folder, just verify the correct values are there.
Permissions should be set at 7 5 5 and make sure “write is not checked. You don’t want hackers to be able to write to your file. If everything is correct, click cancel without making any changes.
One other thing, take a look at all your core folders. Wp includes, Wp content, all should have the same exact file permission setting of 755 with the same rights.
But here is something different, take a look at your index.php file which is a very important file. If it’s messed up, you have no site. It will show a white screen and just some words saying “index.” The file permission for this one is actually set different. It should be set at 644.
Scroll down and find index.php, right click and click on it to open it. It is generally set at permission 644 for all hosting companies, although some may have it set different.
So again, if your wp_admin folder has the right permission 755, then your 403 Forbidden error code is not set by a bad file permission issue. It may be a plugin conflict, corrupted .htaccess file or can be something on your hosting server that is causing this. And that’s how you fix a 403 Forbidden Error.
I had similar issues sometimes ago. I had set up my permission to the 755 unfortunately, error didnt go.
My question is after setting up the 755 permission for the affect folder, what happens to the other folders inside. Because even after setting 755, some folders will still maintain their permission.
Please help clarify.
Yes you ONLY change the permission on that one folder. The others ones should go untouched..
In my own case, i found out that outdated wordpress plugins could cause 403 error. So i think its always a good idea to update plugins regular together with the wordpress software. Thanks for the information.
You are correct…plugin conflicts are real.
Great blog here! Also your website loads up very fast! What host are you using? Can I get your affiliate link to your host? I wish my website loaded up as fast as yours lol
Hello sorry for the late reply. I use site ground, but I also optimized my website also to load faster. Is yours still loading slow?