WordPress always shows codes and messages whenever you face errors on your WordPress website. There are a lot of people who will just get panic when they find the 403 forbidden error in their WordPress websites. In the case of beginners, they will just become clueless and here you can find how easily you can fix this forbidden error in no time.
Reasons for the 403 Forbidden Error
There are many scenarios that cause 403 forbidden error. You will be getting this error when the server you have requested doesn’t have permission to access any particular page. On the other hand, while you are making use of the Error Document, for any request, even here you will be getting the message like
‘403 Forbidden Error – You don’t have permission to access ‘/’ on this server.’ or “Error 403 forbidden access is denied”
This same error will keep on repeating when the wp-admin and WordPress login page are not having proper access. When there is something wrong with the WordPress installation, even here you will be getting this message. The chances are even there to get this message as you visit the page on the WordPress website.
Things to Check To Fix 403 Forbidden Error
Following are the things that you need to check and correct in order to error 403 forbidden.
Need to Check Plugins:
When the plugins are not securely configured, then you will be getting the same 403 forbidden error message. There are many plugins that don’t allow access to the pages if they are found to be malicious. You should even have an eye on the file permissions which are not accurate and as well with the corrupted .htaccess file. While others complain about the hosting provider of WordPress where these people will be making changes to the settings of the server which often results in the forbidden error.
The necessity for Backup:
The primary step which you need to do before you head to fix this error 403 is to have proper backup for the WordPress website so that you will not be in trouble even if something goes wrong. You can make use of the automatic WordPress backup plugin here.
Concerns with Plugins:
You can deactivate all the plugins so that there won’t be problems with the security and here if the problem is with the security, then you might have got the solution, then the culprit might be the plugin. So you can find it by activating each one at a time and test for the same error.
Check Your .htaccess File:
There are many chances where the forbidden error is because of the corrupted .htaccess file and resolving this is easier which you will learn here.
Connect to your WordPress website using the file manager of the cPanel. You can find the .htaccess file in the root folder and you can just downland it to your computer. Once you get the backup you can delete the file from the server. The problem will be solved it the .htaccess file is the problem as you have removed it completely.
Generating the new file is easier and you can do that by going to permalinks in the settings page.
Also Read: Ultimate Tips To optimize permalink structure
You can generate a fresh .htaccess file by logging into your WordPress admin area and going to Settings » Permalinks page. Save the changes as you create a new file and here you will be getting the file that doesn’t cause any forbidden error.
Need for Checking the File Permissions:
In every WordPress website, there will be a lot of files which are having permissions regarding access. But, when there are incorrect permissions, the server will show this forbidden error thinking that you are not having the access to the particular file which you have requested.
To solve this error, all you need to do is request the hosting provider to check the file permissions. For this reason, people ask us to get the assistance of a supportive hosting provider even they are costly. Because they bother and value their people and fix these sort of errors soon.
Also Read: Top 6 Managed WordPress Hosting
On the other hand, you can even correct these file permissions and for this, you need to connect to the WordPress website with the FTP client. Check all the files that are present in the root folder. Now find out the file permissions with the right-click option.
All folders on your WordPress site should have a file permission of 744 or 755.
All files on your WordPress site should have a file permission of 644 or 640.
Now you can set the root folder permission as mentioned in the file permission ranges above. After setting this range you can just check in to apply this to directories. Once you save this setting by clicking ok then your subdirectory file permissions are set by the FTP client. In the same manner, you will be setting the file permissions to 644 or 640 and commit those changes.
Finally, when you access your website now, you will not be bothered with the 403 forbidden error anymore. They are many chances that you can ever run across this issue and you will be able to solve it within a short period of time and a little tinkering and out guide will help you out. If your server rises up against you I.e, you will be facing a problem with a 403 Forbidden error on your WordPress site, at that time all you need to do is follow these steps to fix error 403 for free:
- Check your user privileges.
- Check your .htaccess file.
- Check your plugins.
I hope you liked this article on How To Fix 403 WordPress Error. Do share your views and feedback in the comment section below. Don’t Forget To Share It with your friends and subscribe to our email newsletter for more such updates.
- How to fix 403 forbidden error in WordPress? - July 12, 2016
Hi,
I was stuck on >403 forbidden error at my website. I was searching for a possible solution and I came across your article. I found this one to the best article and found the solution to my problem.
Definitely, a very good article to fix this error. Thanks for sharing such detailed information.
Keep it up.