There are a number of reasons why 503 service unavailable errors could occur. In this article, I will show you how to fix the 503 service unavailable error on the WordPress website.
The 503 service unavailable error is not as polite. It does not give you much information to go on. This error signifies that your website can not be reached at the present moment because the server in question is unavailable and it’s too busy.
Table of Contents
What is the 503 service unavailable?
The 503 service unavailable error could have occurred, when you are updating a plugin, a theme, or a core software.
This error occurs when your web server is unable to get a response from a PHP script. This PHP script could be a WordPress plugin, a theme, or a WordPress core file.
However, the 503 service unavailable error is caused by bad code on your WordPress website.
Let’s take a look at how to Fix the 503 Service Unavailable Error in WordPress?
Fixing 503 Service Unavailable Error in WordPress?
The 503 service unavailable error is caused when your web server is unable to get a proper response from the PHP script running in the background.
To fixing this error we will take different three methods that are following the below:
Let’s get started.
Method 1.Check for Corrupted WordPress plugin files
Sometimes your WordPress plugin an issue for 503 services unavailable on your website.
To find out your corrupted plugin, go to your WordPress dashboard click on the Appearance button. Then click on the Plugins button. You can see the plugin page, then you should deactivate the plugin one by one.
If you find which plugin was the culprit, you need to delete that corrupted plugin and reinstall that plugin from the WordPress directory.
However, if you don’t have access to the admin area of your site, then you need to use your FTP Client.
Using your FTP Client
You need to connect your FTP client with the File Manager option in your WordPress hosting control panel.
Once connected, you need to open the public_html folder. You will see the wp-admin, wp-content, and wp-includes folder are include here.
Select the wp-content folder and open it, you will see a folder called plugins. All your installed plugins are stores here.
Here you need to right-click on the plugin folder and rename this folder as ‘plugins_dactivate’. For doing this all of your installed plugins will be deactivated.
Using cPanel
First, you need to log in to your cPanel dashboard and click on the File Manager menu, move to the root folder like public_html file.
Open the wp-content file, you can see there are two files like plugin and themes file. You should change the plugin file name (like- plugins disable). This will disable all your installed plugins.
If the error like 503 services unavailable is gone, it means one of your active plugins was the culprit.
To find out which one, you can do this one by one renaming the plugin file name then return the plugins folder to its original name. Changing its name each time, then checking to see if the error goes away. Keep disabling plugins one by one until you fix the problem.
If your website is now loading fine, you have found the troublemaker. Now, you can fix the problem by reinstalling that corrupted plugin.
If none of your plugins are causing problems, it’s time to turn towards your active theme.
Method 2.Check for Corrupted WordPress theme files
Sometimes your WordPress theme an issue on your website. You can easily find out if your theme is corrupted. You can be switching to a default WordPress theme like Twenty Nineteen or Twenty-Twenty.
To do this go to your WordPress dashboard click on the Appearance button. Then click on the Themes button.
You can see the Theme page and then click on the Activate button of the default theme like Twenty Nineteen or Twenty-Twenty.
However, if you don’t have access to the admin area of your WordPress site, then you will need to use your FTP Client to switch the theme.
Using your FTP Client
You need to connect your FRP client with the File Manager option in your WordPress hosting control panel.
Once connected, you need to navigate to the public_html folder and open it. You will see the wp-admin, wp-content, and wp-includes folder.
Inside the wp-content folder, you will see a folder called themes. All your installed themes are stores in this folder.
You need to right-click on the themes folder and rename this folder as ‘themes _dactivate’. For doing this your installed themes will be deactivated.
WordPress will automatically activate the default theme like Twenty Fifteen or Twenty Sixteen.
Using cPanel
Log in to your Cpanel dashboard and navigate to the File Manager menu, move to the root folder like public_html file. Click on the wp-content file, you can see there are two files like plugin and themes file.
Now you should change the theme file name (like themes_deactivate). For doing this WordPress will revert to one of its default themes.
If your website is now loading fine, you can fix the problem by reinstalling the theme.
Method 3.Reinstall WordPress Core Files
The easiest way to fix this to replace all your core files with a clean and latest version of WordPress. To do this download the latest version of WordPress software from wordpress.org.
Once you get the file, which is a zip file. Unzip it and delete the wp-content folder in the downloaded files.
Using your FTP Client
Next, you need to connect to your WordPress website using an FTP client. Go to your site’s root folder. It is the folder that has wp-admin,wp-content, and wp-includes folders inside it.
In the left column open the WordPress folder on your computer, which is downloaded earlier.
Then you need to select wp-admin and wp-includes folders and then right-click and select the ‘Upload’ option.
Your FTP client will transfer those folders to your server. It will ask you whether you would like to overwrite the files.
Then select the ‘Overwrite’ option and select ‘Always use this action’ .
Your FTP client will replace your older WordPress files with newer and fresh copies.
Using your cPanel
To upload the clean and latest files, use your cPanel dashboard and navigate to your site’s root folder public_html folder. Next, upload all the WordPress files from your computer.
This process might take a while and you will need to say yes when you ask if you want to overwrite the files on your server. This process will also overwrite the .htaccess file.
When the process is done, go ahead and try to access your website once more.
Contact your Hosting Provider
If all methods fail to fix 503 service unavailable errors on your website. It may be a genuine server issue.
Contact your web hosting support team. They will be able to check the server logs and locate the root cause of the error.
Conclusion
There are a lot of issues that can cause a 503 service unavailable error in the WordPress website. I hope you can fix the errors by applying those processes.
You may also want to see How to fix Error Establishing a Database Connection in WordPress and How to Fix 500 Internal Server Error in Your WordPress Website
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