Does “403 Forbidden Error” sound like something you’ve heard before? This is a mistake on your end that prevents you from getting into some parts of a website. You might have seen it when you went to an empty website directory or one that didn’t have the right permissions. Why? Because most websites are set up to stop directory viewing, so that people who shouldn’t be able to get into files with private information can’t.
But if you or other people who visit your website get a 403 banned error, you need to fix it or you could lose business. Over time, you would lose a lot of important new customers because of this. But since there are many things that can cause a 403 banned error, there are more than one way to fix it.
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In this guide, we’ll go over everything you need to know about 403 banned errors, including the most likely causes and a few possible fixes.
Table of Contents
What Is the 403 Forbidden Error?
The 403 Forbidden error appears when a web server won’t let a user open a webpage in a web browser. The HTTP status number that a web server uses to describe this kind of error is 403. This is where the name “403 error” comes from.
What Causes the 403 Forbidden Error?
Most HTTP 403 banned problems are caused by how the client is set up, so you should be able to fix it on your own. Most of the time, a 403 banned error is caused by the settings for a certain folder or file. These let you know who can read, write, or run a file or folder.
In this situation, the site owner could have:
The settings were changed so that you couldn’t get to the tools you needed. Didn’t set up the correct rights. Another common reason is that the settings in the .htaccess file are either wrong or, less likely, faulty. This could happen if a file has been changed. This problem, though, is easy to fix. You just need to make a new file for setting up the server.
A 403 forbidden error could also be caused by:
IP Address is Not Correct
When a site’s domain name goes to an old or wrong IP address, you can’t get in.
Troubles with a WordPress Plugin
Some WordPress tools don’t work well with others or are set up wrong.
Page has a New Link
When a website’s owner changes a page’s link, the saved version is not the same as the new one.
Malware
Malware attacks can stop a .htaccess files from working right, so you would have to get rid of the infection before restoring the file.
Not an Index Page
Your site’s home page doesn’t have the name “index.php” or “index.html.”
The 403 forbidden error on your site could be due to any of these things.
How to fix 403 Forbidden Error?
Most of the ways we’ll talk about below are for fixing 403 forbidden error that have to do with file access rights. But there are other ways to fix the problem, such as running a scan for malware or clearing the cache on your computer.
Even though we mostly work on WordPress sites, you can use our methods on other types of sites as well.
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Check the .htaccess File for Any Signs That It is Broken
The .htaccess file stays in the site’s text root most of the time.
In any case, when you find the file, do the following to see if the 403 forbidden error was caused by a wrong configuration:
- To make a copy of the file, right-click on it and then click “Download.”
- Throw away the file.
- Try to get into your website. If you can’t, you can be sure that something went wrong with the file.
- If you want to make a new .htaccess file, go to your WordPress site and click on “Settings” and then “Permalinks.”
- Tap “Save Changes” even if you don’t want to make any changes.
- Your site will get a new .htaccess file if you do these things.
But if that doesn’t fix the problem, we’ll try something else.
Change the Permissions on Files and Directories
The wrong rights on files or folders is another thing that could cause HTTP 403 problems. When a file is made, it generally comes with a set of basic file permissions that tell you how to read, write, and run it. You can change who can see which files and folders with FTP.
You should start by:
- Set up an FTP tool and connect it to your site.
- Right-click public_html and choose File Attributes from the menu once you’re linked.
- Enter 755 in the Numeric number field, select Only apply to folders, and click OK.
- Most of the time, files are given the number 755, content that doesn’t change gets the number 644, and content that does change gets the number 700.
- After changing the rights on a folder, repeat steps 2 and 3, but this time put 644 in the Numeric value box and choose “Apply to files only.”
- After that, go back to your page and see if the problem is still there.
Turn off WordPress Plugins
If you’ve done all of these steps and none of them worked, it’s likely that a broken or incompatible plugin is causing the problem. In this step, we’ll try to fix the 403 forbidden error by turning off plugins.
- You can get to the public_html->wp-content area by using FTP or the file editor on your hosting account.
- Find the place where it says “plugins.”
- Change the folder’s name to something like “disabled-plugins” to stop all plugins from working.
- Go back to the page and try again. If the mistake is gone, it was probably caused by a bad program.
- Renaming the folder back to plugins will turn on all plugins again.
- Now you have to go to your WordPress homepage and turn off each app one at a time to see if the site still works.
- So, you can figure out which program isn’t working. You can change it or get rid of it once you find it.
But if the mistake keeps coming up, you may need to ask your hosting company for help.
Include an Index Page
By default, a website’s home page is the index.html or index.php file. People can get a 403 Error if that page isn’t on your website. To fix this, add a home page to your httpdocs or public_html area.
If you already have a homepage with a name other than “index,” you can either change its name or use your .htaccess file to send people to that site.
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To send people to your home page, do the following:
- Go to your public_html area in cPanel after logging in.
- Right-click the .htaccess file and choose “Edit” from the menu that opens.
- To send it to your current site, add the following code to the index.php or index.html file:
You should send /index.html to /homepage.html. Home.html should be changed to the name of your page.
Conclusion
There are different kinds of mistakes and reasons why the web server wouldn’t let you in. We have talked about how and why the mistake shows up in different ways in the sections above.