HTTP Error 403 Forbidden Messages

If your website visitors have a 403 Forbidden message, you can fix it quickly.

The longer you wait, could mean losing more potential visitors.

But don’t worry, we have a few quick fixes for 403 errors.

In this article we will learn how to easily get your website running again.

Let’s dive right in.

What is a HTTP error 403?

A 403 Forbidden error is when a visitor tries to navigate to a restricted URL.

It’s a HTTP status code that is sent to visitors by a HTTP server.

The reasons page visitors are trying to access is forbidden includes:

• Client-side access permission has been removed or restriction

Or:

• An accidental web server misconfiguration

When visiting pages with 403 forbidden errors, you will see:

• “You don’t have authorisation to view this page – HTTP Error 403”

Note: Wording could be different.

The difference between a 403 and 404 error is:

• 404 errors occur when accessing pages that don’t exists or cannot be found
• 403 errors occur when access is denied because of the wrong credentials

403 error causes

The reason visitors see 403 forbidden errors include:

• Permission error: Permissions codes represent what each user can do and the wrong code on a file or directory results in 403 errors.
• Incorrect file or folder location: Uploaded website content could be added to the wrong directory, not accessible to the end-user.

• No index page: Homepages without index pages, won’t display correctly on a browser.
• WordPress plugin misconfiguration: Plugins can block IP addresses to stop malware, resulting in 403 forbidden errors.

Fixing 403 Errors

Correct file permissions

After configuring your web server:

• Add the server to the www-data group
• Set ownership of /var/www to the www-data user and www-data group

Then:

• Set directories to 755
• Set files to 644
• Set dynamic content to 700

Doing this will set different user types, like the owner, other groups and everyone else, to read, write and implement.

Have an index page.

Make sure to rename your website’s home page to include:

• index.html

Or:

• index.php

Another method includes:

• Uploading an index page to your httpdocs directory

Then:

• Setting up a redirect on the index page to your actual homepage

Upload website content to the right server directory

If you dont upload your content to the server directory correctly, you will see 403 forbidden messages.

You could be hosting your domain on different FTP clients.

For example, for using FileZilla, a free client on Windows, Mac, and Linux.

When publishing your content online:

• Drag and drop your files into the public/htdocs directory

Then:

• Search your website’s URL to double-check if they appear online

But, if you don’t see the httpdocs directory in your FTP server:

• Create a file in the directory with this title

Note: This could also solve the issue

Remember: Instructions are different for different FTP clients.

Deactivate then reactivate plugins

If your plugins are the reason for 403 forbidden errors, deactivate all of your plugins.

Because the error may have come after installing a plugin.

If this is the case then:

• Start with the most recent and work your way to the oldest plugin

Then:

• Activate each plugin and refresh the page to see the plugin causing the error

Conclusion

403 errors can be fixed in a few easy steps.

You just have to know where to look.

Now it’s over to you.

Tell me how you solve your 403 error issues.

Let me know in the comment section below.