How to Fix? 403 Forbidden WordPress

How to Fix? 403 Forbidden WordPress

403 Forbidden error is one of the errors you might have encountered if you are using WordPress. This is the detailed article on how to fix 403 error in WordPress easily.

We’ll start with an overview of why this error occurs and later move on to ways to fix it.

403 forbidden wordpress

Why does a forbidden error occur?

Forbidden (as the name suggests) simply means that you are not allowed to access that content. This usually means access is denied.

There are essentially two ways this error appears.

403 Forbidden – You do not have permission to access ‘/’ on this server.

Additionally, the 403 Forbidden error was encountered when attempting to use ErrorDocument to process the request.

Either way, you can fix it easily.

Now there are many cases where the error occurs. The entire website must be working. In most cases only the homepage is not working.

This means that if you try to open the admin URL, it will work like a charm and you will see the admin panel. So it is recommended to check the admin URL (wp-admin) first to see if it is working or not.

If the admin panel is working properly, you can easily fix the problem.

We will see the ways to fix the 403 forbidden error both in the admin panel and directly in the hosting panel, so take the data of your hosting panel and let’s fix the error.

Fix 403 forbidden error in WordPress

Before we get into the steps to fix error 403, here is the most important thing you need to do.

1. Create a Backup

In this We Will Make Changes In Our Hosting and WordPress Panel. Some of them might even cause problems.

So there For it Is Necessary to create backup. You can do this either using the plugin if the admin panel is accessible.

However, if the admin panel is not accessible, you can certainly do it from the file manager itself. Just create a zip file and keep it there. In the same way, export the database as well.

Once you have your backup, you can proceed with the steps. You can try the techniques listed below one by one. They will surely fix the error.

2. .htaccess file corruption

The first reason for this error is the corruption of the .htaccess file . If the file is corrupted, you will not be able to access the website. Now You Will See Error.

Therefore, we will try to fix this problem first and if that doesn’t work, we will move on to the next one.

If your admin panel is accessible, you can fix the problem in a jiffy. Just open your WordPress dashboard and hover over the settings menu. In the submenu, click on the permalinks and you will see the link structure. Don’t do anything, just click on the save button. This will regenerate the .htaccess file. Now try to check if the website is working or not.

If you don’t have access to the WordPress panel, you can also do it through the file manager. Open the WordPress directory in the file manager. Download the .htaccess file. If you can’t find it, you can click on “Settings” at the top and click on “Show hidden files”. Now download the file for backup.

Your next step is to delete the .htaccess file from the server. Now reload the page to see if that resolves the error. Don’t worry, the file will be regenerated when you open the page. If not, you certainly have the backup we created

3. Plugin Problem

In general, one of the WordPress plugins might have misbehaved. This is what is causing the whole problem.

First, try disabling the plugin you recently installed. You can go to Plugins > All Plugins and disable the most recently installed plugin. If the problem doesn’t go away, you can disable all plugins. Try refreshing the page. If it works, you can re-enable all of them.

If the problem reoccurs after activating the plugin, you will need to do the troubleshooting yourself. Try to find out which plugin is causing the error by disabling a number of plugins and trying to update them again.

Now if you don’t have access to the WordPress panel, you can go to the file manager. Go to your WordPress directory and from there open wp-content. Go to Plugins and change the name of the plugin you recently installed. Add 1 to its End.  This will disable the particular plugin. Try refreshing the page.

If it not works change Plugin folder name. This will disable all the plugins directly. You can try updating it again to see if the problem is solved or not.

You can certainly try updating the plugins. Sometimes the bugs of the plugin would have been fixed in the next update. Therefore, you can try to check for updates and download them. You can also download the update and replace it using the file manager.

The same goes for the topic.

In most cases, this problem can be solved, but if the error still occurs, you can check the file permission to fix 403 forbidden error in WordPress.

4. Correct File Permissions

Next, you should focus on file permission. Each file and folder is assigned certain permissions. Depending on the permission, you or the user can access the file or folder.

You need certain permissions to access the files.

If for some reason the permission of the folder and file has been reset, you will get the Forbidden error. Don’t worry, it is a simple task. 

Go to the file manager and go to your WordPress installation. Now your next task is to view the wp-admin folder. Right click on it and select the file permission from the dropdown menu. Make sure the numeric value is 744 or 755. If it is not, you can click OK and you are done.

 

5. Contact the hosting provider

If the Above Methods Doesn’t Works. In this case, you can try to contact the hosting provider. The hosting provider will tell you what the problem is and why you are seeing this error.

Sometimes this comes from their side too, so if the problem is on their side, they can tell you how to fix it. You can just contact live support to see if the problem is on their side.

If not, you can ask them to check your account and find out what the problem is. The hosting provider will surely tell you what the problem is and in most cases they will also fix it for you.

Before contacting your support, make sure to check all your sites to see if the issue is happening to all sites or not. This will help the support team better. Some hosting providers will also require you to have the support PIN. Make sure you have it handy when you contact support. They will ask for it before they fix it for you.

This way, you can easily resolve the issue. If your hosting provider doesn’t have a live chat option, you can open the support ticket and get a solution to this issue.

Summary

In conclusion, this was all about how to fix 403 forbidden error in WordPress. The plugin part or the .htaccess file part solves the problem in most cases. However, if it doesn’t solve the problem for you, then you can surely solve it using the file permission method. If nothing works, then the support team is there for you whenever you need it. That’s why we always recommend you to go with the best host that offers excellent support. If the support is good, then they will even fix the permissions for you without you having to do anything.

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Zia Ur Rehman

I'm Zia Ur Rehman, a passionate tech enthusiast and the founder of DigiSky Geeks—a global media platform focused on Technology, Smartphones, Freelancing, SEO, and Digital Marketing. With years of hands-on experience in digital trends and web technologies, I’m here to empower freelancers, entrepreneurs, and tech lovers with the insights they need to thrive online.

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