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In this article you will learn:
When to use this guide
- Your website or subdomain reports Forbidden – You don’t have permission to access … on this server: resolving error 403.
- You uploaded your website via an FTP client and the browser shows an error or nothing instead: checking files via FTP.
- A newly created subdomain or a moved website (for example, WordPress from a test subdomain) reports error 403: the domains and subdom folders.
- You see error 403 together with a certificate or HTTPS error: activating HTTPS.
- In WordPress, error 403 appears after saving a post at the address /wp-json/: content management system settings.
Error 403 Forbidden
You can recognize error 403 by the large heading Forbidden at the top of the page. Below the heading you will find a more detailed description of the error. The browser tab shows the text 403 Forbidden.
Fixing Error 403
Error 403 can have various causes. Based on the message below the heading Forbidden you can isolate the specific cause, but if you are not sure, go through the whole procedure.
The steps of this procedure are:
- Fixing file permissions
- Checking files on FTP
- Activating HTTPS
- Checking the content management system settings
- Support intervention
When verifying the solution, reload the page using the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + Shift + R, which bypasses the browser cache. If the shortcut does not work, clear your browser cache.
Fixing file permissions
Fixing file permissions allows the browser to access all files and folders of your website. Restricted permissions are one of the most common causes of Error 403.
Fixing file permissions can take up to several tens of minutes, depending on the number of files in your Webhosting.
Follow these steps:
- Log in to the Customer Administration ⧉.
- In the top menu, select Hosting services Webhosting or WMS.
- Select the service whose file permissions you want to fix.
- In the left menu, select Tools.
In the box Fix file permissions click the button fix file permissions.
If fixing the file permissions did not help, continue with checking the files on FTP.
Checking files on FTP
Before making any changes on FTP, we strongly recommend backing up your files following the guide Webhosting – Backup.
If the problem with accessing the files was not caused by their permissions, the files required to run your website are probably damaged or deleted.
To continue, log in to FTP, for example via the WebFTP ⧉ (manual) using the main FTP account. If you do not know the login details, follow the guide Webhosting – FTP Accounts.
First, check that the root directory contains only the folders session, tmp and www.
If any of the folders is missing, create it (you can find detailed instructions in the article Webhosting – Basic FTP Directory Structure). If you see completely different folders, first make sure you are really in the account’s root folder, which is accessible to the main FTP account only.
In the next step, verify that the folder www contains:
- The file .htaccess (including the dot at the beginning).
- The website files, including the file index.html (alternatively index.php), the folder domains (or subdom), or both.
If the file .htaccessis missing, restore it in Tools Webhosting (the same way as for fixing file permissions, but use the box Restore default .htaccess).
If the folder www content management system files (for example, WordPress), upload the .htaccess file from a working installation or a backup here. The default .htaccess will probably not work. This applies only to a single website in the www folder. If you have multiple websites (aliases or subdomains), the default .htaccess, which routes traffic to the domains and subdom folders, must remain in place.
If the file index.html or index.phpis missing, restore it from a backup or from a working installation of the content management system. If your website is in a subfolder of the directory domains (or subdom for subdomains), you do not need an index file in the www folder. If both files exist, the website displays index.html. You can find more details about subdomains in the article Webhosting – Subdomains.
If both the website files and the folder domains (or subdom) are missing, the website has been completely deleted. If you do not have your own backup, you can try to request ours following the guide Webhosting – Backup.
Finally, check the contents of the folder domains, or subdom.
- The folder domains should contain further folders named after the full domain names or subdomains on which your websites run. The website itself should be only inside these folders, that is, again the files index.html, or index.php.
- The folder subdom works similarly to domains, but it contains folders named after subdomains without the domain extension. Inside these folders are the files index.html or index.php.
If all files are in order and Error 403 persists, check the contents of all .htaccess files for code that blocks content following this pattern:
order deny,allow deny from all // deny access to everyone allow from X.Y.Z.W // allow access to the listed IP addresses
This code displays Error 403 to anyone who tries to view the content of the folder it is located in from an IP address other than those in the list allow.
Activating HTTPS
Error 403 may not be related to the certificate, so go through the previous steps first. In some cases, Error 403 may be caused by an HTTPS configuration problem. Follow the guide Webhosting – Manual HTTPS Setup check that your domain has been added to a certificate that has been active for at least 30 minutes.
Checking the content management system settings
Content management systems (typically the WooCommerce plugin for WordPress) may restrict access to certain file types. If you observe Error 403 for files of a certain type, in a certain folder, or for requests to /wp-json/, which otherwise appears to be fine, check the CMS or plugin settings. The reason for the block may be shown in the webhosting error log, which is disabled by default and can be enabled temporarily.
Support intervention
If nothing in the procedure above has fixed Error 403, you can ask Support to review the problem.
Support will not carry out the fix for you, it can only point out a possible source of the problem. You can find detailed information about the scope of Support work on the page Customer Support ⧉.
Follow these steps:
- Activate temporary FTP access for Support following this guide.
- Contact Support via the form ⧉. State the website name, a thorough description of the problem (e.g. if the error appears only in specific cases), and the information that temporary FTP access has been activated.
- Wait. If the intervention takes longer than the period of the temporary FTP access, keep it open.
Frequently Asked Questions
What if nothing in the guide helped?
Request Support intervention ⧉ and wait for a response. These interventions go beyond standard support, so handling the request may take much longer than the usual response time.
Can I make sure the correct permissions are also set for newly uploaded files?
Not from our side. Check the manual of your FTP client or of whatever other mechanism you use to upload files. Alternatively, you can fix the permissions with your own PHP script run periodically using CRON.
I set up WordPress security following this guide ⧉ and now I cannot get into the administration because of Error 403. What should I do?
Check that you are really accessing from an IP address allowed according to chapter 2 of the article ⧉. If you cannot rely on the connection under a given IP address, it is better not to use this security method.
Does Error 403 occur elsewhere than at WEDOS?
Yes, it is a common error caused by the unavailability of key files on the server. The server (Webhosting) works without a problem, and the fix consists of setting the correct file permissions and verifying access to the key files of your website.
After uploading my website via FTP, I see error 403 or a blank page. Where do the files belong?
A single website belongs in the folder www, while the website of a domain or subdomain belongs in www/domains/full-domain-name, or www/subdom/subdomain-name. The folder must contain the file index.html or index.php, then fix the file permissions. For details, see checking files via FTP.