Что означает ошибка 405

Когда на сайт пытается попасть человек, а вместо искомого контента натыкается на ошибку, то важно выяснить, что это за ошибка и почему она посмела явиться в столь неподходящий (а это любой) момент.

Благо у нас есть замечательные коды 4хх и 5хх, хоть и не так подробно, как хотелось бы, но рассказывающие о том, почему возникла ошибка. Ну а мы, зная эту информацию, можем попытаться ошибку исправить. 

В этом материале речь пойдет об ошибке 405 Method Not Allowed. В деталях опишу проблему и расскажу, как ее побороть.

Что означает код ошибки сервера 405?

Код 405 Method Not Allowed говорит нам о том, что сервер получил определенный запрос с заданным HTTP-методом, смог его распознать, но не дает добро на его реализацию. То есть пользователь не получит доступ к контенту, который запросил.

В отличие от 404, 405 уточняет, что запрашиваемая страница существует и функционирует. Только вот стоит изменить используемый в HTTP-запросе метод. Иначе ничего не выйдет. 

Из-за чего я вижу эту ошибку?

Есть 9 HTTP-методов, которые используются браузерами для общения с серверами. Из них два задействуются чаще остальных. Это метод GET для запроса информации с ресурса и метод POST для передачи какой-нибудь информации на ресурс. Два метода покрывают почти все существующие сценарии взаимодействия клиента и сервера от запроса статьи до отправки логина и пароля на сайт. Так как они выполняют разные задачи, для сервера нет никакой нужды принимать GET для авторизации на сайте или POST для загрузки данных. Если же клиент так делает и отправляет некорректный запрос (не с тем методом, который должен быть), то сервер ответит ему ошибкой. То же произойдет, если ресурс будет настроен так, что не сможет принимать специфичный набор запросов, не попадающих в «стандарт». Такие дела.

Как исправить 405 Method Not Allowed?

Ок, небольшой ликбез провел, теперь расскажу о том, что можно предпринять, чтобы исправить обнаруженную ошибку и вернуть посетителям доступ к сайту. 

Что может сделать пользователь?

Ошибка Method Not Allowed под номером 4хх вроде бы говорит о вине клиента. Но несмотря на это, пользователь мало что может сделать, чтобы устранить проблему. В его компетенции только убедиться в том, что он не допустил ошибку в базовых вещах, и попробовать повторить те же действия в надежде на успех.

Заново открыть ту же страницу

Иногда 405 Method Not Allowed может исчезнуть после перезагрузки страницы. Так что перед тем как принимать сложные решения и жаловаться на владельцев сайта, нажмите F5 или Cmd + R раза два. 

Проверить, правильно ли он ввел URL-адрес

Несложная задача, но полезная. Как и в случае с кучей других ошибок, 405 может явиться из-за банальной опечатки или лишнего символа. К тому же многие серверы защищены таким образом, чтобы напрочь блокировать доступ к несуществующим страницам или каким-либо подуровням (в которые человек может пытаться залезть неслучайно). 

Так что пользователю стоит заглянуть в адресную строку браузера и убедиться в корректности введенной ссылки. Если что-то нет так, то лучше открыть главную страницу сайта и искать нужную информацию там, а не пытаться попасть на нее, вводя адрес вручную. 

Что может сделать владелец сайта?

Как это часто бывает, у сервера гораздо больше способов исправить клиентскую ошибку. Тут реально целый ворох решений: от удаления подозрительных компонентов из CMS до редактирования конфигурационных файлов. 

Проверить настройки сервера

Тут будут инструкции для владельцев сайтов на базе Apache и Nginx в Timeweb. Понятно, что есть другие варианты конфигураций, но эти два — чуть ли стандарт, использующийся повсеместно. А информация, касающаяся конкретно Timeweb, заденет только расположение файлов и работу с панелью управления хостинга. Остальные моменты универсальны. 

Инструкция для пользователей Apache

Наша задача состоит в том, чтобы в файле .htaccess найти записи, которые могут провоцировать появление ошибки 405. А потом их закомментировать или удалить. Чтобы это сделать:

• Открываем панель управления Timeweb.
• Ищем внутри вкладку «Файловая система» и переходим на нее.
• Открываем файл .htaccess.
• Внутри .htaccess ищем директивы Rewrite… (обычно это RewriteEngine, RewriteCond и RewriteRule).

Эти директивы помогают в настройке переадресации и некоторых других аспектах поведения сервера. Например, чтобы заставить сервер отправлять клиенту ошибку на каждый запрос GET, можно ввести такой код:

RewriteEngine on 
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} ^/ru/services/?.$ 
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_METHOD} =GET 
RewriteRule ^(.)$ http://timeweb/ru/new$1 [R=405,L]

За появление ошибки отвечает запись [R=405,L]. То есть в настройках указано, как себя будет вести сервер при определенном запросе. Надо найти все такие директивы и закомментировать их, поставив # перед записью.

Инструкция для пользователей Nginx

Здесь нужно сделать примерно то же. Разница в том, как выглядит файл с настройками и в его расположении. 

• Ищем файл nginx.conf по пути /usr/local/nginx/conf или /usr/local/etc/nginx.
• Открываем его любым текстовым редактором.
• Находим код, включающий в себя упоминание ошибки 405.

В Nginx код выглядит немного сложнее. Например, запрос метода для ссылки https://moysait.com/ru/services/create будет выглядеть так:

server { listen 80; listen 443 ssl;

server_name moysait.com;

location /users/create { if ($request_method = POST) { return 405 https://moysait.com/services/create$request_uri; } } }

Делаем ту же процедуру. Останавливаемся везде, где находим директиву с ошибкой 405. Анализируем ее (вдруг, она тут случайно). И при необходимости комментируем или удаляем.

Исправить проблемы, связанные с PHP-скриптами

Ошибки могут возникнуть при попытке импортировать или экспортировать слишком объемную базу данных. На хостинге может быть установлено ограничение в полминуты, запрещающее использовать один PHP-скрипт дольше этого времени. Поэтому, если процесс затянется, сервер может отозваться ошибкой 405.

Обойти ограничение можно тремя путями:

• Попробовать экспортировать БД через phpMyAdmin.
• Разбить файл БД на несколько мелких частей, передача каждого из которых займет меньше 30 секунд.
• Использовать для передачи БД Cron-задачу. На них сервер выделяет больше времени.

Еще специалисты рекомендуют удалить статические файлы с разрешением, которые Nginx обрабатывать не должен. Это делается через панель управления хостингом в соответствующем разделе файлового менеджера.

Исправить эксклюзивные для Nginx ошибки

Как мы уже выяснили выше, ошибка может возникнуть при попытке использовать неподходящий метод. Вот как можно исправить это в случае с Nginx-сервером.

Первый вариант — убедить сервер в том, что вместо кода 405 надо отправлять код 200, и это вполне нормально:

server { 
   listen 80; 
   server_name localhost;
location / { 
   root html; 
   index index.html index.htm; } 
error_page 404 /404.html; 
  error_page 403 /403.html; 
error_page 405 =200 $uri;

…

}

Для тех, у кого Nginx-сервер — это proxy, понадобится вот такой код:

error_page 405 =200 @405; 

location @405 { root /htdocs; proxy_pass http://localhost:8080; }

Аналогичная ошибка возникает при работе с модулем FastCGI. Из-за него сервер неправильно считывает запросы с методом POST, поэтому необходимо делить параметры и адрес скрипта вот так:

location ~.php(.*) {
 fastcgi_pass 127.0.0.1:9000;
 fastcgi_split_path_info ^(.+.php)(.*)$;
 fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root$fastcgi_script_name;
 fastcgi_param PATH_INFO $fastcgi_path_info;
 fastcgi_param PATH_TRANSLATED $document_root$fastcgi_path_info;
 include /etc/nginx/fastcgi_params;
}

Далее речь пойдет об общих методах диагностики и исправления ошибок. На крайний случай, если конкретные решения не помогли.

Проанализировать все недавние изменения в коде

Если недавно что-то поменяли, а после этого все сломалось, то надо это «поменяли» рассмотреть подробнее. Провести ручной дебаггинг, если можно это так назвать. Наверняка где-то затесалась несерьезная, но обидная ошибка. 

Удалить сторонние дополнения для CMS

Если вы используете условный WordPress, то разного рода ошибки могут подкрасться оттуда, где их не ждешь. Например, после установки нового расширения. 

Так что при подозрении на наличие сбойного дополнения, лучше попробовать от него избавиться и посмотреть, что будет. Возможно, ошибка исчезнет. 

После этого уже можно будет поискать альтернативное расширение или пообщаться с разработчиками по поводу того, почему вообще возникает сбой.

Главное, не забудьте сделать резервную копию CMS перед тем, как что-то удалять и менять. И продолжайте делать бэкапы после, чтобы всегда можно было восстановить рабочую версию сайта.

Откатиться на более старую версию CMS

Бывает так, что сама CMS несет в себе баги и ошибки. Ну или криво установилась. В таком случае можно восстановиться из старой резервной копии и откатиться на одну или несколько версий в прошлое. Когда все работало без ошибок.

Проверить новые записи в базе данных

Расширения могут вносить изменения в базу данных сайта. Иногда не очень полезные. Надо проверить, не появилось ли после установки свежего дополнения каких-либо непрошенных изменений в базе данных. Может, появились подозрительные записи, которых не должно быть. Лучше подвергнуть анализу всю БД от начала до конца (если другие методы исправления ошибки 405 не помогли, конечно).

На этом будем заканчивать. Мы и так уже перешли на самые маловероятные способы исправления этой ошибки. Надеюсь, они не понадобятся, но знать о таких вариантах стоит. Вдруг эти знания когда-нибудь спасут вас и посетителей вашего сайта.

If someone comes across an error page on your site, there’s a good chance they’ll get annoyed and leave. This can result in plenty of lost engagement and sales. One particularly common error to be aware of is the “405 Method Not Allowed” message.

This error can be tricky to navigate, as it indicates that something has gone wrong without telling you why it occurred. Fortunately, with a little effort and patience, you can be back up and running before long.

In this post, we’ll explain what a 405 error is and show you the different ways it can appear. We’ll then talk you through some of the ways you can fix this error on your WordPress site. Let’s get to it!

What Is the 405 Method Not Allowed Error?

When you manage a website, it’s almost guaranteed that you’ll run into some kind of common issue eventually. Websites go down, links break, and pages load a little too slowly. Although these occurrences are common, leaving them unattended is likely to result in a poor user experience.

Unfortunately, some problems are more difficult to fix than others. Consider the 405 Method Not Allowed error message, for example. This is an HTTP response status indicating that a web browser has requested access to one of your site’s pages.

In this scenario, your web server has received and recognized the request, but has rejected the specific HTTP method it’s using. In practical terms, this means that the browser can’t access the page it requested. Your site’s visitors will see an error page, rather than the content they were looking for:

Google Chrome

Safari

Firefox

Microsoft Edge

The 405 Method Not Allowed error shouldn’t be confused with the 404 Not Found error. A 404 tells you that the requested URL couldn’t be found or that it was entered incorrectly. A 405 error message, on the other hand, confirms that the requested page does exist (and the URL was input correctly), but an unacceptable HTTP method was used to make the initial request.

Check Out Our Video Guide to the 405 Method Not Allowed Error

Variations on the 405 Method Not Allowed Error

Although the 405 error message most commonly appears in the form we showed above, various web servers, operating systems, and browsers can present it in numerous ways. The actual cause of the issue is also likely to differ slightly from server to server, which can affect the way the error appears.

Here are just a few of the many different variations you might run across:

• 405 Not Allowed
• Method Not Allowed
• HTTP 405 Error
• HTTP Error 405 – Method Not Allowed
• HTTP 405 Method Not Allowed

Regardless of how they appear, the trouble with 405 errors is that they can be difficult to solve. This is because they let you know that something has gone wrong, but they don’t tell you what the cause of the problem is. In most cases, it’s up to you to find the root cause and repair it if possible.

Are you getting the 405 Method Not Allowed Error with your #WordPress site? Here are 7 ideas to easily fix it! 💡Click to Tweet

How to fix the 405 Method Not Allowed Error on Your WordPress Site (7 Possible Solutions)?

Before we start discussing the possible solutions, you’ll want to create a backup of your site. This will give you something to fall back on if you make a mistake. Many web hosting providers include regular site backups as a part of their plans. If you have a hosting plan here at Kinsta, creating a backup is simple.

Once that’s out of the way, it’s time to begin the troubleshooting process. The methods we’ve outlined below are organized from most likely to fix the problem to least likely, so start from the top and work your way down to achieve the best results.

Without further ado, let’s get started with one of the easier steps on our list.

1. Check to See If You’ve Input the Correct URL

It may sound a little too simple but the most common cause of a 405 Method Not Allowed error is entering the wrong URL. Most web servers are tightly secured and designed to disallow access to improper URLs to prevent users from visiting the wrong pages (or trying to access pages that don’t exist).

Before going any further, therefore, double-check to ensure that you’ve entered the URL of the site you wish to visit correctly. It’s easier than you might think to make mistakes – such as forgetting a letter or misspelling a word. You may also find that simply refreshing the page could prompt it to load correctly.

2. Roll Back Any Recent WordPress Updates

Updates are wonderful things. They typically bring a wealth of exciting new features and can help to fix any ongoing bugs and patch security holes. However, despite their good intentions, updates can occasionally cause some issues.

If you updated WordPress just before the 405 Method Not Allowed error message started to appear, the new code could be the root of the problem. This also applies to any extensions or themes you may have recently upgraded – although we’ll focus more on that aspect in the next section.

If you feel that an update might be at fault, it’s worth reverting back to the previous version of WordPress. As we’ve already touched on, make sure you have a full site backup ready before doing this – you don’t want to make any irreversible changes.

While you can do this manually, the easiest way to roll back WordPress updates is to use a plugin. There are many available options, although WP Downgrade is particularly effective. This plugin will largely automate the process, meaning that you’re less likely to make mistakes.

Having a tool like this in your arsenal also means that you can prevent similar issues from happening in the future. Of course, if rolling back the latest update doesn’t fix the problem, remember to re-update your site or restore your backup.

3. Uninstall New Plugins and Themes

Plugins are an essential part of any WordPress website. They enable you to add a wealth of new features, and can even automate more complex processes. Themes are equally as important. Without them, you’d need a lot of complex coding (or an expensive developer) to create an aesthetically-pleasing site.

Unfortunately, just as with software updates, these extensions can sometimes create problems. This is because adding functionality to your site on any level completely changes the way it operates. There may be an issue with the plugin or theme you’re using, or a specific extension might conflict with another part of your site (or even your WordPress version).

As a result, you may find that uninstalling certain plugins or themes could help to fix the 405 Method Not Allowed error. To begin this process, you’ll need to navigate to the Plugins section of your WordPress dashboard. On this page, you should be able to see a complete list of all the plugins you have installed:

From here, you can begin to uninstall your plugins one at a time. After uninstalling each one, check your website to see if the error has been resolved. This process may take some time to complete, but it will enable you to pinpoint exactly which plugin is causing the problem (if any of them are at fault):

Once you’ve checked over your plugins, you can repeat this process with your active theme. If your theme or one of your plugins turns out to be the issue, you’ll want to either contact the developers, remove the plugin or theme, or look for a replacement. Here’s our guide on how to install a new WordPress theme.

4. Check for Any Unexpected Database Changes

Although the above step should resolve any plugin- or theme-related issues, it doesn’t guarantee that all changes made by your extensions have been fully reverted. This is especially true for many WordPress plugins. They are often given complete access to your database as soon as you hit Install, meaning that their changes go deeper than you might initially think.

Unless the developer explicitly codes against it, a plugin may be able to modify database records that don’t “belong” to it but are instead managed by WordPress itself. In this scenario, the plugin may not know how to revert those alterations to database records, so it will ignore them during the uninstallation process.

Diagnosing this particular problem can be difficult, but if you still suspect that a plugin or theme is the cause of the 405 Method Not Allowed error, checking your database directly is your best course of action. To do that, you’ll need to open your site’s database, and manually look through the tables and records modified by the extension. If you’re not sure what to look for, getting in touch with your developer is a smart idea at this point (as well as for the remaining steps on this list).

5. Confirm Your Server’s Configuration

Your website likely runs on a server that uses one of the two most popular server software options – Apache or Nginx. In fact, together they power 84% of the world’s web servers. Checking your web server software’s configuration files for any unintentional handling instructions may help to determine the root cause of the 405 Method Not Allowed error.

To determine which application your web server is using, you’ll want to look out for a key file. For example, if your web server is running Apache, you should be able to find an .htaccess file within the root directory of your website’s file system.

When your application is on a shared host, you’ll likely have a username associated with your particular account. If that’s the case, the application root directory can typically be found by following this path:

/home/public_html/

Therefore, the .htaccess file would be found at:

/home/public_html/.htaccess

Once you’ve located the .htaccess file, open it up in a text editor and look for lines that use Rewrite directives. These are part of the mod_rewrite module in Apache and define a text-based pattern that will be matched against all entered URLs. If a matching URL is requested by a visitor to your site, the RewriteRule will redirect the visitor appropriately.

To better demonstrate this, here is a simple RewriteRule that matches all incoming requests to https://kinsta.com and responds with a 405 Method Not Allowed error code:

As you can probably see, there’s a flag at the end of the rule marked R=405. This explicitly states that the response code should be 405, indicating to the user that the resource exists, but the provided HTTP method was not allowed. If you find any strange Rewrite directives in the .htaccess file that contain a similar instruction, try temporarily commenting them out using the # character prefix. You can then restart your web server, to see if your change has resolved the issue.

Remember, if you’re a client at Kinsta, we use Nginx servers, not Apache. You can reach out to our support team if you think something might be wrong with your Nginx config.

6. Look Through the Server-Side Logs

Nearly every web application keeps some kind of server-side logs. Application logs usually comprise the complete history of everything the software has done – from the pages it’s requested, to the database results it provides.

Server logs are slightly different, as they’re related to the actual hardware that runs the application. They will often provide details about the health and status of all connected services, or even just the server itself.

To find your WordPress server logs, you’ll want to connect to your site via Secure File Transfer Protocol (SFTP). In the root directory, you will see a folder called logs. Within this folder are your access logs, and your WordPress error logs. They should look a little something like this:

• Access.log
• Error.log

From there, you can begin to follow a similar process to that outlined in the previous step. Look through the logs and take note of anything that looks out of place (or ask your developer to do so). You can also refer to the codex for additional debugging information in WordPress.

7. Debug Your Application Code or Scripts

If none of the previous steps have done the trick, it may be a sign that there’s an issue with some custom code in your WordPress installation. The only way of determining whether this is the cause of the 405 Method Not Allowed error is to debug it.

Ideally, you’ll want to make a copy of the entire installation to an online or local development area – such as a staging site. From there, you can begin to conduct a step-by-step debugging process, which will vary depending on your site and its attached software.

Unfortunately, there’s no quick fix here. You’ll have to be prepared to put in the time to comb each section of your site for anything that looks out of place. Remember, however, that a fully-operational site is worth the hassle.

What to Do if None of These Solutions Work

If you’re still reading, it probably means that the solutions we’ve outlined above still haven’t fixed the 405 Method Not Allowed error. This is usually an indication that a more complex issue has occurred, and is unlikely to be something you can fix personally unless you’re a seasoned developer.

In this scenario, the best thing you can do is often to contact your hosting provider directly. You should have access to 24/7 customer support through a live chat or ticketing service. You may also be able to reach out to your host via email or phone, although opting for live chat is likely to offer a faster solution.

Summary

No matter how carefully-optimized your website might be, it’s nearly inevitable that you’ll encounter at least one error message at some point. It’s important to resolve the issue quickly when this happens, to keep visitors interested in your site. Fortunately, although the 405 Method Not Allowed error can be confusing, it’s often possible to fix it with a little troubleshooting.

Let’s recap the seven methods you can try in order to fix a 405 error on your WordPress site:

• Check to ensure that you’ve entered the correct URL into the address bar.
• Roll back any recent WordPress updates, to distinguish whether that’s causing the issue.
• Uninstall any new plugins or themes one at a time.
• Ensure that there haven’t been any unexpected database changes.
• Confirm your server’s configuration.
• Look through the server-side logs stored by WordPress.
• Attempt to debug your application code or scripts.

Do you have any further questions about the 405 Method Not Allowed error? Or is there another commonly-encountered error message you’d like us to cover? Let us know in the comments section below!

If someone comes across an error page on your site, there’s a good chance they’ll get annoyed and leave. This can result in plenty of lost engagement and sales. One particularly common error to be aware of is the “405 Method Not Allowed” message.

This error can be tricky to navigate, as it indicates that something has gone wrong without telling you why it occurred. Fortunately, with a little effort and patience, you can be back up and running before long.

In this post, we’ll explain what a 405 error is and show you the different ways it can appear. We’ll then talk you through some of the ways you can fix this error on your WordPress site. Let’s get to it!

What Is the 405 Method Not Allowed Error?

When you manage a website, it’s almost guaranteed that you’ll run into some kind of common issue eventually. Websites go down, links break, and pages load a little too slowly. Although these occurrences are common, leaving them unattended is likely to result in a poor user experience.

Unfortunately, some problems are more difficult to fix than others. Consider the 405 Method Not Allowed error message, for example. This is an HTTP response status indicating that a web browser has requested access to one of your site’s pages.

In this scenario, your web server has received and recognized the request, but has rejected the specific HTTP method it’s using. In practical terms, this means that the browser can’t access the page it requested. Your site’s visitors will see an error page, rather than the content they were looking for:

Google Chrome

Safari

Firefox

Microsoft Edge

The 405 Method Not Allowed error shouldn’t be confused with the 404 Not Found error. A 404 tells you that the requested URL couldn’t be found or that it was entered incorrectly. A 405 error message, on the other hand, confirms that the requested page does exist (and the URL was input correctly), but an unacceptable HTTP method was used to make the initial request.

Check Out Our Video Guide to the 405 Method Not Allowed Error

Variations on the 405 Method Not Allowed Error

Although the 405 error message most commonly appears in the form we showed above, various web servers, operating systems, and browsers can present it in numerous ways. The actual cause of the issue is also likely to differ slightly from server to server, which can affect the way the error appears.

Here are just a few of the many different variations you might run across:

• 405 Not Allowed
• Method Not Allowed
• HTTP 405 Error
• HTTP Error 405 – Method Not Allowed
• HTTP 405 Method Not Allowed

Regardless of how they appear, the trouble with 405 errors is that they can be difficult to solve. This is because they let you know that something has gone wrong, but they don’t tell you what the cause of the problem is. In most cases, it’s up to you to find the root cause and repair it if possible.

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How to fix the 405 Method Not Allowed Error on Your WordPress Site (7 Possible Solutions)?

Before we start discussing the possible solutions, you’ll want to create a backup of your site. This will give you something to fall back on if you make a mistake. Many web hosting providers include regular site backups as a part of their plans. If you have a hosting plan here at Kinsta, creating a backup is simple.

Once that’s out of the way, it’s time to begin the troubleshooting process. The methods we’ve outlined below are organized from most likely to fix the problem to least likely, so start from the top and work your way down to achieve the best results.

Without further ado, let’s get started with one of the easier steps on our list.

1. Check to See If You’ve Input the Correct URL

It may sound a little too simple but the most common cause of a 405 Method Not Allowed error is entering the wrong URL. Most web servers are tightly secured and designed to disallow access to improper URLs to prevent users from visiting the wrong pages (or trying to access pages that don’t exist).

Before going any further, therefore, double-check to ensure that you’ve entered the URL of the site you wish to visit correctly. It’s easier than you might think to make mistakes – such as forgetting a letter or misspelling a word. You may also find that simply refreshing the page could prompt it to load correctly.

2. Roll Back Any Recent WordPress Updates

Updates are wonderful things. They typically bring a wealth of exciting new features and can help to fix any ongoing bugs and patch security holes. However, despite their good intentions, updates can occasionally cause some issues.

If you updated WordPress just before the 405 Method Not Allowed error message started to appear, the new code could be the root of the problem. This also applies to any extensions or themes you may have recently upgraded – although we’ll focus more on that aspect in the next section.

If you feel that an update might be at fault, it’s worth reverting back to the previous version of WordPress. As we’ve already touched on, make sure you have a full site backup ready before doing this – you don’t want to make any irreversible changes.

While you can do this manually, the easiest way to roll back WordPress updates is to use a plugin. There are many available options, although WP Downgrade is particularly effective. This plugin will largely automate the process, meaning that you’re less likely to make mistakes.

Having a tool like this in your arsenal also means that you can prevent similar issues from happening in the future. Of course, if rolling back the latest update doesn’t fix the problem, remember to re-update your site or restore your backup.

3. Uninstall New Plugins and Themes

Plugins are an essential part of any WordPress website. They enable you to add a wealth of new features, and can even automate more complex processes. Themes are equally as important. Without them, you’d need a lot of complex coding (or an expensive developer) to create an aesthetically-pleasing site.

Unfortunately, just as with software updates, these extensions can sometimes create problems. This is because adding functionality to your site on any level completely changes the way it operates. There may be an issue with the plugin or theme you’re using, or a specific extension might conflict with another part of your site (or even your WordPress version).

As a result, you may find that uninstalling certain plugins or themes could help to fix the 405 Method Not Allowed error. To begin this process, you’ll need to navigate to the Plugins section of your WordPress dashboard. On this page, you should be able to see a complete list of all the plugins you have installed:

From here, you can begin to uninstall your plugins one at a time. After uninstalling each one, check your website to see if the error has been resolved. This process may take some time to complete, but it will enable you to pinpoint exactly which plugin is causing the problem (if any of them are at fault):

Once you’ve checked over your plugins, you can repeat this process with your active theme. If your theme or one of your plugins turns out to be the issue, you’ll want to either contact the developers, remove the plugin or theme, or look for a replacement. Here’s our guide on how to install a new WordPress theme.

4. Check for Any Unexpected Database Changes

Although the above step should resolve any plugin- or theme-related issues, it doesn’t guarantee that all changes made by your extensions have been fully reverted. This is especially true for many WordPress plugins. They are often given complete access to your database as soon as you hit Install, meaning that their changes go deeper than you might initially think.

Unless the developer explicitly codes against it, a plugin may be able to modify database records that don’t “belong” to it but are instead managed by WordPress itself. In this scenario, the plugin may not know how to revert those alterations to database records, so it will ignore them during the uninstallation process.

Diagnosing this particular problem can be difficult, but if you still suspect that a plugin or theme is the cause of the 405 Method Not Allowed error, checking your database directly is your best course of action. To do that, you’ll need to open your site’s database, and manually look through the tables and records modified by the extension. If you’re not sure what to look for, getting in touch with your developer is a smart idea at this point (as well as for the remaining steps on this list).

5. Confirm Your Server’s Configuration

Your website likely runs on a server that uses one of the two most popular server software options – Apache or Nginx. In fact, together they power 84% of the world’s web servers. Checking your web server software’s configuration files for any unintentional handling instructions may help to determine the root cause of the 405 Method Not Allowed error.

To determine which application your web server is using, you’ll want to look out for a key file. For example, if your web server is running Apache, you should be able to find an .htaccess file within the root directory of your website’s file system.

When your application is on a shared host, you’ll likely have a username associated with your particular account. If that’s the case, the application root directory can typically be found by following this path:

/home/public_html/

Therefore, the .htaccess file would be found at:

/home/public_html/.htaccess

Once you’ve located the .htaccess file, open it up in a text editor and look for lines that use Rewrite directives. These are part of the mod_rewrite module in Apache and define a text-based pattern that will be matched against all entered URLs. If a matching URL is requested by a visitor to your site, the RewriteRule will redirect the visitor appropriately.

To better demonstrate this, here is a simple RewriteRule that matches all incoming requests to https://kinsta.com and responds with a 405 Method Not Allowed error code:

As you can probably see, there’s a flag at the end of the rule marked R=405. This explicitly states that the response code should be 405, indicating to the user that the resource exists, but the provided HTTP method was not allowed. If you find any strange Rewrite directives in the .htaccess file that contain a similar instruction, try temporarily commenting them out using the # character prefix. You can then restart your web server, to see if your change has resolved the issue.

Remember, if you’re a client at Kinsta, we use Nginx servers, not Apache. You can reach out to our support team if you think something might be wrong with your Nginx config.

6. Look Through the Server-Side Logs

Nearly every web application keeps some kind of server-side logs. Application logs usually comprise the complete history of everything the software has done – from the pages it’s requested, to the database results it provides.

Server logs are slightly different, as they’re related to the actual hardware that runs the application. They will often provide details about the health and status of all connected services, or even just the server itself.

To find your WordPress server logs, you’ll want to connect to your site via Secure File Transfer Protocol (SFTP). In the root directory, you will see a folder called logs. Within this folder are your access logs, and your WordPress error logs. They should look a little something like this:

• Access.log
• Error.log

From there, you can begin to follow a similar process to that outlined in the previous step. Look through the logs and take note of anything that looks out of place (or ask your developer to do so). You can also refer to the codex for additional debugging information in WordPress.

7. Debug Your Application Code or Scripts

If none of the previous steps have done the trick, it may be a sign that there’s an issue with some custom code in your WordPress installation. The only way of determining whether this is the cause of the 405 Method Not Allowed error is to debug it.

Ideally, you’ll want to make a copy of the entire installation to an online or local development area – such as a staging site. From there, you can begin to conduct a step-by-step debugging process, which will vary depending on your site and its attached software.

Unfortunately, there’s no quick fix here. You’ll have to be prepared to put in the time to comb each section of your site for anything that looks out of place. Remember, however, that a fully-operational site is worth the hassle.

What to Do if None of These Solutions Work

If you’re still reading, it probably means that the solutions we’ve outlined above still haven’t fixed the 405 Method Not Allowed error. This is usually an indication that a more complex issue has occurred, and is unlikely to be something you can fix personally unless you’re a seasoned developer.

In this scenario, the best thing you can do is often to contact your hosting provider directly. You should have access to 24/7 customer support through a live chat or ticketing service. You may also be able to reach out to your host via email or phone, although opting for live chat is likely to offer a faster solution.

Summary

No matter how carefully-optimized your website might be, it’s nearly inevitable that you’ll encounter at least one error message at some point. It’s important to resolve the issue quickly when this happens, to keep visitors interested in your site. Fortunately, although the 405 Method Not Allowed error can be confusing, it’s often possible to fix it with a little troubleshooting.

Let’s recap the seven methods you can try in order to fix a 405 error on your WordPress site:

• Check to ensure that you’ve entered the correct URL into the address bar.
• Roll back any recent WordPress updates, to distinguish whether that’s causing the issue.
• Uninstall any new plugins or themes one at a time.
• Ensure that there haven’t been any unexpected database changes.
• Confirm your server’s configuration.
• Look through the server-side logs stored by WordPress.
• Attempt to debug your application code or scripts.

Do you have any further questions about the 405 Method Not Allowed error? Or is there another commonly-encountered error message you’d like us to cover? Let us know in the comments section below!

The 405 Method Not Allowed is an HTTP response status code indicating that the server received and recognized the specified request HTTP method, but the server rejected that particular method for the requested resource. This code response confirms that the requested resource is valid and exists, but the client has used an unacceptable HTTP method during the request.

Like most HTTP response codes — especially for those that indicate an error — it can be challenging to find the cause of a 405 Method Not Allowed response. 

In this article, we’ll examine the 405 Method Not Allowed in more detail. We’ll look at what might cause this message, along with a handful of tips for diagnosing and debugging the appearance of this error within your application. We’ll also examine popular content management systems (CMSs) for potential problem areas that could cause an unexpected 405 Method Not Allowed.

Server- or Client-Side?

All HTTP response status codes in the 4xx category are client error responses. This category contrasts with 5xx classification errors, such as the 503 Service Unavailable Error. These are server error responses. That said, the appearance of a 4xx error doesn’t necessarily mean the issue is on the client-side, where the “client” is the web browser or device being used to access the application. 

If you’re trying to diagnose an issue within your application, you can ignore most client-side code and components, such as HTML, cascading style sheets (CSS), client-side JavaScript, etc. This doesn’t apply solely to websites, either. Standard web applications power many smartphone apps that implement a modern-looking user interface.

On the other hand, this doesn’t entirely rule out the server as the actual cause of a 405 error. In some cases, the server may be mishandling requests. This could result in 405 code responses and other problematic traffic routing issues. We’ll explore some of these scenarios (and potential solutions) below. Be aware that, even though the 405 Method Not Allowed is considered a client error response, it doesn’t inherently mean we can rule out the client or the server as the culprit.

Start With a Thorough Application Backup

It is critical that you perform a complete backup of your application before attempting any fixes to the system. 

Even better, create a complete copy of the application onto a secondary staging server that isn’t active. This will give you a clean testing ground to test all potential fixes without threatening your live application.

Diagnosing a 405 Method Not Allowed

As discussed in the introduction, a 405 Method Not Allowed indicates that the user agent (the web browser, in most cases) has requested a valid resource using an invalid HTTP method. 

This could happen in a few different circumstances:

• The user agent accidentally sent an incorrect HTTP method
• The server is expecting only a handful of valid HTTP methods for the requested resource

Currently, there are nine possible HTTP methods, though some of them are far more prevalent than others. For example, the GET method handles most requests made on the Internet to retrieve data (i.e. “get” a page or resource). The POST method is the second-most common, and it’s typically used to send data to the server (such as login credentials).

Since each possible HTTP method has its own intended uses, it often doesn’t make sense for a server to accept requests using specific methods for particular resources. For example, a resource might exist at the URL https://airbrake.io/users/create, where the server creates a new user when valid credentials are sent via a POST HTTP method request. Therefore, it makes no sense for the server to accept a GET request at that resource/URL, so it may respond with a 405 Method Not Allowed code.

Troubleshooting on the Client-Side

Since the 405 response is a client error response code, it’s best to start troubleshooting any potential client-side issues. Here are a handful of tips to try on the browser or device giving you problems.

Check the Requested URL

The most common cause of a 405 Method Not Allowed is simply inputting an incorrect URL. As discussed before, many web servers will disallow access to improper URLs. 

This could be anything from trying to access a file directory via a URL to gaining access to a private page meant for other users. Double-check the exact URL returning the 405 Method Not Allowed error.

Debugging Common Platforms

If you’re running common software packages on the server responding with the 405 Method Not Allowed, you may want to look into the stability and functionality of those platforms. 

The most common content management systems (CMSs) — like WordPress, Joomla!, and Drupal — are typically well-tested. Once you start making modifications to the underlying extensions or PHP code, it’s easy to cause unforeseen issues resulting in a 405 error.

Troubleshoot some of these popular software platforms using the tips below.

Rollback Recent Upgrades

Suppose you recently updated the content management system before the 405 Method Not Allowed appeared. You may want to consider rolling back to the previous version you had installed when things were working fine. 

Similarly, any extensions or modules you may have recently upgraded can also cause server-side issues, so reverting to previous versions may also help. 

Simply Google “downgrade [PLATFORM_NAME] for assistance with this task.” In some cases, however, certain CMSs don’t provide a version downgrade capability, which indicates that they consider the base application and each new version released to be stable and bug-free. 

Uninstall New Extensions, Modules, or Plugins

New extensions, modules, and plugins within your CMS all serve the same purpose across every system: improving the capabilities and features of the platform beyond what it’s typically capable of out of the box. 

A word of caution: such extensions can take complete control of the system and make virtually any changes. As such, it may be wise to uninstall any new extensions if you suddenly see a 405 error. 

Check for Unexpected Database Changes

It’s worth noting that, even if you uninstall an extension through the CMS dashboard, this doesn’t guarantee that changes made by the extension will fully revert. This is particularly true for many WordPress extensions. Some of these extensions are given carte blanche within the application, including full access rights to the database. 

For example, some extensions modify database records that don’t “belong” to the extension itself but are instead created and managed by other extensions (or even the base CMS itself). The extension may not know how to revert alterations to database records, so it will ignore such things during uninstallation. 

Your best course of action is to open the database and manually look through records that the extension modified. 

Troubleshooting on the Server-Side

If you aren’t running a CMS application — or even if you are, but you’re confident the 405 Method Not Allowed error isn’t related to that — here are some additional tips to help you troubleshoot what might be causing the issue on the server-side of things.

Confirm Your Server Configuration

Your application is likely running on a server using one of these three popular webserver software: Apache, nginx, or Cloudflare. At the time of publication, these web servers make up over 86% of the world’s web server software! Check your configuration files for your web server software for unintentional redirect or request handling instructions.

Apache

To determine which web server your application uses, look for a key file. If your web server is Apache, look for an .htaccess file within the root directory of your website file system. 

For example, if your application is on a shared host, you’ll likely have a username associated with the hosting account. You can find the application root directory at the path of /home/<username>/public_html/, so the .htaccess file would be at /home/<username>/public_html/.htaccess.

Once you’ve located the .htaccess file, open it in a text editor. Look for lines that use RewriteXXX directives, which are part of the mod rewrite module in Apache. Covering exactly how these rules work is well beyond the scope of this article. However, the basic concept is that a RewriteCond directive defines a text-based pattern that is matched against entered URLs. Suppose a visitor requests a matching URL to the site. In that case, the RewriteRule directive that follows one or more RewriteCond directives is used to perform the actual redirection of the request to the appropriate URL.

For example, here is a simple RewriteRule that matches all incoming GET requests to https://airbrake.io/users/create and responds with a 405 Method Not Allowed error code:

RewriteEngine on

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} ^/users/create/?.*$

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_METHOD} =GET

RewriteRule ^(.*)$ https://airbrake.io/users/new$1 [R=405,L]

Notice the R=405 flag at the end of the RewriteRule, which explicitly states that the response code should be 405. This indicates to user agents that the resource exists, but the provided HTTP method is not allowed. If you find any strange RewriteCond or RewriteRuledirectives in the .htaccess file that doesn’t belong, try temporarily commenting them out (using the # character prefix) and restarting your web server to see if this resolves the issue.

nginx

On the other hand, if your server is running on nginx, you’ll need to look for a completely different configuration file. By default this file is named nginx.conf. It’s located in one of a few common directories: /usr/local/nginx/conf, /etc/nginx, or /usr/local/etc/nginx. 

Once located, open nginx.conf in a text editor and look for directives that are using the 405 response code flag. For example, here is a simple block directive (i.e. a named set of directives) that configures a virtual server for airbrake.io and ensures that a POST request to https://airbrake.io/users/create fails and is responded with a 405 response code:

server { 

    listen 80;

    listen 443 ssl;    

    server_name airbrake.io;    

    location /users/create {

        if ($request_method = POST) {

            return 405 https://airbrake.io/users/create$request_uri;

        }

    }

}

Look through your nginx.conf file for any abnormal directives or lines that include the 405 flag. Comment out any abnormalities. Once that’s done, restart the server and see if the issue is resolved.

Configuration options for each different type of web server can vary dramatically. We’ll just list a few popular ones to give you some resources to look through:

• Apache
• Nginx
• Cloudflare
• IIS
• Node.js
• Apache Tomcat

Look Through the Logs

Nearly every web application will keep some form of server-side logs. Application logs are typically the history of what the application did, such as pages requested, connected servers, database results, etc. 

Server logs are related to the actual hardware running the application. Logs will often provide details about the health and status of all connected services or the server itself. 

Google “logs [PLATFORM_NAME]” if you’re using a CMS, or “logs [PROGRAMMING_LANGUAGE]” and “logs [OPERATING_SYSTEM]” if you’re running a custom application to get more information on finding the logs in question.

Debug Your Application Code or Scripts

If all else fails, it may be a problem in some custom code within your application. Manually debug your application and parse through application and server logs to diagnose where the issue may be coming from. Or, you can see the error in a manner of seconds using an error monitoring tool.

Airbrake’s error and performance monitoring software provides real-time error monitoring and automatic exception reporting for all development projects. In addition to this, Airbrake integrates with all popular languages and frameworks. Plus, Airbrake makes it easy to customize exception parameters, so you only gather the errors that matter.

See why so many of the world’s best engineering teams use Airbrake to revolutionize their exception handling practices and create your free dev account today. 

Note: We published this post in January 2018 and recently updated it in June 2022.