Title: 404.php file not loading
Last modified: August 20, 2016

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# 404.php file not loading

 *  [scrubbicus](https://wordpress.org/support/users/scrubbicus/)
 * (@scrubbicus)
 * [14 years, 3 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/404php-file-not-loading/)
 * I’m trying to get a nice 404 error page to display, I have a 404.php file in 
   my custom template directory but whenever I type a URL that doesn’t exist I get
   the standard 404:
    [http://ewebsiteservices.com/pagedoesntexist](http://ewebsiteservices.com/pagedoesntexist)
 * I was reading around and I found that this below URL is supposed to show the 
   404.php file, but it just goes to the default home page.
    [http://ewebsiteservices.com/index.php?error=404](http://ewebsiteservices.com/index.php?error=404)
 * I put this in my .htaccess
    ErrorDocument 404 /index.php?error=404
 * I have a default Page and Posts in my Reading Settings.
 * Permalinks is enabled.
 * Any help is appreciated. Thanks.

Viewing 1 replies (of 1 total)

 *  [wrk](https://wordpress.org/support/users/wrk/)
 * (@wrk)
 * [14 years, 1 month ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/404php-file-not-loading/#post-2472625)
 * HEY scrubbicus,
 * I encountered the same problem. See my post at: [http://wordpress.org/support/topic/404-status_header-breaks-loading-404-template](http://wordpress.org/support/topic/404-status_header-breaks-loading-404-template).
 * Did you already find some solutions?
 * The only thing I discovered is that when you output something to the browser 
   before the header 404 status is send, you will get your themes 404 template.
 * Looks like this is a server problem to me..

Viewing 1 replies (of 1 total)

The topic ‘404.php file not loading’ is closed to new replies.

## Tags

 * [404-error](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/404-error/)
 * [404.php](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/404-php/)

 * 1 reply
 * 2 participants
 * Last reply from: [wrk](https://wordpress.org/support/users/wrk/)
 * Last activity: [14 years, 1 month ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/404php-file-not-loading/#post-2472625)
 * Status: not resolved

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