Title: HTTP Error 500 following Theme install
Last modified: August 21, 2016

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# HTTP Error 500 following Theme install

 *  Resolved [shrinkray](https://wordpress.org/support/users/shrinkray/)
 * (@shrinkray)
 * [12 years, 11 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/http-error-500-following-theme-install/)
 * I recently installed WordPress with Ubuntu (on Apache) following the install 
   info on this link: [ubuntu server guide](http://ubuntuserverguide.com/2012/05/how-to-install-latest-wordpress-in-ubuntu-server-12-04-lts.html).
   This installs WordPress in the root of the site in a /wordpress/ folder. An .
   htaccess file is included with the install inside the wordpress folder.
 * WordPress was installed and I added Maintenance Mode plugin and activated it.
   I next attempted to add a theme via upload but this failed several times until
   I hit on the right combination of Media settings. I changed permalinks to one
   that listed category and postname /%category%/%postname%/ as a custom structure.
   I’ve installed this theme on other test sites and it’s never caused a problem.
 * While Googling on the error I discovered that the error could be caused by a 
   conflict of theme and plugin, so I tried deleting the theme. No improvement. 
   Then I tried renaming the plugins folder. The one plugin I added stopped working
   but no change in the site.
 * My company is the web host so while I have access to servers and error logs, 
   I don’t have much internal support on interpreting the information. Here is an
   example of an item on the Error Log:
    `[23/May/2013:13:49:31 -0400] "GET /wordpress/
   wp-admin/ HTTP/1.1" 500 432 "http://mydomainname/wordpress/"`
 * The .htaccess file comes preconfigured with the install. I’ve added the permalinks
   info to it and have tried moving it from inside the /wordpress folder to outside
   in root. There does not seem to be anything that helps here.
 * Is there anything I could try?

Viewing 4 replies - 1 through 4 (of 4 total)

 *  [David Sullivan](https://wordpress.org/support/users/sullivandavid/)
 * (@sullivandavid)
 * [12 years, 11 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/http-error-500-following-theme-install/#post-3779802)
 * shrinkray, look for a PHP error log. Mine is called php_error.log but yours could
   be different depending on platform, etc. If you have this log file, it should
   have the exact error, file name and line number. If you can’t figure it out from
   that info, maybe I can.
 *  Thread Starter [shrinkray](https://wordpress.org/support/users/shrinkray/)
 * (@shrinkray)
 * [12 years, 11 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/http-error-500-following-theme-install/#post-3779831)
 * [@david](https://wordpress.org/support/users/david/), could you give me an idea
   where Ubuntu stores that file? Would it be in the /etc path?
 *  [David Sullivan](https://wordpress.org/support/users/sullivandavid/)
 * (@sullivandavid)
 * [12 years, 11 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/http-error-500-following-theme-install/#post-3779870)
 * [@shrinkray](https://wordpress.org/support/users/shrinkray/),
 * Try creating a .php file containing this: `<?php phpinfo(); ?>`
 * Browse it and look for a line containing “error_log”.
 * Mine on my Mac displays data like this:
    error_log /Applications/MAMP/logs/php_error.
   log
 *  Thread Starter [shrinkray](https://wordpress.org/support/users/shrinkray/)
 * (@shrinkray)
 * [12 years, 11 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/http-error-500-following-theme-install/#post-3779871)
 * Thanks [@david](https://wordpress.org/support/users/david/), I think the Ubuntu
   + WP install linked above is hugely flawed and am starting over with a more traditional
   install. The thing builds a number of confusing symlinks into the Ubuntu OS. 
   I am grateful for your help.

Viewing 4 replies - 1 through 4 (of 4 total)

The topic ‘HTTP Error 500 following Theme install’ is closed to new replies.

 * In: [Fixing WordPress](https://wordpress.org/support/forum/how-to-and-troubleshooting/)
 * 4 replies
 * 2 participants
 * Last reply from: [shrinkray](https://wordpress.org/support/users/shrinkray/)
 * Last activity: [12 years, 11 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/http-error-500-following-theme-install/#post-3779871)
 * Status: resolved

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