A website hosted in Plesk shows 500 Internal Server Error: Option FollowSymLinks not allowed here Print

Troubleshooting a 500 Internal Server Error

"Option FollowSymlinks not allowed here" or "Option All not allowed here" in Plesk

Symptoms

When attempting to access a website hosted on Plesk for Linux, users may encounter a “500 Internal Server Error.” In Plesk’s logs (Domains > example.com > Logs), the following entries might appear:

[core:alert] /var/www/vhosts/example.com/httpdocs/.htaccess: Option FollowSymlinks not allowed here
[core:alert] /var/www/vhosts/example.com/httpdocs/.htaccess: Option All not allowed here

Cause

This error occurs due to the presence of certain options in the .htaccess file that are not permitted on the server, specifically FollowSymLinks and All.

Resolution

To resolve the error, you need to adjust the .htaccess file in the /httpdocs directory of your domain:

1. Edit the FollowSymLinks Option:

   Open the .htaccess file and locate this line:

   Options +FollowSymLinks

   Replace it with:

   Options +SymLinksIfOwnerMatch

2. Edit the All Option:

   Find the line:

   Options All -Indexes

   Replace it with:

   Options -Indexes

These changes should resolve the "500 Internal Server Error" by ensuring that only permitted options are used in the .htaccess file.