discussion Guide Plesk How to Fix the 500 Error Caused by "FollowSymLinks" in Plesk

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How to Fix the 500 Error Caused by "FollowSymLinks" in Plesk​

Recent Plesk Panel versions have (correctly) tightened security by disabling the FollowSymLinks directive by default. While this is a good security practice, it often causes a "500 Internal Server Error" when installing or updating many popular web applications (like WordPress, Joomla, etc.) that try to enable this setting in their .htaccess file.

If you’ve suddenly hit this 500 error, here are the two ways to solve it.

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1- Change the Setting in Plesk​

This method works, but it lowers the security for that specific domain. Only use this if you have no other choice.

1. Log in to your Plesk Panel.
2. Navigate to Websites & Domains and click on the domain you need to fix.
3. Go to Apache & nginx Settings.
4. Find the option "Restrict the ability to follow symbolic links" and uncheck it.
5. Click Apply or OK.

Tip for Admins: If you want to apply this setting to all new domains, you must edit the service plan. Go to Service Plans → [Your Plan Name] → Web Server tab, and uncheck the setting there.

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2- Fix via .htaccess​

This is the better, safer solution. It keeps your server's security intact and just removes the specific line that Plesk is blocking. The 500 error is happening because your .htaccess file contains a command that Plesk no longer allows.

1. Connect to your website's files using FTP or the Plesk File Manager.
2. Open the .htaccess file located in your website's root directory (e.g., /httpdocs).
3. Look for the following lines. They may have a + or - sign.
   

   Options +FollowSymLinks
   Options +Indexes

4. Delete these specific lines entirely (or comment them out by adding a # at the beginning of each line).
5. Save the .htaccess file.

 

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