For anyone spending any time online these days, error codes are part of the experience, including the error 405 ‘Method Not Allowed’ message that prevents access to a particular website. However, solutions exist.
Indeed, encountering error 405 doesn’t have to mean you should give up on the web page, especially if you’re the website administrator, so let’s take a look at what this message is, why it appears, and what are the ways to get rid of it.
What is error 405 Method Not Allowed?
Error 405 is one of the pesky Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) response status codes from the 4xx category, which means it refers to a client-side error, but this one may also arise from the web server’s client. This message might show up in several variations depending on the website or the browser:
- HTTP 405 Method Not Allowed
- HTTP Error 405 – Method Not Allowed
- Method Not Allowed
- HTTP Error 405
- 405 Not Allowed
Why does error 405 happen?
This error message pops up when the visitor’s browser can’t access the page it requested, indicating that the server understands the request method, but the target resource doesn’t support it. And that’s where clarity about the problem ends, as it’s not clear what exactly is wrong.
There are no further details provided, suggesting that the server itself might be having trouble pinpointing the exact glitch. In other words, you might need to explore multiple possible fixes for this problem.
How to fix error 405
There are several possible methods to tackle this particular problem:
- Checking the URL: If the visitor has made a spelling mistake, it’s on them and all they need to do is recheck the URL and try again.
- Rolling back recent WordPress updates: However, it’s usually on your side, and sometimes it’s a faulty WordPress update wreaking havoc, so try reverting and see.
- Disabling plugins and themes: A misconfigured WordPress plugin or theme can crash everything, so change it or turn it off temporarily to see if this is the case.
- Examining the database for changes: If the problem is in a corrupted database on your website, repair it or restore it from a backup.
- Confirming the server’s configuration: Check your web server software’s configuration files to see if any unintentional handling instruction can provide some light.
- Analyzing server-side logs: Server logs provide details about the health and status of all connected services, or even the server itself, so check yours.
- Debugging code: Other times, the culprit is broken code, so examine it to see if there’s a possible issue there.
- Contacting your hosting provider: If all else fails, your hosting provider is your best bet, so reach out to it and see what its customer support team says.
Conclusion
All things considered, these are the most common ways to try and fix the 405 error code. If you’re seeing another error, such as the HTTP error 400, the 403 forbidden message, the 404 code, the error 503, or the 504 gateway timeout issue, then check out our walkthroughs.