You may have come across this error message – 403 Forbidden – you don’t have permission to access ‘/’ on this server’. You are simply lost as you don’t know anything about this error. Well, this is a common error this article will brief about and will guide you through methods to resolve it. Let us learn how to solve this error for WordPress site.

Fix -Error 403 Forbidden message

There are different factors responsible for this error and you can use the methods below to fix it.

First Method

Check– .htaccess File

You might not know what .htaccess file is. This is basically the file that is hidden in the project directory. Working with Hostinger File Manager by default lets you view.htaccess

In case you are working with cPanel, you can do it by heading to – hosting Control Panel using File Manger. Here are the steps that help you do so.

Search – File Manager through – hosting Control Panel

In  public_html directory, search for – .htaccess file.

In case you are not able to find any .htaccess file, just click – Settings and then enable  the option –Show Hidden Files (dotfiles)

In order to know about the .htaccess file easily lets us put it like – it is basically a file with  server configuration which works by modifying the configuration on settings of – Apache Web Server.

Though .htaccess file exists in all WordPress sites, in very few cases, when the site has .htaccess file missing/deleted accidentally, you will need to manually create new .htaccess file.

Once you have detected .htaccess file, what needs to be done next is

Download -.htcacess to your PC and take a back up.

Next-  delete file. Next, try to access the website

In case it functions properly, it means .htaccess file was actually corrupt

Now, in order to create new .htaccess file, simply login to WordPress dashboard, and then click – Settings— Permalinks.

Do not make any changes and just hit – Save button located at the bottom of the page.

This helps create a new .htaccess file for your site

Second Method

Reset File & Directory Permissions

Yet another reason for getting – 403 Error Forbidden message is actually bad permissions for the files/folders. Generally, at the time of creation of files, they are created with some default permissions. These settings manage how you read, write and use the files for different purpose.

If you are working with Hostinger, then you will find an amazing  tool that manages all the permission related issues in just one click. Enter the section – Fix File Ownership located at the bottom control panel to start.

Conclusion

The above listed methods can help you fix – 403 forbidden error. The error can be quite frustrating as you are not able to use your site.  The easy steps above will help you access your site again normally, so follow the methods carefully to get rid of this error.