When surfing the web, your browser may sometimes display HTTP errors. We will explain how to proceed in case of an error code 403.
Error-Code 403 – what is that?
All errors starting with “4” are client errors, so the reason is your personal device.
- The error code 403 or the message “access forbidden” appears if the server does not allow you to access the target directory / file.
- There are several sources for this error.
Possible error source: “No-directory-browsing”
Almost all websites prohibit browsing their directories.
- For example, if you can call the file “http://…/html/index.html”, calling the parent directory “http://…/html” is usually not allowed.
- Instead, a 403 error is returned. This serves to protect the website so that strangers cannot see the server structure and thus hidden files.
Incorrect browser settings
An incorrectly configured browser or firewall can also induce a 403 error. So please go through this checklist:
- Clear your browser cache.
- Disable proxy plugins. AdBlock programs can also cause problems – so disable them temporarily and test the faulty page again.
- Check if your firewall is blocking the traffic of your browser. Check whether your browser is registered in the firewall and which permissions it has.
Problem detection with extended 403 error codes
Some web servers that use, for example, the IIS developed by Microsoft, do not just output “Error 403”, but a more precise error code.
- This allows the problem to be narrowed down considerably. Instead of “403”, for example, “403.2” is output. You can find the list of the corresponding codes on the official Microsoft homepage.
Contact the website owner
It is also possible that the reading rights of the page are not set correctly: Due to wrongly configured .htaccess files it is possible that the whole directory is locked for foreign users, even if some files should be publicly accessible.
- If you still receive the error code after several days, do the operator a favor and report it to him. You can often find an e-mail address in the imprint.
- However, only contact the website owner if you are directed from the website by a link to a 403 page: If you cannot open some URLs you entered in the search bar, there is usually a reason for this.
