How to Fix HTTP 406 Not Acceptable Error? Client & Server Side Fix

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How do I fix error 406?

Here are some of the troubleshooting methods you can follow to fix error 406.

Client-side Solutions

1. Check whether the entered URL is correct or not

It sounds obvious and very basic, but trust us, it is the simplest but quickest method you can try to fix error 406.

Although, in reality, the error 406 is likely more than what it seems like, at this moment if you have entered the wrong URL and it is not valid you might encounter an error message “406 Not acceptable”.

To fix this issue, all you need to do is simply recheck the entered URL and verify everything is correct or not. Such as,

• Check for any spelling mistakes
• Check for if any special character is entered which is invalid
• Try entering the URL of its other pages to check if it’s happening to the one page only.

If the error persists, check out our other solutions.

2. Reset and Configure your Network and Devices

Since error 406 is a client-side issue, certain platforms like online gaming or media streaming services, such as Netflix and music streaming platform Spotify, may also be unable to satisfy the client’s request, leading to the display of this error.

At this moment, you might be thinking it’s a server-side issue, but there is a higher possibility that the problem has occurred on the client side instead. It could be your personal computer, internet connection, or any device that you used to launch these platforms.

Since it’s mostly due to incompatibility or unsupported headers by the server, you can expect this error on any platform, whether it is Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu, etc.

Also, we can’t explain every step to troubleshoot the 406 error on each of these platforms. However, you can follow these basic steps for each platform and see if the error is fixed.

• Restart your network device, such as a router by switching it off or unplugging it from the power source > Wait for a while (about 2 minutes) > Plug it back and turn on the device.
• Similarly, you can also restart your gaming system, personal computer, OTT devices, etc.
• Try connecting your streaming device to another network, such as WLAN or Mobile network, and check if the error persists.
• Check the streaming media app’s current version and update it if available.
• If none of the above methods work, the best thing you can do is to search for the Forums and guides available online on each streaming platform.

3. Rollback your recent WordPress updates

Note: Before attempting to change anything on the website, the first thing you need to do is a complete backup of your website as a precautionary measure. So that, if anything goes wrong, you can still get back to your website unharmed.

If you have recently updated your WordPress just before the 406 error code appeared, consider rolling back to its previous version immediately.

For your reference, you can check out this dedicated post “How To Reinstall WordPress? 4 Best Methods To Follow“.

Similarly, any extensions or modules you recently upgraded can also cause server-side issues, so reverting to previous versions of those may also help. 

4. Uninstall Recently added Extensions, Plugins, or Themes

If you have recently added any Extension, plugin, or Theme regardless of what Content Management system you are using, and see an error 406 afterward. It is better to check if they were creating the issue.

This is because these plugins or themes have access to your database and can make changes to it, such as adding extra code to your site files or altering database records. These actions may lead to the occurrence of an HTTP error 406.

The best approach to figure out the problematic plugins or themes is to deactivate them one by one and see if the error 406 is still showing up. If the error disappears, the deactivated plugin or theme is more likely to be the culprit.

5. Look for any Database records changes

As mentioned in the above section, certain plugins and themes can have the power to modify or alter your database records. Consequently, even after removing or uninstalling them from your WordPress dashboard, some traces may still be present in the database.

These traces can still be responsible for triggering the error 406.

The best thing you can do is to open the database by using Adminer or phpMyAdmin and check out the tables.

Check the WordPress tables and records that were likely to be modified by the Plugins or themes.

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Info:If your website is hosted on a WPOven server, you can easily access your Database via the Database Manager Tool.

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Server-side Solutions

In case you are not using any CMS such as WordPress or after trying all the above methods still encountering HTTP error 406. Here are some other troubleshooting methods you can follow on the server side.

6. Check Server Logs

One of the best tricks to check if anything went wrong on the server side is checking the Server logs. Regardless of what CMS, website platform, or web application you use, they all have server-side logs available.

These server logs contain critical information about the health and status of the server or hardware used to run the web application.

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Read: 🚩 For a WordPress site, How to Set up and Use WordPress Error Log?
For WPOven users, Read: How do I see my access and error logs?

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7. Check the Web server configuration

If you are unable to resolve the “406 Not Acceptable” error, the next step is to check your web server configuration files. This error typically indicates that the web server is restricting users from accessing a specific URL.

Hence, it is necessary to inspect or check your web server configuration for any request handling instructions or unintentional redirections.

To inspect your web server configuration, the first step is to determine which server software your website uses. It can be either NGINX or Apache.

If your website uses Apache, look out for the .htaccess file in the root directory of your website’s system files. However, if your website is using the NGINX web server, you have to look for the NGINX.conf file instead.

You can also check out our dedicated article on, “WordPress .htaccess File: How to Create And Edit it?“

Once you can locate the .htaccess file, open it up in the text editor and search for the directives that are using the 406 flags.

For example, here is a block directive (i.e., a named set of directives) that configures a virtual server for WPOven.com and ensures that similar to above, a request to 

https://wpoven.com./users/json that doesn’t include an Accept: application/JSON request header will fail and is met with a 406 response code:

server {
listen 80;
listen 443 ssl;
server_name wpoven.com;
location /users/json {
if ($http_accept != application/json) {
return 406 https://wpoven.com/users/json$request_uri;
}
}
}

Now you need to thoroughly look at your nginx.conf file and see if there any suspicious, abnormal directives or lines are present that have 406 flags included. If found any, mark it as a “comment” and then restart your server to see if the error disappears.

8. Debugging WordPress

As we have mentioned earlier many web applications provide you with error logs and even debugging along with it.

Debugging is a process that involves finding out the smaller bugs or errors in the codes of the application and removing them. To learn more about WordPress debugging check out our dedicated post on “WordPress Debugging: How To Enable WP_DEBUG?“

9. Check Server Security Rules

• Server’s security rules target to protect your server and website from malicious activities such as DDoS attacks etc.
• But sometimes, these rules might be overly strict leading to the blocking of legitimate requests and triggering the 406 error code.
• For example, if the security rule is configured to block requests from particular IP addresses, it can unintentionally also block genuine users as well.
• To avoid such a situation, it is important to check your server security rules and if possible, make little adjustments to allow valid requests without violating the protection and functionality of the website.

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Conclusion

Just like any HTTP error, you can fix the 406 Not Acceptable error. However, the initial step you need to take is to figure out the underlying cause that triggered it.

Since it is not a common HTTP error code, you may still encounter it from time to time if it is not properly configured.

If you have any suggestions or queries to ask regarding this 406 error, please do let us know in the comment section below.

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Frequently Asked Questions

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