500 Server Error After Installation

500 Server Error After Installation

A 500 error right after installing ViralHub is almost always caused by one of the following.

1. Incorrect File Permissions

The storage/ and bootstrap/cache/ directories must be writable by the web server.

chmod -R 775 storage bootstrap/cache
chown -R www-data:www-data storage bootstrap/cache

2. Missing .env File

Ensure the .env file exists in the root of the application (not inside public/). If it is missing, copy .env.example and fill in your database credentials.

3. APP_KEY Not Set

Run the following to generate your application key:

php artisan key:generate

4. Wrong PHP Version

ViralHub requires PHP 8.1 or higher. Check your active PHP version with php -v. Switch to PHP 8.2 in your hosting control panel if needed.

5. Check the Logs

Enable debug mode temporarily by setting APP_DEBUG=true in .env — this will show the exact error message. Remember to set it back to false once resolved.