HTTP status codes are used by web servers to advise clients, such as browsers, about the status of a submitted request’s processing. So there are many codes that confirm whether a request was successful or not, as well as extremely particular messages. While some of these errors are rather common when using the Internet on a daily basis, the 405 (Method Not Allowed) error is one of the more uncommon ones. In this post, you’ll learn exactly what causes this error message and why the website operator is responsible for resolving the issue.

What is 405 HTTP Error?

If you encounter the 405 Method Not Allowed error, it means that the web server has been set up in a manner that restricts you from performing a certain action for a given URL. Essentially, this is an HTTP response status code that informs you that while the server recognizes the request method, the target resource does not support it.

When a server receives a request, it responds with an HTTP status code. One of these status codes is the 405 Method Not Allowed code. It means that the server is aware of the request method, as per the HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP), but the target resource that the request is being made to does not support this particular method.

When you encounter the 405 Method Not Allowed HTTP response status code, it means that the server received your request and acknowledged the specified request HTTP method. However, the server has rejected this particular method for the requested resource. The good news is that this response code confirms that the requested resource is both valid and exists. However, the client has used an unacceptable HTTP method during the request.

What causes a 405 HTTP error?

• GET: Retrieve information about a URL resource.
• HEAD: Get information about a URL resource’s headers.
• POST: POST data to the web server, such as form data.
• PUT: The data for a specified URL is replaced with fresh data sent by the client.
• DELETE: Remove the data associated with the URL.

Each web server can be configured so that individual methods are either allowed or not allowed by the administrator. If the website has no interactive content, for example, the POST method should not be used because the user has no way to submit their own data and transmit it to the server. Otherwise, the above error notice with the status code 405 would show, notifying the browser and its user that the method is not permitted.

The following are some often used phrases:

• Method 405 is not permitted.
• Not Allowed Method 405 Not Allowed
• HTTP Error 405
• Method Not Allowed HTTP Error 405
• Not Allowed HTTP Method 405
• 405 Method Not Allowed Error
• This website cannot be accessed with the HTTP verb 405
• HTTP Status 405 – This URL does not support the HTTP method GET.

What causes the 405 error?

We’ve already stated that the 405 error is exclusively due to a server-side issue. However, since status code 405 is associated with client error messages (codes with the pattern 4xx), this does not appear to make sense. However, this inconsistency is soon resolved: If you send a request to the webserver with an HTTP method that the webserver doesn’t allow owing to its setup, the server considers the mistake to be on the client side – in this example, the client simply sent the wrong request. When executing the request, the server is unaware that you’re simply interested in the website’s offer, such as filling out a contact form.

There are three conditions that can result in a “Method Not Allowed” error message:

The relevant HTTP method has been banned due to a misconfiguration of web servers or software components that are supposed to perform the required action for the URL resource.

The HTTP method is prohibited by the website operator – usually for security concerns. The mistake is in a URL resource of the web project in issue, because its programming prevents its technique from being used.

The website operator’s hosting provider does not support the HTTP technique. This is especially true when using the POST method to enter data, which is banned by some providers for security concerns when viewing HTML content.

How to resolve the HTTP error 405?

You won’t be able to fix the problem yourself if you come across a web project that displays the 405 Not Allowed error message. While tactics like refreshing the page, rebooting the router, or verifying the proxy settings can usually cure problems with other HTTP errors, they are futile against the 405 error. In this scenario, contacting the appropriate website operator or administrator to report the problem or obtain precise information about the causes makes sense.

If you are the owner of the website that is displaying the 405 HTTP code to visitors, the situation is obviously different: You have numerous choices for resolving the error message depending on the cause. You should fix the problem as soon as possible to avoid enraging your users and/or being penalized by search engines.

1.     Make HTTP methods available.

If you’re not sure what’s causing the “405 Method Not Allowed” error, check the settings of the software components that are responsible for responding to HTTP requests first. The web server is usually accountable for this, however if the method is simply not enabled, a pre-connected Proxy or HTTP handler (in ASP.NET web applications) could be to blame. Because each application’s setup differs, you must first determine how each software’s activation or deactivation of HTTP methods works.

The mod allowmethods module, for example, is used to specify enabled methods on Apache web servers. The AllowMethods directive in the Location> containers, which are required to specify settings for one or more desired URLs, can be used to control this. The following entry can be used to enable access to the resource as well as client-side data entry:

/”Location”>

GET POST OPTIONS AllowMethods/Location>

2.     Clean up the source code

If you’ve purposefully restricted an HTTP method, such as the PUT method, to ensure the website’s security, but the client still triggers such a request to get URL resources, it’s likely due to faulty website programming. As a result, the requested page or element is wrongly associated to the method, and the 405 error is the logical result. The approach is to find the faulty code in the HTML content in question and replace it with the right request method. If the server configurations and source code are reconciled, there’s a good chance the 405 HTTP error will vanish from your visitor’s browser window.

3.     Get around the provider’s security

As previously stated, the 405 error can also indicate that the hosting provider has disabled the associated HTTP methods for particular MIME types – such as an HTML page – for security concerns. You can contact your supplier and request approval in this situation, but if that isn’t possible, there are workarounds that will allow you to use the approach for your web project.

To get over the barrier, you can deliver the website with an alternative MIME type for the chosen approach. POST, for example, is typically disabled in HTML pages but is enabled in PHP documents. If you change the extension type from index.html to index.php, for example, you’ll very certainly solve the “405 Method Not Allowed” bug.

A second method is to utilize the content of the displayed 405 error page as the website that produces the HTTP error. Simply save the page in question in a separate directory and specify it as the official 405 error message in the settings file:

/PathToFile/example.html ErrorDocument 405

However, this technique has the drawback of classifying and counting all successful page accesses for the page as failures, which complicates statistical analysis. We trust tht this article proves informative. Until next time happy debugging!