HTTP Error 503. The service is unavailable.

I'm really new to setting up web servers in general. I've got IIS 8 on Windows 8, and I'm trying to set up a little site locally, while doing some development. In IIS I choose Add Site, give a name, points to a location where I have a index.html file (I've tried different locations, latest in a c:\inetpub\wwwroot\test -folder) and otherwise use all default settings. However, when I try to browse to localhost I get "HTTP Error 503. The service is unavailable."

I've verified the pool is started, and I've given IIS_IUSRS Full Control on the target folder

I've search around but not found anything that solved my issue, and there's nothing helpfull in the EventLog or in the C:\Windows\System32\LogFiles\HTTPERR folder

How You Might See the 503 Error

The 503 Service Unavailable error message can be customized by each website so the ways in which you might see it vary greatly. Here are the most common ways you might see the "service unavailable" error:

"503 Service Unavailable"

"503 Service Temporarily Unavailable"

"Http/1.1 Service Unavailable"

"HTTP Server Error 503"

"Service Unavailable - DNS Failure"

"503 Error"

"HTTP 503"

"HTTP Error 503"

"Error 503 Service Unavailable"

503 Service Unavailable errors can appear in any browser in any operating system.

The 503 Service Unavailable error displays inside the browser window, just as web pages do.

Windows Update may also report an HTTP 503 error but it will display as error code 0x80244022 or with a WU_E_PT_HTTP_STATUS_SERVICE_UNAVAIL message.

Cause of 503 Service Unavailable Errors

The 503 Service Unavailable error is an HTTP status code that means the web site's server is simply not available right now. Most of the time this is because the server is too busy or because there's maintenance being performed on it.

Note: Sites that use Microsoft IIS may provide more specific information about the cause of a 503 Service Unavailable error by suffixing a number after the 503 as in HTTP Error 503.2 - Service Unavailable which means Concurrent request limit exceeded. You can see a complete list here.

How To Fix the 503 Service Unavailable Error

The 503 Service Unavailable error is a server-side error, meaning the problem is usually with the web site's server. It's possible that your computer is having some kind of problem that's causing the 503 error but it's not likely.

Regardless, there are a few things you can try:

1. Retry the URL from the address bar again by clicking the reload/refresh button or pressing F5.

Even though the 503 Service Unavailable error means that there's an error on another computer, the issue is probably only temporary. Sometimes just trying the page again will work.

Imporant: If the 503 Service Unavailable error message appears while paying for an online purchase, be aware that multiple attempts to checkout may end up creating multiple orders - and multiple charges! Most payment systems, and some credit card companies, have protections from this kind of thing but it's still something to be aware of.

2. Come back later. The 503 Service Unavailable error is a common error message on very popular websites when a huge increase in traffic by visitors (that's you!) is overwhelming the servers.

As more and more visitors leave the website, the chances of a successful page load for you increases.

3. Restart your router and then your computer, especially if you're seeing the "Service Unavailable - DNS Failure" error.

While the 503 error is still most likely the fault of the web site you're visiting, it's possible that there's an issue with your computer's or router's DNS server configurations and a simple restart of both might fix the problem.

Tip: If resetting your equipment didn't correct the 503 DNS Failure error, there may be temporary issues with the DNS servers themselves. In this case, pick new DNS servers from my Free & Public DNS Servers List and change them on your computer or router. See How To Change DNS Servers if you need help.

4. Contact the webmaster. There's a very good chance that the website administrators are already working on fixing the 503 error but you can always try to contact the website directly if think that might not be the case.

The best way to find a website's contact information is usually through a WHOIS search, using the domain name (e.g. facebook.com) as your search term. If that doesn't get you an email address, the webmaster of most websites can be reached at webmaster@website.com, replacing website.com with the actual website name.

Errors Like 503 Service Unavailable

The following error messages are related to the 503 Service Unavailable error:

500 Internal Server Error | 502 Bad Gateway | 504 Gateway Timeout

Several client-side HTTP status codes exist too, like the common 404 Not Found error, among others: List of HTTP Status Code Errors.

503 Service Unavailable Related Content

List of HTTP Status Code Errors What is a URL? What is an HTTP Status Code?

Related Articles

403 Forbidden Error (What It Is and How To Fix It) 500 Internal Server Error (What It Is and How To Fix It) 404 Not Found Error (What It Is and How To Fix It) 502 Bad Gateway Error (What It Is and How To Fix It) 504 Gateway Timeout Error (What It Is and How To Fix It)