Tackling
Posted by mike1messina on Jan 29, 2009
When troubleshooting any Web application, there are times where you may receive a generic error message like HTTP 500. While this may be “friendly,” it is not informative.
HTTP 500 is a generic error message that Internet Explorer sends for many different reasons, and it is not helpful for debugging and troubleshooting. Unfortunately, the HTTP 500 message causes grief to those unfamiliar with troubleshooting Web applications.
If you want to see the specific error message and troubleshoot the root cause of the issue, it’s as simple as updating a setting within the browser. From Internet Explorer, simply go to Tools > Internet Options > Advanced.
Then go down under the “Browsing” category and uncheck the option labeled “Show friendly HTTP error
messages.” This option will be checked by default.
Once this option has been selected, the real error message will come up when the Web page is refreshed. From this point forward, debugging your Web application will be much easier.
For a complete list of HTTP status codes, please refer to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_HTTP_status_codes. –>