How to Fix Magento 404 Errors

A 404 Not Found error occurs when a requested URL cannot be found by the web server or Magento application. In a Magento store, 404 errors can affect product pages, categories, CMS pages, images, JavaScript files, CSS assets, or even the Magento Admin panel.

A single 404 may simply mean that a page no longer exists. However, widespread 404 errors can indicate problems with URL rewrites, Magento configuration, indexers, web-server rules, static files, caching, extensions, or an incorrect document root.

This guide explains the most common causes of Magento 404 errors and provides practical steps to diagnose and fix them.

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What Is a Magento 404 Error?

A 404 error means the requested resource could not be found.

For example:

https://example.com/products/example-product

may return:

404 Not Found

The problem can occur at several levels:

• Magento URL rewrites
• Product or category configuration
• Store view configuration
• .htaccess
• Nginx configuration
• Incorrect document root
• Missing static files
• Incorrect Base URL
• Cache
• Indexers
• Custom extensions
• Deleted products or categories
• Incorrect permissions
• CDN or reverse-proxy configuration

The first task is to determine what type of URL is returning 404.

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Common Types of Magento 404 Errors

Magento 404 problems usually fall into several categories.

Product URL returns 404

Example:

/catalog/product-name

Category URL returns 404

Example:

/category/shoes

CMS page returns 404

Example:

/about-us

CSS or JavaScript returns 404

For example:

/pub/static/frontend/...

Images return 404

For example:

/media/catalog/product/...

Admin URL returns 404

The Magento Admin login page cannot be accessed.

Every Magento page returns 404

This usually points to a server configuration, document-root, rewrite, or Magento routing problem.

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1. Determine Whether the 404 Comes From Magento or the Web Server

Before changing anything, determine where the 404 is generated.

Open the affected URL and inspect the response using:

curl -I https://example.com/example-page

You may receive:

HTTP/2 404

Check the response headers and page appearance.

A Magento-generated 404 often has the site’s normal Magento layout.

A web-server-generated 404 may display a generic Nginx or Apache error page.

This distinction helps narrow the problem.

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2. Check Whether the Product or Category Exists

If only a specific product returns 404, first verify that the product still exists.

Go to:

Admin Panel → Catalog → Products

Search for the product.

Check:

• Product status
• Visibility
• Website assignment
• Store view assignment
• Product URL Key
• Stock configuration
• Category assignment

A product may exist in the Admin Panel but still not appear correctly on the storefront if it is disabled or not assigned to the appropriate website.

For categories, go to:

Catalog → Categories

Confirm that the category exists and is enabled.

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3. Check Product Visibility

Magento products have different visibility settings.

Common options include:

• Not Visible Individually
• Catalog
• Search
• Catalog, Search

If a product is configured as:

Not Visible Individually

its direct product URL may not behave as expected.

For a normal standalone product, verify that the appropriate visibility setting is selected.

Save the product and clear the cache afterward.

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4. Check the Product URL Key

Open:

Catalog → Products → Edit Product

Expand the Search Engine Optimization section.

Check the URL Key.

For example:

blue-running-shoes

The resulting URL might be:

https://example.com/blue-running-shoes.html

depending on your Magento configuration.

Avoid unnecessarily changing URL keys on established stores because doing so can create additional broken links.

If you do change a URL key, create or verify the appropriate URL rewrite.

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5. Check Magento URL Rewrites

Magento uses URL rewrites to map friendly URLs to internal entities.

Go to:

Marketing → SEO & Search → URL Rewrites

Search for the affected URL.

You may find a rewrite similar to:

Request Path:
blue-running-shoes.html

Target Path:
catalog/product/view/id/123

If the rewrite is missing or incorrect, the storefront may return a 404.

Check:

• Request Path
• Target Path
• Store View
• Redirect Type
• Redirect URL

Be careful when manually creating rewrites because an incorrect target can create another broken URL.

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6. Regenerate Product and Category URLs

Magento’s indexers are responsible for maintaining several pieces of catalog-related data.

Check indexer status:

php bin/magento indexer:status

If an indexer is invalid, run:

php bin/magento indexer:reindex

Then flush the cache:

php bin/magento cache:flush

Test the affected product and category URLs again.

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7. Check Magento Indexer Status

You can inspect individual indexers with:

php bin/magento indexer:status

You may see statuses such as:

Ready
Reindex Required
Working

If indexes are invalid:

php bin/magento indexer:reindex

For a large store, avoid unnecessarily rebuilding indexes during peak traffic.

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8. Flush Magento Cache

Stale cache data can sometimes make a recently changed URL appear unavailable.

Run:

php bin/magento cache:status

Then:

php bin/magento cache:flush

If necessary, clean cache:

php bin/magento cache:clean

The difference is important:

• cache:clean removes cache entries associated with Magento’s cache types.
• cache:flush removes cache storage contents.

Use cache commands deliberately, particularly on high-traffic production stores.

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9. Check Magento Base URLs

Incorrect Base URL settings can result in broken links and unexpected 404 errors.

Check the configured URLs:

php bin/magento config:show web/unsecure/base_url

And:

php bin/magento config:show web/secure/base_url

For an HTTPS store, they should generally point to the correct domain.

For example:

https://example.com/

Also check the secure and unsecure Base URLs if your Magento version and configuration use both.

After correcting configuration, flush the cache:

php bin/magento cache:flush

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10. Check Store View Configuration

Magento supports multiple websites, stores, and store views.

A URL may work in one store view but return 404 in another.

Check:

Stores → All Stores

Then verify:

• Website
• Store
• Store View
• Domain configuration
• Product assignment
• Category assignment

This is particularly important for multilingual Magento installations.

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11. Check CMS Pages

If a CMS page such as:

/about-us

returns 404, go to:

Content → Pages

Find the page and verify:

• Enable status
• URL Key
• Store View
• Page content
• Design configuration

For example, a page may have the URL key:

about-us

but only be assigned to a different store view.

Save the page and clear the cache.

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12. Check CMS URL Rewrites

A CMS page can also have an incorrect rewrite.

Go to:

Marketing → SEO & Search → URL Rewrites

Search for the CMS page’s request path.

Verify that the rewrite points to the correct CMS page.

If a conflicting rewrite exists, investigate it before deleting anything.

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13. Check .htaccess on Apache

If Magento is running on Apache, .htaccess plays an important role in URL rewriting.

Magento’s root directory normally contains:

.htaccess

If this file has been modified, deleted, or corrupted, friendly URLs may stop working.

Check:

ls -la

Then:

ls -la .htaccess

If the file is missing, restore the correct version for your Magento installation rather than copying an unrelated .htaccess file from another project.

Also verify that Apache allows overrides for the Magento document root.

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14. Check Nginx Configuration

Nginx does not use .htaccess.

Magento requires an appropriate Nginx configuration that handles requests correctly and points the site to the correct document root.

A typical Magento installation uses:

pub/

as the web-accessible document root.

If Nginx points to the Magento project root instead of pub, routing and security can be affected.

After making configuration changes, test the configuration:

nginx -t

Then reload Nginx:

systemctl reload nginx

Do not reload Nginx if the configuration test reports errors.

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15. Verify the Magento Document Root

One of the most common causes of widespread Magento 404 errors is an incorrect document root.

For a Composer-based Magento installation, the web server should generally point to:

/path/to/magento/pub

rather than:

/path/to/magento

For example:

/home/user/magento/pub

If the server points to the wrong directory, Magento’s routing and static assets may not work correctly.

This is especially important after:

• Server migration
• cPanel to DirectAdmin migration
• Nginx migration
• Apache migration
• New virtual host creation
• Domain changes

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16. Check Static Content 404 Errors

If your storefront loads but CSS and JavaScript files return 404 errors, the problem is likely related to static content.

You may see URLs similar to:

/pub/static/frontend/Vendor/theme/en_US/...

Check your deployment mode:

php bin/magento deploy:mode:show

Then regenerate static content:

php bin/magento setup:static-content:deploy -f

Flush the cache:

php bin/magento cache:flush

If necessary, clear generated static files before redeploying, but do so carefully on production systems.

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17. Check Static File Permissions

Incorrect permissions can prevent Magento from serving generated assets correctly.

Check:

ls -ld pub pub/static pub/media

Also inspect specific files that return 404.

Do not solve permission problems by running:

chmod -R 777 .

This is insecure and can introduce additional problems.

Use the ownership and permission model appropriate for your Magento server.

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18. Check Media Image 404 Errors

If product images return 404, verify that the files actually exist.

Magento media files are generally stored under:

pub/media/

For example:

ls -la pub/media/catalog/product/

If the image file is missing, Magento cannot serve it regardless of cache settings.

This can happen after:

• Incomplete migration
• Incorrect backup restoration
• Manual file deletion
• Failed media synchronization
• Incorrect deployment process

Make sure pub/media was included when moving Magento to a new server.

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19. Check Case Sensitivity

Linux filesystems are normally case-sensitive.

For example:

Image.jpg

is different from:

image.jpg

A URL referencing the wrong filename can therefore return 404.

This issue can appear after moving a Magento store from a case-insensitive development environment to Linux production.

Check the actual filename:

find pub/media -iname "image.jpg"

Correct references where necessary.

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20. Check the Admin URL

If the Magento Admin URL returns 404, first determine whether the Admin path is correct.

Run:

php bin/magento info:adminuri

Magento may return something similar to:

/admin_xxxxx

Use the exact configured Admin URI.

If you recently changed the Admin URL, flush the cache:

php bin/magento cache:flush

Also verify that your web-server configuration correctly handles the Magento Admin path.

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21. Check app/etc/env.php

The Magento environment configuration is stored in:

app/etc/env.php

A broken configuration can cause routing and application problems.

Before modifying it, make a backup:

cp app/etc/env.php app/etc/env.php.backup

Validate its PHP syntax:

php -l app/etc/env.php

If the file contains syntax errors, correct them carefully.

Do not expose the contents of env.php publicly because it can contain sensitive credentials.

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22. Check for Recently Installed Extensions

If the 404 errors appeared immediately after installing an extension, the extension may have introduced:

• Custom routes
• URL rewrites
• Controllers
• Plugins
• Observers
• Layout changes
• Custom frontend paths

Check enabled modules:

php bin/magento module:status

Review the extension’s documentation and Magento logs before disabling it.

If you are certain a recently installed module is responsible, disable it:

php bin/magento module:disable Vendor_Module

Then:

php bin/magento setup:upgrade
php bin/magento cache:flush

Avoid disabling core Magento modules without understanding their dependencies.

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23. Check Custom Theme Changes

A custom theme can also introduce frontend routing or asset problems.

If the 404 affects only a specific page or frontend area after a theme update, inspect the latest theme changes.

Check:

• Layout XML
• Static assets
• Template references
• Custom JavaScript
• CSS files
• Theme registration
• Store-view assignment

If possible, test the issue with a known-good theme in a staging environment.

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24. Check Web Server Rewrite Rules

Magento relies heavily on URL rewriting.

For Apache, verify that rewrite support is enabled.

A typical check is:

apachectl -M | grep rewrite

If the rewrite module is not loaded, Magento-friendly URLs may fail.

For Nginx, inspect the Magento-specific routing configuration instead.

Incorrect rewrite rules can cause:

• Product 404 errors
• Category 404 errors
• CMS 404 errors
• Admin routing problems
• Static file failures

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25. Check the pub Directory

Magento’s public files should generally be served from:

pub/

Check:

ls -la pub

You should find directories such as:

media
static
errors

If the web server points somewhere else, many requests may fail.

This is one of the first things to verify after a server migration.

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26. Check the var/report Directory

Depending on the Magento version and configuration, additional diagnostic information may be generated under:

var/report/

Check for recently created report files:

ls -lt var/report | head

If a 404 is accompanied by an application exception, the report may provide additional information.

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27. Check Logs for Routing Errors

Search Magento logs for relevant errors:

grep -i "404" var/log/system.log

Also inspect exceptions:

grep -i "not found" var/log/exception.log

For web-server logs:

grep " 404 " /var/log/nginx/access.log

or the appropriate Apache access log.

This can help identify whether the 404 affects:

• One URL
• One product
• One category
• Static files
• Images
• The entire site

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28. Fix 404 Errors After a Magento Migration

If the problem started after moving Magento to another server, check these items first:

1. Verify the document root.
2. Confirm the pub directory is being served.
3. Verify Nginx or Apache configuration.
4. Copy all Magento files.
5. Copy pub/media.
6. Restore the database.
7. Check app/etc/env.php.
8. Verify Base URLs.
9. Check PHP compatibility.
10. Run Magento upgrade commands if required.
11. Deploy static content.
12. Flush cache.
13. Reindex.
14. Verify DNS and SSL.

A migration can appear successful while missing static files, media, rewrite rules, or server configuration.

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29. Fix 404 Errors After Changing the Domain

Changing the Magento domain can produce broken URLs if the old Base URL remains configured.

Check:

php bin/magento config:show web/unsecure/base_url

and:

php bin/magento config:show web/secure/base_url

Update them if necessary.

Then:

php bin/magento cache:flush

Also review:

• URL rewrites
• Store views
• Canonical URLs
• Sitemap
• Robots.txt
• CDN configuration
• SSL
• DNS
• Redirects

Do not perform a blind search-and-replace across the database because serialized Magento data and unrelated values can be damaged.

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30. Check CDN and Reverse Proxy Caching

A CDN or reverse proxy may cache a 404 response.

If the Magento application is working correctly but customers continue receiving 404 responses, purge the relevant cache and test the origin server directly.

Check:

• CDN cache
• Reverse proxy cache
• Load balancer
• Origin server
• Cache-control headers

Do not assume Magento is responsible for every 404 seen by visitors.

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31. Use a Controlled URL Rewrite

If an old URL needs to point to a new product or category, create a proper Magento URL rewrite rather than simply allowing the old address to return 404.

Go to:

Marketing → SEO & Search → URL Rewrites

Create a redirect where appropriate.

For a permanently moved page, a 301 redirect is generally the appropriate choice.

For example:

Old URL:
old-product.html

New URL:
new-product.html

Redirect:
301 Permanent

This helps preserve user access and can also reduce SEO problems caused by unnecessary broken links.

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32. Avoid Creating Duplicate URL Rewrites

Before creating a new rewrite, search for the existing request path.

Duplicate or conflicting rewrites can create confusing routing behavior.

Always check:

Request Path
Target Path
Store View
Redirect Type

before creating or modifying a rewrite.

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33. Check URL Suffix Configuration

Magento can use URL suffixes such as:

.html

If URL suffix settings were changed, existing links may no longer match the current configuration.

Review the relevant catalog URL settings in:

Stores → Configuration → Catalog

and check:

• Product URL Suffix
• Category URL Suffix

Do not change URL suffix settings on a live store without planning redirects for existing URLs.

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34. Check the url_rewrite Database Table Carefully

Magento stores URL rewrite information in the database.

The relevant table is commonly:

url_rewrite

Advanced administrators can inspect it using SQL.

For example:

SELECT request_path, target_path, redirect_type, store_id
FROM url_rewrite
WHERE request_path = 'example-product.html';

Do not directly modify or delete production URL rewrite records unless you fully understand the consequences.

Use Magento’s Admin Panel or supported Magento mechanisms whenever possible.

Always back up the database before making direct database changes.

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35. Fix a 404 After Changing Product URLs

If a product previously used:

old-product.html

and now uses:

new-product.html

the old address may return 404.

For an established product, consider creating a 301 redirect:

old-product.html → new-product.html

This provides a better experience for users who still have the old URL bookmarked or indexed by search engines.

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36. Fix 404 Errors for JavaScript and CSS

If browser developer tools show errors such as:

GET /static/... 404

check:

php bin/magento deploy:mode:show

Then regenerate static files:

php bin/magento setup:static-content:deploy -f

Clear Magento cache:

php bin/magento cache:flush

Also inspect:

pub/static/

and verify that the web server can access it.

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37. Fix 404 Errors for Product Images

If images are missing:

1. Verify the files exist in pub/media.
2. Check file ownership.
3. Check media permissions.
4. Verify the media URL.
5. Clear cache.
6. Check CDN configuration.
7. Confirm the migration included media files.

Do not regenerate or replace thousands of images before determining whether the files are actually missing.

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38. Test the Store After Making Changes

After fixing the problem, test more than the URL that originally failed.

Check:

Frontend

• Homepage
• Product page
• Category page
• Search
• CMS pages
• Images
• CSS
• JavaScript
• Cart
• Checkout

Admin

• Login
• Dashboard
• Products
• Categories
• Orders
• Configuration

Technical

• HTTP status codes
• Magento logs
• Web-server logs
• PHP-FPM logs
• Cache
• Indexers
• Cron

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Magento 404 Troubleshooting Checklist

Use this checklist when diagnosing a Magento 404:

• Confirm which URL returns 404
• Determine whether Magento or the web server generates it
• Verify the product/category exists
• Check product visibility
• Check the URL key
• Check URL rewrites
• Check indexer status
• Reindex if required
• Flush Magento cache
• Verify Base URLs
• Check store-view assignment
• Check CMS page configuration
• Verify .htaccess on Apache
• Verify Nginx configuration
• Verify the document root points to pub
• Check static content
• Check pub/media
• Check file permissions
• Check Magento logs
• Check web-server logs
• Review recent extensions
• Review theme changes
• Check Admin URI
• Check CDN or reverse proxy
• Check domain configuration
• Test redirects
• Test the complete storefront

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How to Prevent Magento 404 Errors

Preventing broken URLs is easier than repairing hundreds of them later.

Keep URL Changes Controlled

Avoid changing product and category URL keys unnecessarily.

Use 301 Redirects

When an established URL changes, redirect the old URL to the new one.

Monitor Search Console

Regularly monitor crawl errors and indexed URLs to identify broken links.

Test Deployments

Test URL routing, static assets, and media files after deployments.

Maintain Backups

Keep reliable backups of both Magento files and the database.

Test Migrations

Before switching DNS after a migration, test the new server using a temporary hostname or local hosts-file configuration.

Monitor 404 Rates

A sudden increase in 404 responses can indicate:

• Broken deployment
• Incorrect rewrite rules
• Missing static files
• Incorrect domain configuration
• Deleted products
• Bad extension updates

Monitoring 404 rates can help detect these problems quickly.

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Final Thoughts

Magento 404 errors can have many causes, ranging from a deleted product to an incorrectly configured web server. The most effective troubleshooting approach is to first identify which URLs are failing and whether the response is generated by Magento, the web server, or an intermediate CDN.

For product and category pages, investigate URL keys, URL rewrites, store views, and indexers. For CSS and JavaScript, focus on static content deployment and the pub/static directory. For images, inspect pub/media. If the entire store returns 404, check the web-server configuration and make sure the document root points to Magento’s pub directory.

Avoid making multiple changes simultaneously. Back up the store before modifying configuration or database records, make one controlled change at a time, and verify the result.

With proper URL management, controlled deployments, redirects, monitoring, and regular backups, Magento 404 errors can be significantly reduced and much easier to resolve when they occur.