Getting a 403 Forbidden Error - How Do I Fix This? or Why Am I Seeing a 403 Forbidden Error and How C

Had this exact issue! For me, it was a corrupted .htaccess file *and* restrictive file permissions.

Used FTP to set folders to 755 and files to 644, then regenerated .htaccess. Poof—gone.

If you’re not sure, your host’s support can usually check permissions for you.