When you surf the Internet, you not only come across interesting content, but sooner or later also error messages. For many this is a frustrating affair, as the requested webpage cannot be loaded and in most cases it is not even clear what the status code displayed actually means. However, the meaning of the 401 error is quickly cleared up and in most cases it can also be fixed very easily.
What does 401 unauthorized mean?
When you are on the Internet, communication takes place between the client, i.e. your web browser, and the web server. The underlying Internet protocol, the browser and the client exchange status codes with each other via HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol). However, most of these codes are not displayed as they only appear when there is an error.
The 401 error message is an HTTP code that indicates an error on the client's side. In this sense, "client" can have very different meanings for the error message, since it is only the instance of communication with the web server. This can be the browser, but also the router or even the Internet provider through which the connection is established. In many cases, however, the internet user caused the error himself..
Sometimes the message "401 Authorization Required" may appear instead of "401 Unauthorized". Both of these basically mean that you don't have permission to the requested website and you need to log in first.
How to fix error 401
Refresh website
Reload the page. As simple as that may sound, reloading the website can fix the problem if it was caused by a loading error..
Typo in the url
Check the url for errors. You may have encountered Error 401 because you entered an incorrect URL. Or, a copied link may point to an incorrect URL - one that only applies to authorized users.
Invalid login data
It's natural to forget one thing because of so many passwords. If you receive a 401 error after signing in to a webpage, it means that either a username or password you provided is invalid. So try to reset your password on the website if you still cannot log in after trying several times.
clear cache
Clear your browser's cache. There may be invalid credentials stored locally in your browser that will interrupt the login process and trigger the 401 error. Clearing the cache will fix any problems in these files and allow the site to download new files directly from the server. We explain how to clear the cache in your browser in the following instructions:
- Google Chrome
- safari
- Microsoft Edge
- Mozilla Firefox
- Internet Explorer
Incorrect login requirements from the host server
While the 401 error is a client-side error, a user error on the server-side can result in an incorrect login request. That is, the error is accidentally displayed to everyone who visits the website. For example, it can happen on the server side that the network administrator enables login authentication for all users, even if this is not required. This causes a problem for normal website users as the error message will be presented to everyone who visits the website. So if you have tried all of the above solutions and you are sure that the error is not yours, then in this case all you can do is wait for the host to fix the problem.