Are you stuck with Wget 403 forbidden? Here’s how we fix it.

Usually, wget 403 forbidden occurs due to errors with cookies, referer, user agent and so on.

At Bobcares, we often receive requests to fix this error as part of our Server Management Services.

Today, let’s discuss how our Support Engineers fix this error easily for our customers.

Why does Wget 403 forbidden error occur?

As we all know, we use the wget command to download files from the server.

But, it often shows up 403 Forbidden error. Let’s discuss some major reasons that cause this error.

Cookies, data that a server sends to the user’s web browser can cause this error. Error with these cookies will reject the request and cause 403 forbidden.

And, not setting the Referer header properly will also result in a forbidden error.

User-agent is a string that introduces the browser and operating system to a server. Different requests yield different responses depending on the user agent. It can also cause the forbidden error in wget.

How we solve the forbidden error?

Recently, one of our customers approached us with a wget error. He tried to download a file using wget and ended up getting a 403 forbidden error.

Our Support Engineers checked the error in detail. On checking, we found that the server was checking the referer.

On adding it to the command line, he was able to download the file using wget.

Similarly, some HTTP requests will get bad responses as they reject user agents that do not start with Mozilla or contain Wget.

So, to resolve the error, we can set a custom user agent as follows.

This will resolve the error easily.

[Need more assistance to fix this error?- We’re available 24/7]

Conclusion

In short, wget 403 forbidden occurs due to errors with cookies, referer, user agent and so on. In today’s writeup, we discussed how our Support Engineers fix this error for our customers.