Nginx downloads PHP files, not executing

The error manifests on Nginx web server when PHP files are being force downloaded instead of being executed. For example, when visiting mydomain.com/index.php, instead of seeing the homepage of the website, the index.php file is being downloaded to the user's device.

PHP configuration to be in the correct server {} block directive

Make sure that your nginx.conf configuration file includes the PHP configuration inside the website server {} block directive and not in any other block directives:

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name mydomain.com;
    
    location ~ \.php$ {
        fastcgi_pass unix:/var/run/php-fpm.sock;
    }
}
server {
    listen 80 default_server;
}

Verify the value of fastcgi_pass parameter

In nginx.conf configuration file, at the server {} block directive, verify the value of the fastcgi_pass parameter.

Your PHP-FPM service may use 9000 port:

server {
    location / {
        fastcgi_pass 127.0.0.1:9000;
    }
}

Or PHP-FPM may use the .sock socket file:

server {
    location / {
        fastcgi_pass unix:/var/run/php-fpm.sock;
    }
}

If you use the php-fpm.sock file, make sure that the cgi.fix_pathinfo parameter is set to 0 in php.ini:

vi /etc/php5/fpm/php.ini # PHP 5
vi /etc/php/7.0/fpm/php.ini # PHP 7

Edit the cgi.fix_pathinfo to be uncommented and set to 0:

cgi.fix_pathinfo = 0

Include FastCGI configuration

In nginx.conf configuration file, make sure your PHP-FPM service is configured properly:

server {
    location ~ \.php$ {
        include snippets/fastcgi-php.conf;
        fastcgi_pass unix:/var/run/php-fpm.sock;
        fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root$fastcgi_script_name;
    }
}

Incorrect ownership

Check the username who runs Nginx:

ps aux | grep nginx

Edit the PHP-FPM configuration file. On Ubuntu systems, the path is:

vi /etc/php5/fpm/php.ini

Other possible locations can be:

• /etc/php5/fpm/pool.d/www.conf

Set the username and group that will run Nginx and PHP-FPM:

user = www-data
group = www-data
listen.owner = www-data
listen.group = www-data
listen.mode = 0660

Replace www-data with the username that runs Nginx.

Missing ?query_string

If you use the try_files parameter for PHP framework integrations (WordPress, Larevel) in the nginx.conf configuration file, make sure you use the full path to index.php with ?query_string:

server {
    location / {
        try_files $uri $uri/ /index.php?$query_string;
    }
}