Setting Up a Custom 404 Page on Nginx

5-May-2017

A 404 page is a standard response code in HTTP telling the user, in effect, that they've clicked on a broken link. Setting up a custom 404 page on Nginx is a simple and straightforward process.

Create Your 404 Page

Design a custom 404.html page and save it in your website's root directory.

For example /var/www/your-site/public_html/404.html.

Edit Nginx Configuration

Open your Nginx configuration file, commonly found at one of the following locations:

/etc/nginx/nginx.conf
/etc/nginx/sites-available/your-site.conf.

Open file with your favorite text editor and add the following lines:

server {
	...
	error_page 404 /404.html;
	location = /404.html {
		root /var/www/your-site/public_html;
		internal;
	}
	...
}

Replace /var/www/your-site/public_html with your website's root directory.

Test Configuration

Be careful when editing your Nginx configuration file. A single typo can cause your website to go down.

Run sudo nginx -t to check for syntax errors in your configuration.

Reload Nginx

If the test is successful, reload Nginx with sudo service nginx reload.

Done!

Your custom 404 page is now set up on Nginx. Test it with a non-existent URL.