# Internal Server Error While Approving New Users

**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/internal-server-error-while-approving-new-users/403296
**Category:** Support
**Created:** [May 19, 2026, 8:58am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/internal-server-error-while-approving-new-users/403296 "2026-05-19T08:58:25Z")
**Posts on this page:** 5
**Page:** 1

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### Author: ![Soumya\_Ranjan\_Mishra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/soumya_ranjan_mishra/32/514662_2.png) [@Soumya\_Ranjan\_Mishra](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Soumya_Ranjan_Mishra)
#### Post date: [May 19, 2026, 8:58am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/internal-server-error-while-approving-new-users/403296/1 "2026-05-19T08:58:25Z")

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Hi Meta Team,

We are facing an issue with user approvals in our Discourse instance.

When a new user logs in, they correctly receive the message:

> “Your account has not been approved by a staff member yet.”

However, when a staff member/admin tries to approve the pending user, Discourse shows an **“Internal Server Error”** popup and the approval fails.

Authentication is configured using OAuth2.

Could you please help us understand:

- What could cause this issue?

- Are there any known issues with user approval + OAuth2 setup?

- Which logs/settings should we check for troubleshooting?

Screenshots attached for reference.

 ![image](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/meta/original/4X/1/3/e/13e9bc403f3a68d254877a059d14875100822735.png)

 ![image](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/meta/original/4X/f/b/a/fba1f81ef1bdf9af054e78e8d1313c2aa39118d7.png)

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### Author: ![NateDhaliwal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/natedhaliwal/32/313494_2.png) [@NateDhaliwal](https://meta.discourse.org/u/NateDhaliwal)
#### Post date: [May 19, 2026, 12:52pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/internal-server-error-while-approving-new-users/403296/2 "2026-05-19T12:52:23Z")

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Are there any errors in /logs or in the browser console? Thanks.

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### Author: ![Soumya\_Ranjan\_Mishra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/soumya_ranjan_mishra/32/514662_2.png) [@Soumya\_Ranjan\_Mishra](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Soumya_Ranjan_Mishra)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2026, 9:47am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/internal-server-error-while-approving-new-users/403296/3 "2026-05-20T09:47:37Z")

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![image](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/meta/original/4X/a/7/4/a74141e42196e5d22eb199b579b69c7220bf6332.png)

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### Author: ![RGJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/rgj/32/523185_2.png) [@RGJ](https://meta.discourse.org/u/RGJ)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2026, 10:04am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/internal-server-error-while-approving-new-users/403296/4 "2026-05-20T10:04:16Z")

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Is this a [standard install](https://meta.discourse.org/t/142537?silent=true)?  
Are you using an external database like AWS RDS ?

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<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![Soumya\_Ranjan\_Mishra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/soumya_ranjan_mishra/32/514662_2.png) [@Soumya\_Ranjan\_Mishra](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Soumya_Ranjan_Mishra)
#### Post date: [May 22, 2026, 8:30am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/internal-server-error-while-approving-new-users/403296/5 "2026-05-22T08:30:44Z")

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Yes we have AWS RDS database