How To Fix WordPress White Screen of Death

This article explains what causes the WordPress White Screen of Death (WSOD) and provides steps to identify and resolve the issue so your website can load properly again. 

 

Symptom or issue 

The following symptoms indicate a WordPress White Screen of Death: 

• Your website displays a completely blank white page  
• The WordPress admin dashboard (/wp-admin) is also inaccessible or blank  
• No error message is shown on the page  
• Only specific pages (e.g. homepage or posts) are affected in some cases  

 

Cause 

The WordPress White Screen of Death is commonly caused by the following: 

• PHP errors or fatal errors that are not displayed  
• Exhausted PHP memory limit  
• Faulty or incompatible plugins  
• Theme-related issues  

 

Solution 

Follow the steps below to identify and resolve the issue. 

 

Enable WordPress debug mode 

Enabling debug mode allows WordPress to display errors instead of a blank page. 

1. Access your website files via File Manager or FTP.  
2. Locate the wp-config.php file in the root directory.  
3. Find the following line: 
   
   define('WP_DEBUG', false); 
    
4. Change it to: 
   
   define('WP_DEBUG', true); 
    
5. Save the file and reload your website.  

If an error message appears, use it to identify the source of the issue. 

 

Increase PHP memory limit 

Low memory allocation can cause the site to fail and display a blank page. 

1. Open the wp-config.php file.  
2. Add or update the following line: 
   
   define('WP_MEMORY_LIMIT', '256M'); 
    
3. Save the file and reload your website.  

 

Disable all plugins 

A faulty plugin can trigger the issue. 

1. Access your website files.  
2. Navigate to /wp-content/.  
3. Rename the plugins folder to plugins_old.  
4. Check your website.  

If the site loads, a plugin is causing the issue. Rename the folder back and disable plugins one by one from the WordPress dashboard to identify the faulty plugin. 

 

Switch to a default theme 

A broken or incompatible theme can also cause the issue. 

1. Go to /wp-content/themes/.  
2. Rename your active theme folder.  
3. Ensure a default WordPress theme (e.g. twentytwentysix) is available.  
4. Reload your website.  

If the site works, the issue is related to your theme. 

 

Check file permissions 

Incorrect file permissions may prevent scripts from running. 

• Folders should typically be set to 755  
• Files should typically be set to 644  

Update permissions using your hosting File Manager or FTP client.