The white screen is the best known failure state in WordPress. It is not an error of its own but a consequence. PHP stopped halfway through building the page, and because error display is switched off in production, the browser receives an empty response. The repair starts by making the error visible.
The control panel has a file manager and a log view. Look for an error_log file in the site root or in the panel log section. The last line usually names the file and the line that crashed, and the file path reveals whether the cause is a plugin or a theme. This one step replaces most of the guesswork.
You can switch error logging on by adding define('WP_DEBUG', true); and define('WP_DEBUG_LOG', true); to wp-config.php. Errors are written to wp-content/debug.log. Remember to remove these lines as soon as the fault is found, because they do not belong on a production site.
| Cause | Sign | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| A plugin | The screen appeared right after an update or an install | Rename the plugin folder over FTP, which makes WordPress disable it |
| A theme | The front page is white but /wp-admin works | Rename the theme folder, which makes WordPress fall back to the default theme |
| The memory limit | The screen appears only on heavy pages or in the media library | Raise the PHP memory limit in the control panel |
| The PHP version | The screen appeared without anyone changing the site | Roll back to the previous PHP version, then update the outdated plugins |
WordPress finds plugins and themes by their folder path. When the folder is not where it should be, WordPress disables it instead of trying to run it. This is safer than deleting, because the settings stay in the database and you can put the folder back under its original name. You need an FTP or SFTP connection, and there is a separate guide for that.
When hosting updates the PHP version, old plugins can stop working immediately without anyone touching the site. If the white screen appeared on its own, check the PHP version first. There are instructions in the guide on changing the PHP version. Roll back to the previous version so the site comes up, then update the plugins and raise the version again.
Take a backup. Fixing a white screen means moving files around, and without a backup one wrong move turns a repairable fault into a lost site. The guide is backing up and restoring a site.
A white screen is usually an hour of work once the error log has been read. We fix it by the hour, backup and report included.
See how we repair a broken site »
There has been a critical error on this website, how to find the cause »
