White Screen of Death (WSoD)

The White Screen of Death is one of the most common and frustrating WordPress errors. Your site displays a completely blank page with no helpful error message.

What Causes WSoD?

The most common causes are:

1. PHP fatal error — A plugin or theme triggers a fatal error that halts execution
2. Memory limit exhaustion — WordPress runs out of allocated PHP memory
3. Corrupted core files — A failed update leaves core files in a broken state
4. Incompatible plugin or theme — A recent update creates a conflict

How to Fix It

Step 1: Enable Debug Mode

Connect to your server via FTP or SSH and edit wp-config.php. Change WP_DEBUG to true:

define('WP_DEBUG', true);
define('WP_DEBUG_LOG', true);
define('WP_DEBUG_DISPLAY', false);

This writes errors to wp-content/debug.log instead of showing a blank page.

Step 2: Check the Error Log

Open wp-content/debug.log and look for the most recent fatal error. It will tell you which file and line number caused the problem.

Step 3: Deactivate All Plugins

If you cannot access the dashboard, rename the wp-content/plugins folder to plugins-disabled via FTP. This deactivates all plugins at once. If the site loads, reactivate plugins one at a time to find the culprit.

Step 4: Switch to a Default Theme

If the issue persists, rename your active theme folder. WordPress will fall back to a default theme like Twenty Twenty-Five.

Step 5: Increase PHP Memory Limit

Add this line to wp-config.php:

define('WP_MEMORY_LIMIT', '256M');

Step 6: Reinstall Core Files

If none of the above works, download a fresh copy of WordPress and replace the wp-admin and wp-includes folders. Do not replace wp-content — that contains your themes, plugins, and uploads.

Prevention

• Always test updates on a staging site first
• Keep regular backups with a plugin like UpdraftPlus
• Use a managed WordPress host that provides automatic recovery