Overview
This article lists common troubleshooting steps for the White Screen of Death (WSOD) on your WordPress site.
Background
The WordPress White Screen of Death (WSOD) causes your site to display a blank white page without any further information. It's most often caused by a PHP error, though troubleshooting it can be difficult since limited information is displayed when it happens.
How to fix the WSOD
WordPress 5.2 introduces a new service to help troubleshoot the WSOD.
Diagnosing the WSOD
If your site crashes due to a theme or plugin issue, one of the following messages typically appears:
The site is experiencing technical difficulties.
The site is experiencing technical difficulties. Please check your site admin email inbox for instructions.
There has been a critical error on your website.
There has been a critical error on your website. Please check your site admin email inbox for instructions.
If this happens, an email is sent to the site admin with a unique URL that allows you to enter your site through recovery mode. See this section if you do not receive the email.
Fixing the error
To fix the WSOD error in WordPress:
-
Log in to your WordPress site.
- An error message similar to the following appears at the top of your dashboard. This example indicates that there is an issue with the theme:
One or more themes failed to load properly. You can find more details and make changes on the Themes page. - Click the link in the message, which opens the Appearance > Themes page.
- An error message similar to the following appears:
ERROR: This theme failed to load properly and was paused within the admin backend. - Scroll to the bottom of the page, where an alert informs you that the theme is failing to load.
- Click the Resume button next to the theme.
This should fix the error, but it's possible that the theme or plugin will continue to fail:
If this happens, then use the steps in the troubleshooting step section or re-install a fresh copy of the theme or plugin.
If you don't receive the email
If you did not receive the recovery email, you should check the following common issues.
Flushing your cache
Flush any caching plugins you might be running, as well as server, browser, and the Cloudflare cache if necessary:
- Installing WP Super Cache
- Managing the DreamPress cache
- Flushing cache using wp-cli
- Purging your Cloudflare cache
- Clearing your browser cache
Troubleshooting with your browser
Your browser can help you identify JavaScript issues or conflicts using its built-in tools. See this article following for further information.
Making sure the visual editor is enabled
Visit your Users >Your Profile in your WordPress admin page. The first option will disable the visual editor. Make sure that the option is unchecked.
Reinstalling the core WordPress files
Try reinstalling the core WordPress files. Your /wp-content directory will remain untouched.
Other troubleshooting steps
There are a few other common WordPress troubleshooting steps that can fix the WSOD error, which are described below.
Disabling your plugins
Errors with a plugin or theme are often the cause of the WSOD error. You should try to first disable your plugins to see if that fixes the error.
Activating a different theme
You can also try activating a different theme using wp-cli:
- Check which themes are available to activate:
[server]$ wp theme list
- Activate a different theme. For example, this shows how to activate the default theme named twentynineteen:
[server]$ wp theme activate twentynineteen
- Check your site to see if that fixes the error.
Enabling WordPress debug
WordPress has a built-in feature that allows you to view and log errors. After you activate it, you can choose to either view the errors on your live site or log them in a file on your server.
Raising your PHP Memory Limit
PHP needs a certain amount of memory to function properly. How much you need depends on your website, but you can always raise this limit in your PHP settings.
Flushing your cache
You can also use wp-cli to flush your site's cache on the server.