WordPress White Screen of Death: Causes and Fixes

You open your site and see nothing. No error, no header, just a blank white page, or the message “There has been a critical error on this website.” This is the WordPress white screen of death. It looks scary, but it almost always has one of a handful of causes, and you can usually find it in a few minutes. This guide walks through the checks in the order we use them on real repairs.

Before you start

• Do not panic and reinstall WordPress. Your content is in the database and is almost certainly fine.
• Take a backup first if your host offers one click backups, so every step below can be undone.
• Note what changed last. A plugin update, a new theme, a host PHP upgrade or an edited file is the most likely cause.
• You will need file access: your host’s File Manager, SFTP, or WP-CLI over SSH.

Step 1: Check your email for a recovery link

When WordPress catches a fatal error, it emails the site admin a message titled “Your Site is Experiencing a Technical Issue”. It names the plugin or theme that crashed and contains a recovery mode link. Opening that link lets you log in with the broken plugin paused, so you can deactivate or update it from the dashboard. Check your spam folder too.

Step 2: Turn on debugging to see the real error

A white page hides the error message. To see it, open wp-config.php in the site’s root folder and set these lines above “That’s all, stop editing”:

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

Reload the broken page, then open wp-content/debug.log. The last “PHP Fatal error” line tells you the file and line that failed. A path like wp-content/plugins/some-plugin/ points straight at the culprit. Your host’s PHP error log shows the same information. Turn debugging off again when you are done.

Step 3: Deactivate plugins

Plugin conflicts and broken updates cause most white screens. If you cannot reach the dashboard, deactivate plugins from the files:

1. Rename wp-content/plugins to plugins-off. WordPress deactivates every plugin.
2. If the site loads, rename the folder back. Plugins stay deactivated.
3. Reactivate them one by one in the dashboard until the white screen returns. The last one you activated is the cause.

With WP-CLI it is one command: wp plugin deactivate --all, or wp plugin deactivate plugin-name once you know which one failed.

Step 4: Switch to a default theme

If plugins are not the cause, test the theme. Rename your active theme’s folder in wp-content/themes. WordPress falls back to a default theme such as Twenty Twenty-Five if one is installed. If the site loads, the problem is in your theme or child theme, often in a recently edited functions.php.

Step 5: Raise the PHP memory limit

An error like “Allowed memory size of 134217728 bytes exhausted” means PHP ran out of memory, common on WooCommerce stores with many plugins. Add this to wp-config.php:

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

If that has no effect, your host caps memory at the server level. Ask them to raise it, and look for the plugin that uses so much.

Step 6: Check the PHP version

Hosts upgrade PHP, and old plugins or themes can break on the new version. If the white screen started after a host upgrade, check the version in your hosting panel. Switching back for a short time brings the site up while you update or replace the outdated plugin. Do not stay on an old version: it stops getting security fixes.

Step 7: Look for a stuck maintenance file

If an update was interrupted, WordPress can leave a .maintenance file in the root folder and show “Briefly unavailable for scheduled maintenance” or a blank page. Delete the file, then run the update again.

Step 8: Clear every cache

Sometimes the site is already fixed but a cache keeps serving the broken page. Clear your caching plugin, the server cache (LiteSpeed, Varnish or your host’s cache) and the CDN, then test in a private window.

Special cases

• Only the dashboard is white: usually a plugin that loads in the admin only. Use the same plugin test.
• Only one page is white: often a shortcode or page builder widget on that page, or a memory limit hit by a heavy page.
• WooCommerce checkout is white: check the payment gateway plugin and any checkout customisations first, and look at WooCommerce, Status, Logs for fatal errors.
• Strange content or redirects appear too: the site may be hacked. Change all passwords, check for unknown admin users and new files, and clean it before anything else.

How to stop it happening again

• Keep daily backups you have actually tested restoring.
• Test plugin and theme updates on a staging copy before the live site, especially on a store.
• Remove plugins you no longer use and replace abandoned ones.
• Never edit theme files on the live site. Use a child theme and test first.
• Watch uptime so you hear about a white screen before your customers do.

Frequently asked questions

Will I lose my content?

Almost never. Posts, pages, products and orders live in the database. A white screen is a code problem, so once the faulty plugin or theme is fixed, everything is back.

What does “There has been a critical error on this website” mean?

It is the newer form of the white screen. WordPress caught a fatal PHP error and shows this message instead of a blank page. The steps above find the cause in the same way, starting with the recovery email.

Is it safe to rename the plugins folder?

Yes. It only deactivates plugins. Their settings stay in the database and come back when you reactivate them.