Troubleshoot WordPress White Screen Of Death. Here is how to fix WordPress White Screen Of Death. Users can see WordPress White Screen after migration or WordPress White Screen Of Death website.
WordPress White Screen of Death
White Screen of Death or WSOD is a common WordPress error. https://wordpress.org/support/article/common-wordpress-errors/ As per WordPress:
Both PHP errors and database errors can manifest as a white screen, a blank screen with no information, commonly known in the WordPress community as the WordPress White Screen of Death (WSOD). Before resorting to desperate measures, there are a number of reasons for the WordPress white screen of death:
- A Plugin is causing compatibility issues. If you can access the Administration Screens try deactivating all of your Plugins and then reactivating them one by one. If you are unable to access your Screens, log in to your website via FTP. Locate the folder wp-content/plugins and rename the Plugin folder plugins_old. This will deactivate all of your Plugins.
- Your Theme may be causing the problem. This is especially likely if you are experiencing the white screen of death after you have just activated a new Theme, or created a New Site in a WordPress Network. Log in to the WordPress Administration Screens and activate a default WordPress Theme (e.g. Twenty Twenty-One). If you are using WordPress 5.8 and below, please switch to Twenty Twenty-One theme since the Twenty Twenty-Two theme requires 5.9 and above. If you can’t access your Administration Screens, access your website via FTP and navigate to the /wp-content/themes/ folder. Rename the folder for the active Theme.
In layman terms, the White Screen of Death or WSOD is a blank screen that appears instead of a WordPress website. Note that whether you’re seeing a blank screen, or the message “There has been a critical error on your website,” it’s the same error.
How to Fix the WordPress White Screen of Death
One of the main reasons for WSOD is the PHP memory limit exhaustion. PHP memory limit is the maximum amount of memory space that a website script can use. This memory is used by everything upon the website – from plugins, themes, images, and every single elements of WordPress websites or Themes.
Expanding the memory limit can be very useful in fixing the WSOD error. Follow the steps given below:
- Log into your server using SFTP.
- Open the public_html folder and locate your wp-config.php file.
- Right-click on wp-config.php and choose the View/Edit option.
- Paste the following line of code at the bottom of the file : define( ‘WP_MEMORY_LIMIT’, ’64M’ ).
- Refresh the website to check if the WSOD error is fixed.
Clear WordPress Cache
Clearing WordPress cache is another of the most effective solutions to fix WSOD error. Simply clear the cache and delete the outdated posts and images from the website.
Enable Debug Mode to Find Errors
If nothing helps and you still get the WSOD error, then turn on debugging in WordPress to see what type of errors are caused. To turn on the debugging, simply add the following code into your wp-config.php file.
define( 'WP_DEBUG', true);define( 'WP_DEBUG_LOG', true );
Note that after the debug mode is turned on you will see the blank screen with errors, warnings, and notices. These error notices will help you to find the cause of the error.
Other methods to fix WordPress white screen of death is by disabling the installed WordPress plugins and disabling the currently active theme.