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“The White Screen of Death” (WSOD) is a frustrating issue that can occur in WordPress, leaving your website inaccessible and showing nothing but a blank white page. This problem is often caused by PHP errors, plugin conflicts, or issues with the theme. Follow these step-by-step instructions to diagnose and fix the White Screen of Death in WordPress:
Step 1: Enable Debugging Mode
To identify the cause of the White Screen of Death, you need to enable WordPress debugging mode, which will display error messages on the white screen. Open the wp-config.php file in the root directory of your WordPress installation and add the following lines just before the “That’s all, stop editing!” line:
define( 'WP_DEBUG', true );
define( 'WP_DEBUG_LOG', true );
define( 'WP_DEBUG_DISPLAY', false );
Save the file and refresh your website. If the White Screen of Death was caused by a PHP error, you should now see an error message on the white screen, indicating the problematic file and line number.
Step 2: Check for Plugin Conflicts
Often, plugin conflicts can lead to the White Screen of Death. To check if a plugin is causing the issue, you’ll need to deactivate all plugins temporarily. Access your website via FTP or the File Manager in your hosting control panel and navigate to the wp-content folder. Rename the plugins folder to something like plugins-disabled.
After renaming the plugins folder, go back to your website, and the plugins will be deactivated. Check if the White Screen of Death is resolved. If it is, then a plugin was causing the problem.
Step 3: Re-enable Plugins One by One
Now that you’ve identified that a plugin is causing the issue, you’ll need to find the problematic plugin. Rename the plugins-disabled folder back to plugins, and then activate each plugin one by one.
After activating each plugin, refresh your website to see if the White Screen of Death reappears. If it does, you’ve found the problematic plugin. Deactivate it again and consider finding an alternative or contacting the plugin developer for support.
Step 4: Check the Theme
If deactivating plugins didn’t resolve the White Screen of Death, the issue might be with your theme. To check this, go to your website’s root directory and find the themes folder. Rename your current theme’s folder to something like theme-disabled.
WordPress will automatically switch to the default theme. Refresh your website to see if the issue is resolved. If it is, then the problem lies with your theme.
Step 5: Reinstall WordPress Core Files
If none of the above steps helped, the issue might be with your WordPress core files. Download a fresh copy of WordPress from WordPress.org. Extract the files and upload them (excluding the wp-content folder) to your website’s root directory, overwriting the existing files.
Step 6: Check Server Resources
In some cases, the White Screen of Death can be caused by insufficient server resources, such as low PHP memory limit. Contact your hosting provider and ask them to check your server’s error logs and resource usage.
Step 7: Seek Professional Help
If you’ve followed all the steps above and the White Screen of Death still persists, it’s time to seek professional help. If you are still unable to resolve the issue then Contact us for our professional service for further assistance.
By following these step-by-step instructions, you can troubleshoot and fix the White Screen of Death issue in WordPress and get your website up and running smoothly again. Remember to always back up your website before making any changes to avoid data loss.
