How to fix the WordPress white screen of death

This guide walks you through diagnosing and fixing the WordPress white screen of death (WSOD). You will learn how to enable debug mode, identify the cause — whether it is a plugin conflict, theme issue, or PHP memory limit — and restore your site step by step.

Common causes

The white screen of death is usually caused by one of these issues:

A plugin conflict — the most common cause, especially after updating a plugin
A broken theme — a faulty theme file or an incompatible theme update
PHP memory exhaustion — the site runs out of allocated memory
A PHP error in custom code — a syntax error in functions.php or a custom plugin
Incompatible PHP version — the site requires a different PHP version

Enable WordPress debug mode

Step 1:

Turn on WP_DEBUG

Log in to your control panel and open File Manager. Navigate to your WordPress installation folder (usually public_html) and open wp-config.php. Find the line:

define( 'WP_DEBUG', false );

Change it to:

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

Save the file and reload your site. If there is a PHP error, it now appears on screen or is logged to wp-content/debug.log. The error message tells you which file and line caused the problem.

Important: Disable WP_DEBUG when you are done troubleshooting. Leaving it enabled on a live site exposes error details to visitors.

Fix plugin conflicts

Step 2:

Deactivate all plugins via File Manager

If you cannot access the WordPress dashboard, use File Manager to navigate to wp-content. Rename the plugins folder to plugins_disabled. This deactivates all plugins at once.

Reload your site. If it loads normally, a plugin was the cause. Rename the folder back to plugins, then reactivate plugins one by one from the WordPress dashboard until the white screen returns — that is the problematic plugin.

Fix theme issues

Step 3:

Switch to a default theme

If deactivating plugins did not help, the issue may be your active theme. In File Manager, navigate to wp-content/themes and rename your active theme's folder (e.g., rename my-theme to my-theme_disabled). WordPress automatically falls back to a default theme (such as Twenty Twenty-Four).

If the site loads with the default theme, the issue is in your theme's code. Check for recent changes to functions.php or update the theme to the latest version.

Increase PHP memory limit

Step 4:

Raise the WordPress memory limit

If the debug log shows a «fatal error: allowed memory size exhausted» message, add this line to wp-config.php (before the line that says "That's all, stop editing!"):

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

You can also increase the PHP memory limit from your control panel's PHP Selector or MultiPHP INI Editor. For details, see How to change your PHP version.

Check PHP version compatibility

Step 5:

Verify your PHP version

If the WSOD started after a PHP upgrade, your theme or a plugin may not be compatible with the new version. Use WordPress Toolkit or the PHP Selector in your control panel to temporarily switch to an older PHP version and test. If the site loads, update the incompatible theme or plugin before switching back.

Restore from backup

If none of the above steps resolve the issue, restore your site from a recent backup. HOSTDOG performs automated daily backups of your hosting account, so you can restore your files and database to a point before the problem occurred.