Fix WordPress White Screen

What's Actually Happening

WordPress displays a blank white screen instead of the website. No error messages are shown, the page is completely blank, and the site is inaccessible.

The Error You'll See

White screen:

Browser shows completely blank white page
No error messages visible
Page source is empty or incomplete

Why This Happens

1. 1.PHP fatal error - Code causing PHP crash
2. 2.Memory limit - WordPress exceeded PHP memory
3. 3.Plugin conflict - Plugin causing error
4. 4.Theme issue - Theme has error
5. 5.Corrupted files - WordPress core files corrupted
6. 6.Database error - Database connection issue
7. 7.PHP version mismatch - Incompatible PHP version

Step 1: Enable Debug Mode

```bash # Edit wp-config.php: vim /var/www/html/wp-config.php

# Add or change: define( 'WP_DEBUG', true ); define( 'WP_DEBUG_LOG', true ); define( 'WP_DEBUG_DISPLAY', false );

# Check debug log: tail -f /var/www/html/wp-content/debug.log

# Location may vary: tail -f /var/www/wp-content/debug.log ```

Step 2: Check PHP Error Logs

```bash # Common log locations: tail -f /var/log/php/error.log tail -f /var/log/php-fpm/error.log tail -f /var/log/apache2/error.log tail -f /var/log/nginx/error.log

# Look for: # - Fatal error # - Allowed memory size exhausted # - Call to undefined function # - Cannot redeclare class

# Check PHP-FPM logs: journalctl -u php-fpm -f ```

Step 3: Increase PHP Memory

```bash # Edit wp-config.php: define( 'WP_MEMORY_LIMIT', '256M' ); define( 'WP_MAX_MEMORY_LIMIT', '512M' );

# Or in php.ini: memory_limit = 256M

# Check current limit: php -i | grep memory_limit

# Restart PHP-FPM: systemctl restart php-fpm

# Or Apache: systemctl restart apache2 ```

Step 4: Disable Plugins

```bash # Via FTP/File Manager: # Rename plugins folder: cd /var/www/html/wp-content/ mv plugins plugins-disabled

# Or disable specific plugin: mv plugins/plugin-name plugins/plugin-name-disabled

# Via database: mysql -u user -p wordpress

UPDATE wp_options SET option_value = '' WHERE option_name = 'active_plugins';

# Via WP-CLI: wp plugin deactivate --all ```

Step 5: Switch to Default Theme

```bash # Via FTP/File Manager: # Rename theme folder: cd /var/www/html/wp-content/themes/ mv mytheme mytheme-disabled

# WordPress will use default theme

# Via database: UPDATE wp_options SET option_value = 'twentytwentyone' WHERE option_name = 'template'; UPDATE wp_options SET option_value = 'twentytwentyone' WHERE option_name = 'stylesheet';

# Via WP-CLI: wp theme activate twentytwentyone ```

Step 6: Check PHP Version

```bash php -v

# Check WordPress PHP requirements: # WordPress 6.0+ requires PHP 7.4+ # Some plugins/themes need specific PHP version

# Switch PHP version: update-alternatives --config php

# Or in Apache: a2dismod php7.4 a2enmod php8.1 systemctl restart apache2 ```

Step 7: Check File Permissions

```bash # Correct WordPress permissions: chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/html/ find /var/www/html/ -type d -exec chmod 755 {} \; find /var/www/html/ -type f -exec chmod 644 {} \;

# wp-content should be writable: chmod -R 775 /var/www/html/wp-content/

# Check ownership: ls -la /var/www/html/ ```

Step 8: Check Database Connection

```bash # Test database connection: mysql -u wpuser -p -h localhost wordpress

# Check wp-config.php database settings: cat /var/www/html/wp-config.php | grep DB

define( 'DB_NAME', 'wordpress' ); define( 'DB_USER', 'wpuser' ); define( 'DB_PASSWORD', 'password' ); define( 'DB_HOST', 'localhost' );

# Repair database: mysqlcheck -u root -p --auto-repair wordpress

# Or add to wp-config.php: define( 'WP_ALLOW_REPAIR', true ); # Then visit: /wp-admin/maint/repair.php ```

Step 9: Reinstall WordPress Core

```bash # Via WP-CLI: wp core download --force

# Or manual: cd /var/www/html/ rm -rf wp-admin wp-includes # Download fresh WordPress # Copy wp-admin and wp-includes from download

# Verify checksums: wp core verify-checksums ```

Step 10: Check .htaccess

```bash cat /var/www/html/.htaccess

# Reset to default: # Backup first: cp .htaccess .htaccess.backup

# Default WordPress .htaccess: # BEGIN WordPress <IfModule mod_rewrite.c> RewriteEngine On RewriteRule .* - [E=HTTP_AUTHORIZATION:%{HTTP:Authorization}] RewriteBase / RewriteRule ^index\.php$ - [L] RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d RewriteRule . /index.php [L] </IfModule> # END WordPress

# Disable plugins in .htaccess temporarily: mv .htaccess .htaccess.disabled ```

WordPress White Screen Checklist

Verify the Fix

```bash curl -I http://your-site.com/

tail -f /var/www/html/wp-content/debug.log

wp plugin list

wp theme list

php -v

mysql -u wpuser -p -e "SELECT 1" ```

Related Issues

• [Fix WordPress Database Connection Error](/articles/fix-wordpress-database-connection-error)
• [Fix WordPress Plugin Conflict](/articles/fix-wordpress-plugin-conflict)
• [Fix PHP Memory Exhausted](/articles/fix-php-memory-exhausted)