How to Fix WordPress White Screen of Death (WSOD) — Complete Guide 2025

The WordPress White Screen of Death (WSOD) is exactly what it sounds like — you visit your site and see a completely blank white page. No error message. No indication of what went wrong. Just white.

It's one of the most stressful WordPress errors because it takes your entire website offline. This guide covers every possible cause and the exact fix for each one.

What Causes the WordPress White Screen of Death?

The WSOD is caused by a PHP fatal error that WordPress can't recover from. The most common causes are:

• PHP memory limit exhausted
• A faulty plugin or theme
• Corrupted WordPress core files
• PHP version incompatibility
• Syntax error in functions.php or wp-config.php

Step 1: Check If It's Admin Only or Site-Wide

First, determine the scope of the problem. Try to visit:

• Your homepage: yourdomain.com
• Your admin panel: yourdomain.com/wp-admin

If only the frontend is white but admin works, the problem is likely a theme or frontend plugin. If both are white, it's more serious — likely a plugin active site-wide or a PHP memory issue.

Step 2: Enable WordPress Debug Mode

Connect to your site via FTP or hosting file manager and open wp-config.php. Find this line:

Change it to:

Now reload the white screen page. Check /wp-content/debug.log for the error. It will tell you exactly which file and function caused the crash.

Step 3: Increase PHP Memory Limit

This fixes the WSOD in about 30% of cases. Add this line to wp-config.php above the "That's all, stop editing!" line:

If that doesn't work, you can also try adding this to your .htaccess file:

Step 4: Disable All Plugins

Via FTP or file manager, rename the entire plugins folder:

Now reload your site. If it comes back, a plugin was the cause. Rename the folder back to plugins, then go to your WordPress admin and reactivate plugins one by one until the site breaks again — that's your culprit.

Step 5: Switch to a Default Theme

If disabling plugins didn't fix it, the theme may be the problem. Via FTP, navigate to /wp-content/themes/ and rename your current theme folder. WordPress will fall back to a default theme (Twenty Twenty-Four, etc.).

If your site comes back, your theme was causing the error — usually due to a faulty functions.php file.

Step 6: Check PHP Error Logs

Your hosting account has PHP error logs. In cPanel, look for "Error Logs" or check /var/log/php_errors.log. The log will show you the exact file and line number causing the fatal error.

Common log entries and what they mean:

• Fatal error: Allowed memory size exhausted → increase memory limit (Step 3)
• Fatal error: Call to undefined function → plugin/theme function conflict
• Parse error: syntax error → you or a plugin added invalid PHP code
• Fatal error: Maximum execution time exceeded → increase max_execution_time in php.ini

Step 7: Restore wp-config.php Permissions

Sometimes file permission issues cause the WSOD. The correct permissions are:

• wp-config.php — 400 or 440
• .htaccess — 644
• Folders — 755
• Files — 644

Step 8: Re-upload WordPress Core Files

Download a fresh copy of WordPress from wordpress.org. Via FTP, re-upload the wp-admin and wp-includes folders — overwriting existing files. Do NOT delete these folders first, and do NOT touch wp-content.

This replaces any corrupted core files without affecting your content or settings.

Still Getting the White Screen?

If you've tried all eight steps and still have a white screen, the issue is likely complex — a database corruption, server-level PHP configuration issue, or a deeply nested conflict.