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How do I fix the WordPress white screen?

A blank white page, or 'There has been a critical error on this website', almost always means a PHP error in a plugin or theme, often straight after an update. Read the error log or the recovery email WordPress sends, then switch off the plugin it names.

  1. Check your email. WordPress usually emails the site’s admin address with the subject “Your Site is Experiencing a Technical Issue”. It names the plugin or theme at fault and contains a recovery-mode link: follow it, log in and deactivate that plugin.
  2. Read the error log. In File Manager, open the error_log file in your site’s folder (or in wp-admin). Look at the last PHP Fatal error: the path shows the culprit, for example wp-content/plugins/plugin-name/. See Where do I find my website’s error log?
  3. Switch off plugins without wp-admin. In File Manager, rename wp-content/plugins to plugins-off. If the site comes back, rename it back to plugins, then rename the plugins inside one at a time until you find the broken one.
  4. Try the theme. If plugins weren’t the cause, rename your active theme’s folder in wp-content/themes. WordPress falls back to a default theme, such as Twenty Twenty-Five, if one is installed.
  5. Memory exhausted? If the log says Allowed memory size ... exhausted, raise memory_limit: see How do I raise the PHP memory limit or upload size?
  6. Changed PHP version recently? Switch back, then update the plugin or theme that couldn’t cope: see How do I change my PHP version?

Nothing in the log?

Turn on WordPress debugging. In wp-config.php, above the line /* That’s all, stop editing! */, add:

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

Reload the page, then read wp-content/debug.log. Set WP_DEBUG back to false when you’re done, and delete the log file.

Tip: Don’t reinstall WordPress or restore a backup before you’ve read the log. The fix is usually one plugin, and a restore loses everything since the backup.

The site says “Briefly unavailable for scheduled maintenance”.
An update was interrupted. Delete the .maintenance file in your site’s folder, then run the update again.
Only wp-admin is blank, the site is fine.
Same cause, usually an admin-only plugin. Follow the same steps.

Still blank? Open a support ticket with the domain and the last lines of the error log.

Updated 6 November 2026. Something here out of date? Tell us.

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