Introduction

After installing a new theme or plugin, or updating a theme or plugin, your site may return a blank white page or keep you from accessing the admin area.

There are three primary causes for white screens:

  1. Fatal errors in the code that keep the page from loading
  2. Missing or corrupt files
  3. Memory issues with WordPress due to server configuration or database capacity

The Solution

General Troubleshooting

To find out whether the cause is the theme, a plugin, WordPress or your server:

  1. Log into your site via FTP. If you are unsure of how to use FTP, contact your host for asisstance
  2. Go to wp-content and rename the plugins folder to plugins-off  (this will deactivate all plugins).
  3. Return to your WordPress admin and see if access is restored.
    • If yes, you have a conflicting plugin. Rename the folder back to plugins, then visit the Plugins area in your admin and reactivate each plugin one at a time, starting with WooCommerce or other “critical” plugins until you trigger the one that breaks the site again. To resolve the plugin conflict, delete the plugin folder via FTP or repeat the above and leave that plugin deactivated.
    • If no, deactivating plugins did not solve the issue, continue:
  4. Under wp-content, go to themes and rename your theme’s folder. For example, store-off
  5. You must have at least one default theme in the themes folder for this to work. WordPress will automatically activate TwentyFourteen if available.
  6. Return to your WordPress admin and see if access is restored.
  7. If yes, reinstall and reactivate your theme using a fresh download of the latest version. See How to reinstall your theme to fix issues.
  8. If no, the issue is likely not your theme or a plugin and likely has to do with WordPress or your server configuration.

Corrupt files in WordPress

  1. Download a fresh copy of the latest version of WordPress from wordpress.org and unzip the wordpress folder it contains to your desktop or an easy-to-find location
  2. Connect to your site via FTP and upload the contents of the unzipped wordpress folder to your site root and overwrite the existing.
    • When viewing the wordpress folder contents on your computer, it should look very similar to your site folders (ie you should see a wp-admin, wp-content and wp-includes with a bunch of files).
    • This will NOT overwrite your config or site content/uploads, plugins or themes.
    • wordpres-ftp
  3. When the transfer/overwrite is complete, attempt to access your admin again (it should work now).
  4. If you suspect your site may have been hacked or infected with malware, refer to Site has been hacked or redirects to malware URL

Suspected Memory Issues

Try increasing the allowed memory in your php.ini to 64M or higher. You may need your host to do this for you

Future Avoidance

The best way to make sure that you avoid these problems is ensuring you have a great backup program enabled.

Did you know that Jetpack themselves have an incredible backup program you can use to ensure that you can always roll your site back to the last working version?

Get the Jetpack Backup module here.

Additional Help