The WordPress White Screen of Death (WSOD) is when your website displays a completely blank white page with no error message. It is caused by a PHP error that WordPress is hiding. Follow these steps to diagnose and fix it.
Step 1 — Enable WordPress debug mode
- In cPanel, open the File Manager and navigate to your WordPress folder.
- Find and edit the wp-config.php file.
- Find the line: define('WP_DEBUG', false);
- Change it to: define('WP_DEBUG', true);
- Save the file and reload your website. You should now see the actual error message instead of a blank page.
- Once you have fixed the issue, set WP_DEBUG back to false.
Step 2 — Deactivate all plugins
A faulty plugin is the most common cause of a white screen.
- In cPanel File Manager, navigate to public_html/wp-content/plugins.
- Rename the plugins folder to plugins_disabled.
- Reload your website. If it loads, a plugin was the cause.
- Rename the folder back to plugins.
- Go to WordPress admin → Plugins and reactivate plugins one by one to find the faulty one.
Step 3 — Switch to a default theme
If disabling plugins did not help, the theme may be the issue.
- In cPanel File Manager, navigate to public_html/wp-content/themes.
- Rename your active theme folder (e.g. rename mytheme to mytheme_disabled).
- WordPress will fall back to a default theme (like Twenty Twenty-Four).
- If your site loads, the theme was the cause. Contact your theme developer or restore a backup.
Step 4 — Increase PHP memory limit
- In cPanel File Manager, open wp-config.php.
- Add this line before the line that says /* That's all, stop editing! */:
define('WP_MEMORY_LIMIT', '256M'); - Save and reload your site.
Still not fixed?
Contact TPC Hosting support with your domain name and any error messages shown — our team can check the PHP error logs to pinpoint the issue.