White site in WordPress or HTTP ERROR 500

Note: If you are seeing an Internal Server Error instead, please see this guide.

If your WordPress site is suddenly displaying a blank white page (the “white screen of death”) or returning an HTTP ERROR 500, the quickest way to diagnose the cause is to enable WordPress debug mode. This makes WordPress show the underlying PHP error message on screen, which usually points directly to the plugin (add-on) or theme (template) that is causing the problem.

Enable WordPress debug mode in wp-config.php

Debug mode is controlled by a single line in your wp-config.php file, which sits in the root of your WordPress installation (usually public_html).

To access and modify this file you need to connect to your hosting via FTP. See how to connect via FTP for instructions.

1. Connect to your hosting using your FTP client.
2. Download wp-config.php from the public_html folder to your computer.
3. Open the file in a plain text editor (such as Notepad++, VS Code or Sublime Text – not Word).
4. Find the line:
   define(‘WP_DEBUG’, false);
5. Change it to:
   define(‘WP_DEBUG’, true);
6. Save the file and upload it back to public_html, overwriting the original.

Read the error message and identify the culprit

Reload your site in the browser. Instead of the blank page you should now see one or more PHP error messages, typically referencing a file path inside wp-content/plugins/ or wp-content/themes/. The folder name in that path tells you which plugin or theme is causing the issue.

Fix the faulty plugin or theme

Once you know which plugin or theme is at fault, you have two options:

• Update it manually via FTP – download the latest version from wordpress.org (or the developer’s site), unpack the zip file, and replace the existing folder under wp-content/plugins/ or wp-content/themes/. See also our guide on manually updating a plugin or theme.
• Deactivate it by renaming or deleting the folder – if you simply want to disable the plugin, rename its folder via FTP (for example, add -disabled to the name). WordPress will treat it as missing and deactivate it. You can then log back in and decide what to do next.

Reload the site to confirm it is working again.

Turn debug mode off again

Once the site is back to normal, edit wp-config.php one more time and change the value back to:

define(‘WP_DEBUG’, false);

Leaving debug mode on in production can expose information about your server to visitors, so always switch it off when you are finished troubleshooting.