WordPress White Screen of Death & Critical Error: Complete Fix Guide

Question

Debugging WordPress White Screen of Death / Critical Error — a developer's checklist

Every WordPress dev eventually gets the panicked "my site is just blank" message. Here's the exact diagnostic order I use, from PHP fatal error basics to production-safe fixes.

Root cause: always a PHP fatal error. WSOD = blank page (WP_DEBUG_DISPLAY off). "Critical error" message = WP 5.2+'s wrapper around the same fatal.

Diagnostic order:

1. Enable WP_DEBUG_LOG, read /wp-content/debug.log for exact file + line
2. Rename /wp-content/plugins/ via FTP to isolate plugin conflicts (no admin access needed)
3. Rename active theme folder to rule out theme errors
4. Check WP_MEMORY_LIMIT
5. Re-upload core files if update was interrupted
6. Check for a silent PHP version bump by the host

Full writeup with cost breakdown for client work: https://amanurrahman.com/blog-post/wordpress-white-screen-critical-error-fix