WordPress white screen — the diagnosis order
A blank page means a fatal PHP error with the message switched off. Work down this page in order: least invasive first, because most cases resolve in the first three steps.
Before anything else
Download a backup of the files and the database before changing a single thing — even in this broken state. A rescue that makes things worse with no way back is not a rescue.
0 of 10 checks complete.
Narrow it down
Open yourdomain.com/wp-admin. If the admin loads while the front of the site is white, the fault is almost certainly the theme or a front-end plugin. If the admin is white too, you will be working over FTP or the host’s file manager.
In wp-config.php set WP_DEBUG and WP_DEBUG_LOG to true, reload the white page, then read wp-content/debug.log. In a large share of cases the log names the failing file — and its path names the plugin or theme responsible.
Isolate the cause
Rename wp-content/plugins over FTP and reload. If the site returns, restore the folder name, then rename half the individual plugin folders at a time — the fault is in whichever half brings the white screen back. Keep halving.
Check wp-content/mu-plugins too. Must-use plugins load silently and never appear in the plugins list.
If plugins are clean, rename the active theme’s folder and WordPress falls back to a default. If the site returns, the fault is in the theme — especially if functions.php was edited or the theme was updated recently.
The usual remaining suspects
In wp-config.php. Exhausted memory is a classic silent white screen on heavier sites.
If an update failed, upload a fresh copy of WordPress core.
Delete wp-content and wp-config.php from the fresh copy first, so nothing of yours is overwritten.
PHP version bumps on the host’s side are a recurring cause — old plugin code on a new PHP version fails exactly like this.
Stop it happening again
Not never, and not blindly. Read the site after each round.
So updates land somewhere safe before they land in production.
Dormant code still runs on update hooks, and still breaks.
Your own checks
House rules, a client’s brand checks, the footgun your stack has and nobody else’s does. These stay in this browser — nothing is sent anywhere.
When this runs out
A white screen that survives all of this usually means database corruption, a compromised install or a hosting-level fault — a bigger job with its own discipline. Tell me what changed last and I will point you at the likely cause.
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