The WordPress White Screen of Death (WSOD) is one of the most common and frustrating WordPress errors. Your website displays a completely blank white page with no error message, leaving you with no clue about what went wrong. This guide provides a systematic approach to diagnosing and fixing the WSOD on your SakuraHost account.
What Causes the White Screen of Death
The WSOD is almost always caused by a PHP fatal error that WordPress cannot recover from. The most common triggers are:
- A plugin conflict or a broken plugin update
- A theme error, especially in
functions.php - Exhausted PHP memory limit
- A corrupted WordPress core file
- PHP version incompatibility
- A syntax error introduced by manual code editing
Step 1: Enable WordPress Debug Mode
The first priority is to make the error visible. WordPress hides fatal errors by default on production sites.
Access your wp-config.php via cPanel File Manager (at billing.sakurahost.co.tz) or FTP. Find the line define( 'WP_DEBUG', false ); and change it to:
Reload the white screen page. If an error message now appears, it will tell you the exact file and line causing the issue. The debug log is also written to wp-content/debug.log.
WP_DEBUG and WP_DEBUG_DISPLAY back to false.
Step 2: Check for Plugin Conflicts
Plugins are the most common cause of the WSOD. If you cannot access wp-admin, you need to disable plugins via the file system.
- Open cPanel File Manager and navigate to
public_html/wp-content/ - Rename the
pluginsfolder toplugins_disabled - Reload your site — if it works, a plugin was the cause
- Rename the folder back to
plugins - Re-enter File Manager, open the
pluginsfolder, and rename each plugin's subfolder one at a time, reloading the site after each, until you find the culprit
Step 3: Switch to a Default Theme
If disabling plugins did not fix the issue, the problem may be in your theme.
- Navigate to
public_html/wp-content/themes/ - Rename your active theme's folder (e.g.,
mythemetomytheme_disabled) - WordPress will automatically fall back to a default theme (Twenty Twenty-Four, Twenty Twenty-Three, etc.) if one exists
- If no default theme is installed, download one from wordpress.org/themes and upload it via File Manager
Step 4: Increase PHP Memory Limit
If the error message mentions "Allowed memory size exhausted," you need more PHP memory.
You can also increase the PHP memory limit in cPanel under Select PHP Version > Options > memory_limit. SakuraHost plans typically allow up to 512MB.
Step 5: Check PHP Version Compatibility
If you recently upgraded PHP in cPanel, an older theme or plugin may be incompatible. Go to cPanel > Select PHP Version and try switching to PHP 8.1 or 8.0. Check the PHP supported versions page for lifecycle information.
Step 6: Reinstall WordPress Core
If none of the above steps work, a corrupted core file may be the cause.
In cPanel, open Softaculous, go to All Installations, find your WordPress installation, and use the reinstall or clone feature. This replaces core files without affecting your content, themes, or plugins.
Alternatively, download a fresh copy of WordPress from wordpress.org/download, extract it, and upload the wp-admin and wp-includes folders via File Manager, overwriting the existing ones. Do not overwrite wp-content.
Step 7: Check Error Logs
If the white screen persists with no visible error even with debug mode on, check the server error logs:
- cPanel: Navigate to Metrics > Errors to see recent Apache/LiteSpeed error log entries
- File Manager: Check
public_html/wp-content/debug.logfor WordPress-specific errors - Raw Log: The full error log is at
~/logs/error.logor accessible via Metrics > Raw Access
Step 8: Check .htaccess
A corrupted .htaccess file can cause a white screen or 500 error.
Rename .htaccess to .htaccess_backup via File Manager (enable "Show Hidden Files" in settings). If the site loads, go to Settings > Permalinks in WordPress and click Save Changes to regenerate a fresh .htaccess.
Prevention Tips
- Always back up before updating plugins, themes, or WordPress core
- Use a staging environment to test changes before applying to production
- Keep WordPress, themes, and plugins updated to avoid known bugs
- Avoid editing theme files directly — use a child theme instead
- Monitor
wp-content/debug.logperiodically for warnings that may indicate coming problems
For more troubleshooting resources, see the WordPress Debugging documentation.