WordPress Errors Are Scary but Fixable
You are working on your WordPress site and suddenly something breaks. A white screen, a database error, or a message you have never seen before. It happens to everyone. The good news is that most WordPress errors have simple fixes that do not require any coding knowledge.
Here are the 10 most common WordPress errors, what causes each one, and step-by-step instructions to fix them.
You visit your site and see a completely blank white page. No error message, no content, nothing. This is the most frustrating WordPress error because it gives you zero information about what went wrong.
What Causes It
- A plugin conflict or broken plugin update
- A theme error after switching or updating
- Running out of PHP memory
How to Fix It
Step 1: Enable WordPress debug mode. Connect to your site via FTP or file manager and open wp-config.php. Find the line that says define( 'WP_DEBUG', false ); and change it to:
define( 'WP_DEBUG', true );
define( 'WP_DEBUG_LOG', true );Step 2: Reload the page. If you see a PHP error mentioning a specific plugin or theme file, that is your culprit.
Step 3: Rename the problem plugin folder via FTP. Go to wp-content/plugins/ and rename the plugin folder by adding -disabled to it. Reload your site.
Step 4: If you cannot identify the plugin, rename the entire plugins folder to plugins-disabled. This deactivates all plugins at once. Then rename it back and reactivate plugins one by one to find the conflict.
This error means WordPress cannot connect to your MySQL database. Your entire site goes down because all content is stored in the database.
What Causes It
- Wrong database credentials in wp-config.php
- Database server is down
- Corrupted database tables
How to Fix It
Step 1: Check your database credentials. Open wp-config.php and verify these four values:
define( 'DB_NAME', 'your_database_name' );
define( 'DB_USER', 'your_database_user' );
define( 'DB_PASSWORD', 'your_password' );
define( 'DB_HOST', 'localhost' );Step 2: Log into phpMyAdmin through your hosting control panel. If you can see your database, the credentials are correct and the server is running.
Step 3: If the database exists but tables look corrupted, add this line to wp-config.php:
define( 'WP_ALLOW_REPAIR', true );Then visit yoursite.com/wp-admin/maint/repair.php and click Repair Database. Remove the line from wp-config.php after the repair is done.
A generic error that means something went wrong on the server but WordPress cannot tell you exactly what. It is the catch-all error for server-side problems.
What Causes It
- Corrupted .htaccess file
- PHP memory limit exhausted
- Plugin or theme PHP error
How to Fix It
Step 1: Rename your .htaccess file to .htaccess-backup via FTP. Then go to Settings > Permalinks in WordPress and click Save Changes. This regenerates a fresh .htaccess file.
Step 2: Increase PHP memory by adding this to wp-config.php:
define( 'WP_MEMORY_LIMIT', '256M' );Step 3: If neither works, follow the same plugin deactivation method from the White Screen fix above.
Your homepage works but every blog post and page returns a 404 Not Found error. This is almost always a permalink issue.
How to Fix It
Go to Settings > Permalinks in your WordPress admin. Do not change anything. Just click Save Changes. WordPress regenerates the rewrite rules and your posts will work again.
If that does not fix it, check that your .htaccess file is writable. WordPress needs to write permalink rules to this file.
You see a message like: Fatal error: Allowed memory size of 67108864 bytes exhausted. This means a PHP script is trying to use more memory than allowed.
How to Fix It
Add this to wp-config.php, just before the line that says “That is all, stop editing”:
define( 'WP_MEMORY_LIMIT', '256M' );If your hosting limits PHP memory, you may also need to edit your php.ini or .htaccess file:
php_value memory_limit 256MWhen trying to upload an image or plugin, you see: “The uploaded file exceeds the upload_max_filesize directive in php.ini.” WordPress is not allowing files above a certain size.
How to Fix It
Create or edit a php.ini file in your WordPress root directory with:
upload_max_filesize = 64M
post_max_size = 64M
max_execution_time = 300Alternatively, add to your .htaccess:
php_value upload_max_filesize 64M
php_value post_max_size 64MThis message appears when a WordPress update was interrupted. WordPress creates a .maintenance file during updates and removes it when done. If the update fails halfway, the file stays.
How to Fix It
Connect via FTP and delete the .maintenance file in your WordPress root directory. Your site will come back immediately.
Your site takes too long to respond and eventually shows a timeout error. This usually means your server is overloaded or a script is running too long.
How to Fix It
- Deactivate all plugins and reactivate one by one to find the resource hog
- Switch to a default theme temporarily to rule out theme issues
- Increase PHP max execution time in php.ini:
max_execution_time = 300 - Contact your hosting provider to check server resources
Your browser says “This page has a redirect loop” or “ERR_TOO_MANY_REDIRECTS.” WordPress is sending you in circles between URLs.
What Causes It
- Misconfigured WordPress URL settings
- SSL certificate issues causing http/https redirect loops
- Plugin conflicts with redirect rules
How to Fix It
Step 1: Clear your browser cookies for the site.
Step 2: Check your WordPress URL settings. If you cannot access the admin, add these lines to wp-config.php:
define( 'WP_HOME', 'https://yoursite.com' );
define( 'WP_SITEURL', 'https://yoursite.com' );Step 3: Rename your .htaccess file and regenerate it from Settings > Permalinks.
You see a message like: Parse error: syntax error, unexpected... followed by a file name and line number. This means there is a typo or mistake in PHP code.
What Causes It
- Editing theme files directly and making a typo
- Pasting code snippets with missing brackets or semicolons
- A plugin update introduced broken code
How to Fix It
The error message tells you exactly which file and line number has the problem. Connect via FTP, open that file, and fix the syntax error on the specified line.
If you cannot identify the fix, restore the file from a backup. If it is a plugin file, delete the plugin folder via FTP and reinstall it from the WordPress plugin directory.
Prevention tip: Never edit theme or plugin files directly. Use a child theme for customizations and always keep backups.
| Error | First Thing to Try | Time to Fix |
|---|---|---|
| White Screen of Death | Enable WP_DEBUG | 5-15 min |
| Database Connection Error | Check wp-config.php credentials | 2-5 min |
| 500 Internal Server Error | Rename .htaccess | 2 min |
| 404 on All Posts | Re-save Permalinks | 1 min |
| Memory Exhausted | Increase WP_MEMORY_LIMIT | 2 min |
| Upload Size Limit | Edit php.ini | 2 min |
| Maintenance Mode Stuck | Delete .maintenance file | 1 min |
| Connection Timeout | Deactivate plugins | 5-10 min |
| Too Many Redirects | Clear cookies + check URLs | 5 min |
| Syntax Error | Fix code at the line number shown | 2-5 min |
Every one of these errors looks intimidating the first time you see it. But they all have straightforward fixes. Bookmark this page and come back whenever something breaks. Most of the time, the fix takes less than 5 minutes.
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Last modified: March 5, 2026
