audi63 / wp-no-white-screen

Got a white-screen-of-death in WordPress? Use this file to display the error!

wp-no-white-screen

This plugin helps troubleshoot issues with the infamous WordPress WSOD (White Screen of Death). Most errors can be caught with WP-DEBUG turned on using tools like X-Debug, but some of the fatal errors don't come through either with WP-DEBUG or your PHP error handler. This is because PHP lets WP "handle" the error - the way WP handles an fatal error is to not display it [to increase security, since error messages often reveal information that can be used to leverage an attack on a site]

Plugin developers and advanced users who troubleshoot complex issues will find this tool handy. No more messing with your PHP configuration or blind-testing to find out what's going on!

Usage

• Open up the /mu-plugins folder in your WordPress Directory (or create one) usually located within /wp-content folder in your /public_html folder. Select the PHP file no-white-screen.php and place it into the /wp-content/mu-plugins folder in your WordPress Directory. You will have all errors displayed or wrriten to log depending on your settings in the next step.

• Open the wp-config.php file in your root Wordpress installation and make these changes

   // Comment this out or change to true 
   // define('WP_DEBUG', false);

   define('WP_DEBUG', true);
   
   // If you want to write to log
   define('WP_DEBUG_LOG', true);

   // If you want to hide errors from users (Used mostly for live sites)
   define('WP_DEBUG_DISPLAY', false);

   // Just in case
   @ini_set('display_errors', 0);

Further Reading

• The WordPress Codex
• Other Cool Options
• Step by Step Instructions

Tip:

If you still don't see any errors, then it's likely that there's something fundamentally wrong with WordPress. You should start debugging /wp-settings.php by adding breakpoints and identifying the last execution point(or line).

IMPORTANT Remember to remove this file again after debugging the error! Leaving it will cost your server valuable performance and can also expose error information to the public, which decreases your site's security.