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How to Fix the 'There Has Been a Critical Error on This Website' Message

43 threads Sep 7, 2025 Core → Installing wordpress

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Seeing the dreaded "There has been a critical error on this website" message can instantly raise your blood pressure. Your site is down, and you might be locked out of your WordPress dashboard. This is one of the most common yet alarming issues WordPress users face.

The good news is that this message is a generic catch-all for a wide range of underlying problems, and it's almost always fixable. This guide will walk you through the most common causes and the step-by-step troubleshooting process to get your site back online.

What Causes the Critical Error?

The "critical error" message is WordPress's way of saying a PHP error has occurred that was severe enough to stop the page from loading. The most frequent culprits are:

  • Plugin Conflicts: A plugin is outdated, incompatible with your current version of WordPress or PHP, or was poorly coded.
  • Theme Conflicts: Your active theme has an issue, often after a core WordPress update.
  • PHP Version Incompatibility: Your web server is running an outdated (or sometimes too new) version of PHP that your theme or plugins can't handle.
  • Corrupted Core Files: A failed or incomplete WordPress update can leave core files in a broken state.

Step-by-Step Troubleshooting Guide

Important: Before you begin, if you have a recent backup of your site, consider restoring it. This is often the fastest way to resolve the issue. Contact your web hosting provider's support team, as they frequently keep backups.

1. Enable Debugging to Find the Root Cause

The first step is to find the specific error message. The generic "critical error" is not helpful, but WordPress can log the real error for you.

You will need to access your website's files using an FTP client (like FileZilla) or your hosting provider's file manager (often found in your cPanel).

  1. Locate and edit the wp-config.php file in your site's root directory.
  2. Find the line that says define( 'WP_DEBUG', false );.
  3. Replace it with the following lines: 
    define( 'WP_DEBUG', true );
define( 'WP_DEBUG_LOG', true );
define( 'WP_DEBUG_DISPLAY', false );
  4. Save the file and upload it back to your server if necessary.
  5. Now, try to reload your website. The error will still appear, but WordPress will now write the detailed error to a file called debug.log in your /wp-content/ directory.
  6. Check the debug.log file. The error message inside will point directly to the problematic plugin, theme, or function.

Alternatively, you can check your server's error logs. Your hosting provider's control panel (e.g., cPanel) should have an section for "Error Logs" or similar. If you can't find it, your hosting provider's support team can help you locate it.

2. Deactivate All Plugins (The Most Common Fix)

If you cannot access the wp-admin dashboard to disable plugins normally, you can do it manually by renaming the folder.

  1. Connect to your site via FTP or File Manager.
  2. Navigate to the /wp-content/ directory.
  3. Find the plugins folder and rename it to something like plugins_deactivated.
  4. Create a new, empty folder named plugins.
  5. Now try to access your website and WordPress admin dashboard. If the site loads, you have confirmed a plugin was causing the problem.
  6. To identify the culprit, rename your plugins_deactivated folder back to plugins.
  7. Rename the new empty plugins folder to something else, like plugins_temp.
  8. Inside the now-active plugins folder, create a new folder for each plugin you want to test (e.g., akismet, yoast-seo). Move the plugin's files from the main folder into its new individual folder.
  9. Start moving plugins back into the main plugins folder one by one, checking your site after each move. When the error returns, you've found the problematic plugin.

3. Switch to a Default Theme

If deactivating all plugins didn't resolve the issue, the problem may lie with your theme.

  1. Via FTP/File Manager, navigate to /wp-content/themes/.
  2. Rename the folder of your currently active theme (e.g., change my-theme to my-theme_deactivated).
  3. WordPress will automatically default to a standard theme like Twenty Twenty-Four. If your site comes back, you know your theme is the issue. You will need to contact the theme's developer for support or find a compatible alternative.

4. Check Your PHP Version

An outdated PHP version is a common cause of errors. WordPress recommends using PHP 8.0 or higher. However, some older plugins or themes may not be compatible.

  • You can usually change your PHP version in your hosting control panel (cPanel, Plesk, etc.). Look for "MultiPHP Manager" or a similar option.
  • If your site breaks on a newer PHP version (like 8.1 or 8.2), try rolling back to a slightly older, but still supported, version like PHP 8.0 or 7.4 to see if it resolves the conflict while you update your plugins and theme.

5. Reinstall WordPress Core Files

If the above steps fail, your WordPress core files might be corrupted from a failed update.

  1. Download a fresh copy of WordPress from wordpress.org.
  2. Unzip the file on your computer.
  3. Using FTP, delete the /wp-admin/ and /wp-includes/ directories from your server. Do not delete the /wp-content/ folder or your wp-config.php file.
  4. Upload the fresh /wp-admin/ and /wp-includes/ folders from your computer to your server.
  5. Upload the individual files from the fresh WordPress root folder (like wp-login.php) over the ones on your server, ensuring they are replaced.

This replaces all core files without affecting your content, plugins, or themes.

When to Seek Specific Support

If the debug log points to a specific commercial plugin (e.g., Elementor Pro, a premium theme, MalCare) or theme, you will need to contact that product's developer directly for support. The 'Installing WordPress' team and community forums cannot provide support for commercial products, as their developers are best equipped to handle issues with their own code.

By methodically following these steps, you can almost always identify and resolve the critical error on your website. Remember, the key is to stay calm and troubleshoot one potential cause at a time.

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