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Troubleshooting a Blank or White Screen After a Duplicator Migration

44 threads Sep 16, 2025 Plugin → Duplicator

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One of the most common issues users encounter after successfully migrating a WordPress site with the Duplicator plugin is a blank or white screen. This can be a frustrating experience, but it's often caused by a few specific and solvable problems. This guide will walk you through the most common reasons and their fixes.

What Causes a Blank Screen After Migration?

A blank white screen, often referred to as the "White Screen of Death" (WSOD) in WordPress, typically indicates a PHP error that is being suppressed. This can happen for a variety of reasons after a migration, including incorrect file permissions, plugin/theme conflicts, or server configuration issues. The key symptom is that the site appears blank for visitors, though it may sometimes work correctly if you are logged into the WordPress admin dashboard.

Common Solutions for a Blank Screen

1. Enable WordPress Debugging

The first step is to reveal any hidden PHP errors that are causing the blank screen. You can do this by enabling WordPress debugging.

  1. Access your site's files via FTP or your hosting provider's file manager.
  2. Locate the wp-config.php file in the root directory of your WordPress installation.
  3. Edit the file and find the line that says define('WP_DEBUG', false);.
  4. Replace it with the following lines: 
    define('WP_DEBUG', true);
define('WP_DEBUG_LOG', true);
define('WP_DEBUG_DISPLAY', false);
  5. Save the file and upload it back to your server, overwriting the old one.

Now, when you visit your site, errors will be written to a log file called debug.log in the /wp-content/ directory. This log will provide specific clues about what is breaking your site.

2. Check File and Directory Permissions

Incorrect file permissions can prevent PHP from reading the necessary files to render your site. Core WordPress files should typically be set to 644, and directories to 755. You can check and modify these permissions through your FTP client or hosting control panel.

3. Clear Caches

Cached data from your old server or environment can cause conflicts. You should:

  • Clear any caching plugins you have installed (you may need to access the database or rename the plugin folder via FTP to do this).
  • Clear your server-side cache (e.g., OPcache). Many hosting providers have a tool for this in their control panel, or you may need to contact their support.
  • Clear your browser cache or test the site in a private/incognito browser window.

4. Check for Plugin and Theme Conflicts

A conflict between plugins or your theme is a very frequent cause of post-migration issues. To test for this, you can manually deactivate all plugins.

  1. Via FTP, navigate to the wp-content directory.
  2. Rename the plugins folder to plugins.old.
  3. Create a new, empty folder named plugins.

This will effectively disable all plugins. If your site loads correctly after this, you know a plugin is the culprit. You can then restore your plugins one by one by moving them from plugins.old to the new plugins folder to identify the problematic one.

5. Re-save Permalinks

Sometimes, the rewrite rules for your site's URLs need to be refreshed. This is a simple fix:

  1. Log into your WordPress admin dashboard (if you can).
  2. Navigate to Settings > Permalinks.
  3. Without making any changes, simply click the Save Changes button.

This action flushes the rewrite rules and can often resolve issues where the homepage loads but other pages do not.

When to Seek Further Help

If you have tried all the steps above and are still experiencing a blank screen, the issue may be more specific to your server environment or a complex theme conflict. The detailed error information from the debug.log file is the most valuable tool for diagnosing these deeper issues. You can search for the specific error message online or provide it to your web hosting provider's support team for further assistance.

Based on community reports, the 'Duplicator' team's own FAQs often point users experiencing blank screens to their technical documentation, which covers these points and more in greater detail.

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