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How to Fix the Critical Error in WordPress (Step by Step)
Feb
We’ve come across the dreaded ‘critical error’ more times than we’d like to admit. It’s frustrating because all you get is a message saying: ‘There has been a critical error on this website. Please check your site admin email inbox for instructions.’ It also includes a link to the WordPress debugging guide.
In this guide, we will show you how we prevent this error from happening, what causes it, and how you can fix it without needing any special skills.
What Is the Critical Error in WordPress?
Like many WordPress users, we’ve also encountered the critical error in WordPress. A lot of users also reached out to our Premium WordPress Support service, looking for a fix for this error.
This error stops WordPress from loading all the scripts it needs to function properly.
In the past, this WordPress error would lead to a white screen of death or a fatal error message. Many beginners found it confusing and hard to fix without help.
Since WordPress 5.2, instead of a blank screen, you’ll see a generic error message: ‘There has been a critical error on this website. Please check your site admin email inbox for instructions,’ along with a link to the WordPress debugging guide.
You’ll also get an email sent to your admin email address for the site.
This email usually contains more details about what caused the issue, often pointing to a problematic plugin or theme.
It also includes a link to access your WordPress dashboard in recovery mode, which we’ve found helpful when troubleshooting.
In some cases, the error message might not instruct you to check your email, simply stating that your site is experiencing a critical error.
This usually happens when WordPress can’t load the necessary files to trigger recovery mode or send the email. We’ve seen this situation arise when server issues prevent certain features from working as expected.
What Causes the Critical Error in WordPress?
From our experience, the ‘critical error’ in WordPress usually happens because of a malfunctioning plugin, script, or piece of code that prevents WordPress from loading properly.
WordPress can’t load the files it needs to run when the code doesn’t work as expected. We’ve seen this happen when custom code or untested scripts are added to a site.
If you recently copied and pasted code snippets from a tutorial, they might be the source of the problem.
Most top WordPress plugins are thoroughly tested, making them less likely to cause critical errors. However, we’ve seen rare cases where conflicts between plugins or issues with custom code can still trigger the error.
Now, let’s walk you through fixing the critical error in WordPress and running your website smoothly.
Fixing the Critical Error in WordPress (2 Methods)
The critical error message itself is not very useful for finding and fixing the issue’s cause. Luckily, WordPress also sends an email to the admin email address of your website.
Many WordPress websites are not configured to send emails using SMTP. As a result, users may not receive an email despite WordPress telling them that it has sent one.
Similarly, some WordPress sites may only see the critical error message without instructions to check the email. That’s because WordPress couldn’t load files it needed to send an email or make recovery mode available.
If you are among those users, don’t worry. We will show you how to fix the critical error even without the email.
On the other hand, if you received the WordPress technical issue email notification, we will show you how to interpret it and use it to restore your website.
Simply click the links below to skip straight to the section you need:
Fixing the Critical Error With WordPress Debugging Email
First, you need to visit the inbox for your website’s WordPress administration email address.
Are you unsure which email address you used as the admin email? It is the email address you provided when installing WordPress.
If your site is on Bluehost or you used a WordPress auto-installer, your admin email address will likely be the same one you used for your WordPress hosting account.
You will see an email in your inbox with the subject line, ‘Your Site is Experiencing a Technical Issue.’ Inside it, you will find more helpful information about what caused the critical error on your WordPress website.
For instance, the following screenshot shows that the critical error was caused by the WordPress theme on our test site.
The email also includes a unique link allowing you to log in to your WordPress website in recovery mode to investigate and fix the issue.
You will see even more detailed information about the error, including the specific file and code that triggered it, at the bottom of the email.
In the example below, some code on line 614 of our theme’s functions.php file triggers the error.
Here is another example showing an error caused by a malfunctioning WordPress plugin.
As you can see, the message highlights the plugin name and the line of code causing the error.
Now, you just need to click on the link to WordPress recovery mode, which will take you to your WordPress admin area.
You will be asked to log in to continue.
Once you are logged in, you will see a notification about the critical error, what caused it, and a link to where to fix it.
For instance, in the following screenshot, WordPress is notifying us about the critical error caused by the plugin with a link to the Plugins page.
If you click the link, it will show you the problem plugin. It will also show you exactly which line of code caused the error.
You can go ahead and deactivate the plugin for now by clicking on ‘Deactivate’.
Then, you can simply look for an alternative WordPress plugin or see if you can get support from the plugin developers.
Similarly, you will see a link to the Themes page if the problem lies with your theme. At the bottom of the page, it will say which theme is causing the issue.
You can change your WordPress theme. Alternatively, you can delete the broken one and reinstall a fresh copy of it from the official source to see if that resolves the issue.
Once you have addressed the issue, click on the ‘Exit Recovery Mode’ button at the top.
In most cases, your WordPress website would now start working normally.
However, if you still see the critical error in WordPress, you can try the troubleshooting steps in the next section.
Fixing the Critical Error in WordPress Manually (Without Email)
If you didn’t receive the WordPress critical issue notification email, this method will teach you how to troubleshoot and fix the critical error in WordPress.
If the error was caused by a recent action you took, then you can undo that action to fix the issue.
For example, if you installed a new plugin and activating it caused the critical error, you just need to deactivate it (we will show you how to do that in the first step below).
On the other hand, if you are unsure what caused the error, you can simply follow these steps.
1. Deactivate All WordPress Plugins
A common cause of the WordPress critical error is plugin conflict or plugin incompatibility. To fix this, you just need to disable the faulty plugin by deactivating it.
However, due to the critical error, you won’t have access to the admin area (WordPress backend) or know which plugin to deactivate.
To address this, we will deactivate all WordPress plugins. Don’t worry. You can easily reactivate them once you get access to your WordPress admin area.
Simply connect to your WordPress website using an FTP client or the File Manager app in your web hosting control panel.
Once connected, you need to navigate to the wp-content folder.
Inside the wp-content folder, you will see a folder called plugins. You need to right-click on it and then select the ‘Rename’ option.
Next, change the plugins folder name to anything you like. In our example, we will call it ‘plugins.deactivated’.
WordPress looks for the plugins folder to load the activated plugins on your website. When it cannot find the plugins folder, it simply cannot activate them and automatically sets them as deactivated.
You can now visit your website to see if the critical error message has disappeared.
Important: If the critical error issue has been resolved, remember to rename the plugins folder. WordPress will then recognize the folder, and you can reactivate the plugins one by one from the WordPress dashboard to identify which one caused the critical error.
For more details, see our tutorial on how to deactivate all WordPress plugins.
2. Switch to a Default Theme
The next step in troubleshooting the critical error is switching your WordPress theme to a default one. If some code in your current WordPress theme is causing the problem, this will fix the critical error.
Simply go to the WordPress.org theme directory and download a fresh copy of a default theme like Twenty Twenty-Two or Twenty Twenty-Three.
Next, you need to unzip the theme file to your computer by clicking on ‘Extract All’.
This will create a folder with the theme name on your computer.
Now, you need to connect to your WordPress site using an FTP client or the File Manager app in your hosting control panel.
Once you have connected, navigate to the /wp-content/themes folder, and you will see a list of all the themes installed on your website.
Go ahead and download all of these folders to your computer as a backup.
After that, you need to delete all the theme folders from your website.
Your WordPress site now doesn’t have a theme installed.
To fix this, upload the default theme folder you downloaded earlier.
Once this process has finished, you can try visiting your website.
If your WordPress theme caused the critical error, then the error message should have disappeared, and you will be able to access your website.
3. Reinstall WordPress
A corrupt WordPress core file or malware could also trigger a critical error in WordPress. The easiest way to fix this is by reinstalling WordPress.
Simply go to WordPress.org and download a fresh copy of WordPress to your computer.
After downloading the file, you need to unzip it to your computer. This will create a folder called wordpress, which contains all the files you need for the reinstall.
Next, connect to your WordPress site using an FTP client or the File Manager app in your hosting account’s dashboard or cPanel (control panel).
Once connected, navigate to the root folder of your website. This is the folder that contains the wp-admin, wp-content, wp-includes, and wp-admin folders.
Now select the files inside the wordpress folder on your computer and upload them to your website.
Your FTP client will ask if you want to overwrite these files or skip them. You need to select ‘Overwrite’ and check the box next to ‘Always use this action’.
Then, simply click on the ‘OK’ button to continue. Your FTP client will now replace your core WordPress files with fresh copies from your computer.
Once it has finished, you can try visiting your website to see if this resolves the error.
If the critical error was caused by a corrupt WordPress core file or malware, then the error message should disappear now.
4. Turn On Debugging in WordPress
WordPress comes with a built-in debugging system that allows you to catch errors, save them in a log file, and troubleshoot issues.
To turn it on, you need to enable debug mode by editing the wp-config.php file. Just locate the following line:
define( ‘WP_DEBUG’, false );
Now, go ahead and replace this line with the following code:
define( ‘WP_DEBUG’, true ); define( ‘WP_DEBUG_DISPLAY’, true ); define( ‘WP_DEBUG_LOG’, true ); define( ‘SCRIPT_DEBUG’, true );
If you visit your WordPress website now, it will show you debugging information and the critical error message.
Debug mode not only shows PHP errors but warnings and notices, too. This helps you find out what is causing the problem so that you can fix it.
It will also save error logs in the debug.log file and save the file in the /wp-content/ folder.
5. Increase PHP Memory Limit
Your hosting web server is like any other computer. It needs memory to efficiently run multiple applications at the same time.
If your server doesn’t have enough resources to run PHP, then it may crash or become unresponsive. This could trigger a critical error in WordPress.
To fix this, you can increase the PHP memory limit by telling your hosting server to use more memory for PHP.
You can do that by entering the following line into your wp-config.php file:
define( ‘WP_MEMORY_LIMIT’, ‘512M’ );
Don’t forget to save and upload your changes to the server.
For more details, you can see our tutorial on how to increase the PHP memory limit in WordPress.
Now, you can try visiting your website to see if this has resolved the critical error.
6. Upgrade Your PHP Version
WordPress requires PHP version 7.4 or greater. If your WordPress hosting server uses an older version of PHP, it may not work well and cause a critical error.
If you have access to the WordPress recovery mode, you can see which PHP version your site is using by visiting the Tools » Site Health page and switching to the Info tab.
From here, scroll down to the Server section and click to expand it.
There, you will see the PHP version installed on your hosting server.
If it is lower than 7.4, then you need to update the PHP version.
Most good WordPress hosting companies allow you to easily do that from your hosting account control panel. For details, please see our article on how to update your PHP version on popular WordPress hosting providers.
7. Hire Someone to Fix The Error
Expert Tip: If all else fails and you are unable to fix the error, then you can consider hiring WPBeginner’s Premium WordPress Support service. For a small one-time fee, our team of WordPress engineers will fix the error for you quickly and safely.
How to Avoid the ‘Critical Error’ in the Future
WordPress is an open-source system built with very high standards. However, sometimes code conflicts can still trigger errors.
Here are a few things you can do to ensure it doesn’t cause downtime for your website and customers.
1. Always Have Automated Backups
Backups are the best security against common WordPress errors. They also come in handy if your website is hacked or affected by malware.
We recommend using Duplicator. It allows you to easily set up automated backups and store them securely on the cloud. More importantly, it lets you restore your website from the backup with one click.
Note: A free version called Duplicator Lite is also available with fewer features.
We use Duplicator on WPBeginner and most of our websites. See our full Duplicator review for more details.
Next time you make a big change to your website, such as installing a new plugin, switching themes, or adding a custom code snippet, make sure to create a quick on-demand backup as a precaution.
2. Ensure WordPress Email Deliverability
In many cases, WordPress will try to send you an email with a link to the recovery mode. If you get this email, you will be able to fix the critical error more quickly and efficiently.
Unfortunately, we have seen many WordPress websites with non-working email functionality, and the site owners were not even aware of it.
You don’t just need emails to fix the critical error. You also need them to recover passwords, new user registration, and other important WordPress notifications.
Luckily, there is an easy fix available called WP Mail SMTP. It lets you fix WordPress email issues by sending WordPress emails through proper authentication.
Note: There is also a free version available called WP Mail SMTP Lite.
We use WP Mail SMTP on all our websites to ensure our users and team members never miss a crucial email. To learn more, check our WP Mail SMTP review.
We have a step-by-step guide on how to set up WP Mail SMTP on any WordPress hosting platform.
3. Manage Custom Code Snippets Safely
You may occasionally encounter tutorials asking you to add custom code to your WordPress site. Most users end up adding those snippets to their theme’s functions.php file.
Now, if there is a mistake in the code, your website will immediately become inaccessible, showing a critical error.
Luckily, there is a safer way to add code using the WPCode plugin. It is a WordPress code snippet plugin manager that makes it easy to add custom code to your site. More importantly, it comes with built-in checks that automatically disable a code if it causes any errors.
Note: There is also a free version available called WPCode lite.
We use WPCode on our websites and have found its code library feature particularly helpful. It has a ton of code snippets for many useful functionalities. To learn more, take a look at our detailed WPCode review.
We hope this article helped you troubleshoot and fix the critical error in WordPress. You may also want to see our guide on how to fix WordPress stuck in maintenance mode or our guide on how to contact WordPress support.
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