6 Common WordPress Errors & How to Fix (Easiest Ways)

WordPress Errors and Fixes

As a WordPress user, enthutiast, designer you might have come across some errors when using it and you might have been wondering how to get them fixed.

Most times these errors can easily be fixed and shouldn’t bother you much which is why I am making this list so you can learn from them and also have a good command of these issues.

1. White Screen of Death (WSoD)

   
   This is one of the most annoying errors on WordPress because everything stops working, and you don’t even understand what is wrong.
   All you see is a white background that replaces the entire site.
   
   
   You can start the fixing process by:
   >> Disabling the Plugins: So you need to disable all plugins and reactive them one after the other to get which one of them is giving you the error you are seeing
   >> Disable the theme: If after disabling plugins and then you see the site error keep going on, then the next best step is to disable the active theme and activate the default WordPress theme, so also test if it is the culprit.
   >> Enable Debug Mode: Sometimes, after trying both methods above, and there is no improvement, you can enable WordPress debug mode to see what error you are trying to fix.
   >> Raise your Limit: The White screen of death occurs when your site/host memory limit is not enough to run your website, so you just might fix your website with just increasing the PHP memory limit.
   >> Purge Cache: After trying the fixes above and you see no changes, then you might need to consider purging your cache, as you might be seeing older files and not the present condition of the website.

2. WordPress Posts Returning 404 Error

   
   You might visit some of your posts or pages, , and then you see 404 errors like they don’t exist. This is an issue that shows due to some misconfiguration or after a migration.
   
   To fix this issue, all you need to do is make changes to your permalink by going to your Settings tab in your WordPress dashboard, then clicking on Permalinks. You then need to select the permalink type of your choice, then click on save changes, , and all the 404 errors should disappear.

3. Internal Server Error

   
   This is one of the most annoying errors on WordPress because you are not sure what is wrong.
   
   Luckily for us, this error has a few causes, which makes it easier for us.
   Two main issues can cause this, and they are
   >> Corrupt .htaccess file
   >> Exceeded Memory Limit
   
   If your .htaccess file is corrupted, then you need to disable it and get a new one, thankfully this is easier than it sounds.
   You first need to disable or delete the corrupted .htaccess by renaming the .htaccess to .htaccess-old then, go to your WordPress administrator dashboard, click on Settings and then go to the Permalink link under it and then save changes with or without making changes to the page. And it will automatically create a new .htaccess file for you, which will be okay.
   
   If your website has a memory limit error, then you might need to increase the PHP memory limit.

4. Briefly Unavailable for Scheduled Maintenance Error in WordPress

   
   This error comes up when an update to WordPress, Themes or Plugins is not completed or interrupted.
   
   During updates, WordPress puts itself in maintenance, so when the update is interrupted, it does not take your website off the maintenance mode, so you have to put your website off the maintenance mode.
   
   
   To do that, all you need to do is delete the maintenance file from your WebHost public_html directory.

5. RSS Feed Errors

   
   Sometimes, you might have tried to use your feeds ,and you encounter different errors.
   Some errors you might see are XML Parsing Error: XML or text declaration not at start of entity
Location: http://example.com/feed
Line Number 2, Column 1:
   
   And
   Warning: Cannot modify header information – headers already sent by (output started at /home/username/example.com/wp-content/themes/twentysixteen/functions.php:433) in /home/username/example.com/wp-includes/pluggable.php on line 1228
   
   but there is a fix for it
   You can install this plugin called “Fix My Feed RSS Repair“
   This plugin will help you fix the error in your RSS Feed.

6. Destination Folder Already Exists

   
   This error mostly occurs when installing themes or plugins, which is caused when a similar folder for the theme or plugin is already in the site files.
   
   It is advisable that you check and confirm first if the Plugin or theme is showing in your dashboard under either the Plugins page or Appearance section.
   
   But if you cant, then you need to fix it.
   To fix, all you need is to delete the existing folder and retry your theme or plugin installation.