Fixing “There Has Been a Critical Error on This Website” via FTP

Published On - September 11, 2025

ivan Blogging

One day you’re happily working on your WordPress site. The next — bam! A big, scary message appears:

“There has been a critical error on this website.”

First thought: PANIC! 😱

But don’t worry. You’ve got this. Even if you can’t log in or see your homepage, your site isn’t gone forever. You can fix it using something called FTP.

What Is FTP?

FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol. It’s a way to access your website’s files directly — sort of like opening folders on your desktop computer.

Here’s the kicker: Even if your website looks broken in your browser, all your files are still sitting there. You just need to connect to them using an FTP client like FileZilla.

What Causes the Critical Error?

This error usually means something went wrong under the hood. Often, it’s one of these:

  • A broken plugin
  • A theme that’s misbehaving
  • PHP errors or conflicts

With FTP, we can get in there, poke around, and fix it.

Let’s Get You Connected

First, you’ll need your FTP credentials. These are usually in your hosting account:

  • Host (often your domain name)
  • Username
  • Password
  • Port (usually 21)

Now download FileZilla (it’s free!). Install it and open it up.

[pai-img]ftp client, filezilla connection, web hosting[/ai-img]

Now, at the top of FileZilla, you’ll see boxes. Plug in your FTP info and click Connect.

You’re In! Now What?

On the right side of FileZilla, you’ll see your website files. Navigate to:

public_html (or www or just your site’s folder)

This is your WordPress site’s guts — all the core files, themes, plugins, and uploads live here.

Step 1: Check Your Themes

First thing to check: Themes. A broken or updated theme might be to blame.

Go to:

  • wp-content
  • then themes

You’ll see all your installed themes. Find the one currently being used for your site.

Rename the theme’s folder. For example, if your theme is called mytheme, change it to mytheme-broken.

This will force WordPress to use a default theme like twentytwentyone.

Now go check your site. Did it load? If yes — bingo! It was the theme.

Step 2: Disable Your Plugins

If changing the theme didn’t fix it, let’s check plugins.

Inside wp-content, find the plugins folder.

Just like with the theme, rename the folder:

plugins → plugins-disabled

[pai-img]wordpress plugins folder, ftp file rename, web troubleshooting[/ai-img]

This disables all plugins at once.

Now reload your site. If it works, the issue was a plugin.

How to Find the Problem Plugin

Rename the folder back to plugins.

Then go inside and rename each plugin folder one-by-one:

  1. Rename plugin-X to plugin-X-old
  2. Check your site
  3. If it loads — that plugin’s the troublemaker

Step 3: Enable Debug Mode

Still no luck? Let’s get more clues.

In your site’s root folder (same place as wp-config.php), find and edit that file.

Right-click wp-config.php, choose View/Edit.

Look for this line:

define( 'WP_DEBUG', false );

Change it to:

define( 'WP_DEBUG', true );
define( 'WP_DEBUG_LOG', true );
define( 'WP_DEBUG_DISPLAY', false );

Save the file and re-upload it.

Now try loading the site. While the error might still appear, WordPress is writing a debug.log file inside:

wp-content/debug.log

Download and read that file. It can tell you exactly what’s going wrong — maybe a problematic line of PHP or a bad plugin call.

Reinstall Core Files (Optional)

Still broken and no clue why? Time to try a fresh copy of WordPress.

Go to wordpress.org/download and grab the latest version.

Unzip the file and upload everything except:

  • wp-content folder
  • wp-config.php

This gives you a clean set of WordPress files without wiping your content or settings.

Clear Your Caches

One last thing before you celebrate: caching!

If your host or a plugin uses caching, it might be showing you an old version of the error page.

So clear:

  • Your browser cache
  • Your plugin or theme cache
  • Your web host cache (like SiteGround, Bluehost, etc.)

Now reload. Hopefully your site shines like new ✨

Tips to Prevent This Next Time

1. Make backups often. Use plugins like UpdraftPlus or backup through your host.

2. Don’t update everything at once. Test one plugin at a time. Then your site doesn’t go boom 🔥 unexpectedly.

3. Use a staging site. Most good hosts let you test changes on a copy of your site.

[h2]Conclusion[/h2]

This error message might look serious, but you now have the tools to tackle it head-on. Using FTP and a little detective work, you can fix themes, deactivate plugins, and read logs to figure things out.

So the next time something breaks and your WordPress site flashes that scary “critical error” message?

You’ve got this.

FTP to the rescue! 🛠️