If you’re experiencing issues with your WordPress site, enabling error logging can help you find out what’s wrong. This guide will show you how to turn on WordPress error logs in just a few easy steps.
Step 1: Access Your Website Files
To enable error logging, you’ll need to edit a file called wp-config.php. This file is located in the root directory of your WordPress installation.
How to access your files:
- Using cPanel: Log in to your hosting account, go to File Manager, then navigate to your WordPress root folder (usually
public_html
). - Using FTP: Use an FTP client (like FileZilla) to connect to your site and open the root folder.
Step 2: Edit the wp-config.php File
- Find the wp-config.php file in the root directory.
- Right-click and choose “Edit” (or download and edit it with a text editor like Notepad++).
- Look for this line:
define('WP_DEBUG', false);
- Replace it with the following code:
define('WP_DEBUG', true);
define('WP_DEBUG_LOG', true);
define('WP_DEBUG_DISPLAY', false);
@ini_set('display_errors', 0);
- Save the file and upload it back (if necessary).
Step 3: View the Error Log
After enabling error logging, WordPress will start recording errors in a log file.
How to find the log file:
- Go to your WordPress root folder.
- Open the wp-content directory.
- Look for a file named debug.log.
- Open the file to view recent errors.
Step 4: Disable Debug Mode (After Troubleshooting)
Once you’ve identified and fixed the issue, it’s best to turn off debugging to keep your site secure.
- Open wp-config.php again.
- Change:
define('WP_DEBUG', true);
Back to:define('WP_DEBUG', false);
- Save and upload the file again.
That’s It!
You’ve successfully enabled WordPress error logs. If you need help fixing an error, you can share the error message with a developer or your hosting provider.