Joomla is specific CMS, it does not always behaves like an adult person who always say where or what it hurts. Joomla sometimes behaves like a small child or offended girl, no matter what version you are using.

You can get a white (blank) screen after installing a template, module or plugin. The steps in this article can be used for troubleshooting all scenarios but it is mostly about the white screen after a template installation.

So you purchase a template and it does not matter if you install the Quickstart Package or only the template you get this annoying white screen which does not tell you anything. Here is what you need to do!

First Step

The white screen means that there is something wrong but there is no actual error message because most probably the PHP Error Reporting is disabled. So first you need to enable it and see the message:

1. If your Joomla Admin Panel is working (not showing a white screen) you can enable the error reporting from there. Go to “Site” -> “Global Configuration” -> “Server” and select “Development” in the Error Reporting Field.
2. If your Joomla Admin Panel also does not work you need to enable the Error Reporting from the “configuration.php” file. Login to your Server via FTP, download the “configuration.php” file from the root of your Joomla Installation and edit the “public $error_reporting” line (usually line 23) so it looks like this:
   
   public $error_reporting = 'development';
   
   Then just upload the file again, overwriting the original “configuration.php” file.
3. Now you can refresh the site and see the actual problem/error.

Once you see the error message you need to find the solution.

Second Step

In most cases the error will be something like “Fatal error: Allowed memory size of 67108864 bytes exhausted…” . If this is your error then you simply need to edit the “php.ini” file and increase some variables because this is a memory limit issue coming from your server:

memory_limit = 64M (or 128M)
max_execution_time = 60 (or 120)

Make sure you restart the Apache Server after editing the “php.ini” file. Also, if you are working on localhost (WAMP, MAMP, XAMP) make sure you edit the correct “php.ini” file as there are usually more than one, in different locations.

If you are on a live server and do not know how to edit the “php.ini” file, just contact your Hosting Support and ask them to it for you.

There might also be other reasons for this error, for example you do not meet the minimum requirement for running a Joomla Website on this server. You can find them here. I strongly advise you to go with the “recommended” requirements because something the “minimum” are simply not enough.

If you get another error message it will be best to search on Google and find a solution for the specific problem.

Conclusion

So in most cases the white (blank) screen is due to a server problem – memory limit or just the server does not meet the minimum requirements for running a Joomla Website.
It can also be a problem with the template/code but then you should get a more specific error message and you should be able to find a solution on Google.

I will be happy to hear your comments and suggestions about the White Screen Issue. Thank you :)