White Screen of Death followed by You Do Not Have Permission

Well, I was changing some options in BuddyPress on a MAMP test site when all of a sudden I couldn’t get to the admin page of my site. All I got was a white screen. All the other pages were fine. I just couldn’t do any admin.

Reaction #1: “Where is my backup?” Oops, I didn’t make a backup of the database; only the site folder. No excuse for this. There are plugins that do this automatically.

Reaction #2: “HELLLLP!” I Googled and found this helpful page (http://www.wpbeginner.com/plugins/how-to-deactivate-all-plugins-when-not-able-to-access-wp-admin/) where I used the PHPMyAdmin method to deactivate my plugins. That got rid of the white screen, but now I had a new problem. WordPress was informing me that I didn’t have permission to get to the admin page.

Reaction #3: “Restore a backup of the site folder.” No luck.

Reaction #4: “It must be a problem in the database.” I had to change two values here:

(1) In the usermeta table I had to change wp_capabilities to a:1:{s:13:”administrator”;b:1;}. This is a common solution. I’ve also seen it changed to a:1:{s:13:”administrator”;s:1:”1″;}

(2) In the options table, I had to change wp_user_roles. I replaced the value with a value I copied from a previous incarnation of the site. Your values may be different but this worked for me:

a:9:{s:13:"administrator";a:2:{s:4:"name";s:13:"Administrator";s:12:"capabilities";a:67:{s:13:"switch_themes";b:1;s:11:"edit_themes";b:1;s:16:"activate_plugins";b:1;s:12:"edit_plugins";b:1;s:10:"edit_users";b:1;s:10:"edit_files";b:1;s:14:"manage_options";b:1;s:17:"moderate_comments";b:1;s:17:"manage_categories";b:1;s:12:"manage_links";b:1;s:12:"upload_files";b:1;s:6:"import";b:1;s:15:"unfiltered_html";b:1;s:10:"edit_posts";b:1;s:17:"edit_others_posts";b:1;s:20:"edit_published_posts";b:1;s:13:"publish_posts";b:1;s:10:"edit_pages";b:1;s:4:"read";b:1;s:8:"level_10";b:1;s:7:"level_9";b:1;s:7:"level_8";b:1;s:7:"level_7";b:1;s:7:"level_6";b:1;s:7:"level_5";b:1;s:7:"level_4";b:1;s:7:"level_3";b:1;s:7:"level_2";b:1;s:7:"level_1";b:1;s:7:"level_0";b:1;s:17:"edit_others_pages";b:1;s:20:"edit_published_pages";b:1;s:13:"publish_pages";b:1;s:12:"delete_pages";b:1;s:19:"delete_others_pages";b:1;s:22:"delete_published_pages";b:1;s:12:"delete_posts";b:1;s:19:"delete_others_posts";b:1;s:22:"delete_published_posts";b:1;s:20:"delete_private_posts";b:1;s:18:"edit_private_posts";b:1;s:18:"read_private_posts";b:1;s:20:"delete_private_pages";b:1;s:18:"edit_private_pages";b:1;s:18:"read_private_pages";b:1;s:12:"delete_users";b:1;s:12:"create_users";b:1;s:17:"unfiltered_upload";b:1;s:14:"edit_dashboard";b:1;s:14:"update_plugins";b:1;s:14:"delete_plugins";b:1;s:15:"install_plugins";b:1;s:13:"update_themes";b:1;s:14:"install_themes";b:1;s:11:"update_core";b:1;s:10:"list_users";b:1;s:12:"remove_users";b:1;s:9:"add_users";b:1;s:13:"promote_users";b:1;s:18:"edit_theme_options";b:1;s:13:"delete_themes";b:1;s:6:"export";b:1;s:22:"access_s2member_level0";b:1;s:22:"access_s2member_level1";b:1;s:22:"access_s2member_level2";b:1;s:22:"access_s2member_level3";b:1;s:22:"access_s2member_level4";b:1;}}s:6:"editor";a:2:{s:4:"name";s:6:"Editor";s:12:"capabilities";a:39:{s:17:"moderate_comments";b:1;s:17:"manage_categories";b:1;s:12:"manage_links";b:1;s:12:"upload_files";b:1;s:15:"unfiltered_html";b:1;s:10:"edit_posts";b:1;s:17:"edit_others_posts";b:1;s:20:"edit_published_posts";b:1;s:13:"publish_posts";b:1;s:10:"edit_pages";b:1;s:4:"read";b:1;s:7:"level_7";b:1;s:7:"level_6";b:1;s:7:"level_5";b:1;s:7:"level_4";b:1;s:7:"level_3";b:1;s:7:"level_2";b:1;s:7:"level_1";b:1;s:7:"level_0";b:1;s:17:"edit_others_pages";b:1;s:20:"edit_published_pages";b:1;s:13:"publish_pages";b:1;s:12:"delete_pages";b:1;s:19:"delete_others_pages";b:1;s:22:"delete_published_pages";b:1;s:12:"delete_posts";b:1;s:19:"delete_others_posts";b:1;s:22:"delete_published_posts";b:1;s:20:"delete_private_posts";b:1;s:18:"edit_private_posts";b:1;s:18:"read_private_posts";b:1;s:20:"delete_private_pages";b:1;s:18:"edit_private_pages";b:1;s:18:"read_private_pages";b:1;s:22:"access_s2member_level0";b:1;s:22:"access_s2member_level1";b:1;s:22:"access_s2member_level2";b:1;s:22:"access_s2member_level3";b:1;s:22:"access_s2member_level4";b:1;}}s:6:"author";a:2:{s:4:"name";s:6:"Author";s:12:"capabilities";a:15:{s:12:"upload_files";b:1;s:10:"edit_posts";b:1;s:20:"edit_published_posts";b:1;s:13:"publish_posts";b:1;s:4:"read";b:1;s:7:"level_2";b:1;s:7:"level_1";b:1;s:7:"level_0";b:1;s:12:"delete_posts";b:1;s:22:"delete_published_posts";b:1;s:22:"access_s2member_level0";b:1;s:22:"access_s2member_level1";b:1;s:22:"access_s2member_level2";b:1;s:22:"access_s2member_level3";b:1;s:22:"access_s2member_level4";b:1;}}s:11:"contributor";a:2:{s:4:"name";s:11:"Contributor";s:12:"capabilities";a:10:{s:10:"edit_posts";b:1;s:4:"read";b:1;s:7:"level_1";b:1;s:7:"level_0";b:1;s:12:"delete_posts";b:1;s:22:"access_s2member_level0";b:1;s:22:"access_s2member_level1";b:1;s:22:"access_s2member_level2";b:1;s:22:"access_s2member_level3";b:1;s:22:"access_s2member_level4";b:1;}}s:10:"subscriber";a:2:{s:4:"name";s:10:"Subscriber";s:12:"capabilities";a:3:{s:4:"read";b:1;s:7:"level_0";b:1;s:22:"access_s2member_level0";b:1;}}s:15:"s2member_level1";a:2:{s:4:"name";s:16:"s2Member Level 1";s:12:"capabilities";a:4:{s:4:"read";b:1;s:7:"level_0";b:1;s:22:"access_s2member_level0";b:1;s:22:"access_s2member_level1";b:1;}}s:15:"s2member_level2";a:2:{s:4:"name";s:16:"s2Member Level 2";s:12:"capabilities";a:5:{s:4:"read";b:1;s:7:"level_0";b:1;s:22:"access_s2member_level0";b:1;s:22:"access_s2member_level1";b:1;s:22:"access_s2member_level2";b:1;}}s:15:"s2member_level3";a:2:{s:4:"name";s:16:"s2Member Level 3";s:12:"capabilities";a:6:{s:4:"read";b:1;s:7:"level_0";b:1;s:22:"access_s2member_level0";b:1;s:22:"access_s2member_level1";b:1;s:22:"access_s2member_level2";b:1;s:22:"access_s2member_level3";b:1;}}s:15:"s2member_level4";a:2:{s:4:"name";s:16:"s2Member Level 4";s:12:"capabilities";a:7:{s:4:"read";b:1;s:7:"level_0";b:1;s:22:"access_s2member_level0";b:1;s:22:"access_s2member_level1";b:1;s:22:"access_s2member_level2";b:1;s:22:"access_s2member_level3";b:1;s:22:"access_s2member_level4";b:1;}}}