your site is breaking because something in WordPress is not PHP-8 compatible.
One plugin, theme, or custom snippet on your site is using deprecated or removed PHP functions. When PHP hits a fatal error early, WordPress can’t load → you see the “go to forums for support” error. WordPress core itself supports PHP 8.x, but not all plugins and themes do.
Do you mind sharing the Exact error, or screenshot after this
Edit wp-config.php and temporarily add:
define( ‘WP_DEBUG’, true );
define( ‘WP_DEBUG_LOG’, true );
define( ‘WP_DEBUG_DISPLAY’, true );
Hi @rustyg
Apart from the debug method mentioned above, you can also try to switch to the desired PHP version, navigate to FTP or file manager (/wp-content/plugins/), and rename each plugin one by one, each time checking that the site will load fine. With that,t you will narrow down which plugin causes the issue. Note to rename back each plugin folder. The second note to consider is that maybe your theme is not ready for that PHP version, and if it is outdated or not supported anymore, you would need to consider changing the theme.
Before any of the above tests or debugging, I recommend a full site backup or running those tests on the staging site.
Kind Regards,
Kris
Thread Starter
rustyg
(@rustyg)
@mosescursor i have been trying for a few days, but my CPanel backend doesn’t allow me to edit the file or download it for some reason. I kind of get stuck and it never lets me edit the file. Is it because WP is currently running and it locks the file from editing?
Thread Starter
rustyg
(@rustyg)
@wpmudevsupport13 I also installed a PHP Compatibility checker and it has already shown me a few that are not supported for 8.0. I think this is the route I will go.
Thread Starter
rustyg
(@rustyg)
@wpmudevsupport13 Ok, it was a plugin called SecureInvites and now I can open it back up, but now, when I try to go back and edit a post I was working on, it blanks out the entire screen. I can go back and select Preview instead and it shows me the text I typed out, but will not let me go back and edit?
If you get a blank page when editing content, there is a server-side error. The reason for the error should be visible in the error log. You can find it in your hosting area. If necessary, the support of your hosting can help you.
Alternatively, you could also enable debugging in WordPress. How to do this is described here: https://wordpress.org/support/article/debugging-in-wordpress/ – also here the support of your hosting can help you if necessary to edit the file accordingly.
In both cases you should be able to see what the cause is in the logfile.
Note: it must be possible to edit wp-config.php. If something is blocking editing here, then it is your hosting provider. WordPress itself does not block anything here. Contact your hosting provider’s support team if you have any questions about this.
Hi @rustyg,
What you’re seeing is likely the White Screen of Death (WSOD), which occurs when PHP stops executing and WordPress does not display any error message, leaving the page blank.
As @threadi mentioned in the above response, you should be able to find an error in the logs.
Best Regards,
Nebu John
Thread Starter
rustyg
(@rustyg)
@threadi I found this error in my logs:
(it seems to repeat)
[21-Aug-2025 14:42:49 America/Chicago] PHP Fatal error: require(): Failed opening required ‘ABSPATHwp-includes/version.php’ (include_path=’.:/opt/alt/php73/usr/share/pear’) in /home/rusty/public_html/wp-settings.php on line 34
[27-Aug-2025 03:05:16 America/Chicago] PHP Warning: Use of undefined constant ABSPATH – assumed ‘ABSPATH’ (this will throw an Error in a future version of PHP) in /home/rusty/public_html/wp-settings.php on line 34
[27-Aug-2025 03:05:16 America/Chicago] PHP Warning: require(ABSPATHwp-includes/version.php): failed to open stream: No such file or directory in /home/rusty/public_html/wp-settings.php on line 34
[27-Aug-2025 03:05:16 America/Chicago] PHP Fatal error: require(): Failed opening required ‘ABSPATHwp-includes/version.php’ (include_path=’.:/opt/alt/php73/usr/share/pear’) in /home/rusty/public_html/wp-settings.php on line 34
[27-Aug-2025 03:05:54 America/Chicago] PHP Warning: Use of undefined constant ABSPATH – assumed ‘ABSPATH’ (this will throw an Error in a future version of PHP) in /home/rusty/public_html/wp-settings.php on line 34
[27-Aug-2025 03:05:54 America/Chicago] PH[25-Dec-2025 00:59:05 UTC] PHP Warning: Use of undefined constant ABSPATH – assumed ‘ABSPATH’ (this will throw an Error in a future version of PHP) in /home/rusty/public_html/wp-settings.php on line 34
[25-Dec-2025 00:59:05 UTC] PHP Warning: require(ABSPATHwp-includes/version.php): failed to open stream: No such file or directory in /home/rusty/public_html/wp-settings.php on line 34
[25-Dec-2025 00:59:05 UTC] PHP Fatal error: require(): Failed opening required ‘ABSPATHwp-includes/version.php’ (include_path=’.:/opt/cpanel/ea-php73/root/usr/share/pear’) in /home/rusty/public_html/wp-settings.php on line 34
[31-Dec-2025 14:43:15 UTC] PHP Warning: Use of undefined constant ABSPATH – assumed ‘ABSPATH’ (this will throw an Error in a future version of PHP) in /home/rusty/public_html/wp-settings.php on line 34
[31-Dec-2025 14:43:15 UTC] PHP Warning: require(ABSPATHwp-includes/version.php): failed to open stream: No such file or directory in /home/rusty/public_html/wp-settings.php on line 34
[31-Dec-2025 14:43:15 UTC] PHP Fatal error: require(): Failed opening required ‘ABSPATHwp-includes/version.php’ (include_path=’.:/opt/cpanel/ea-php74/root/usr/share/pear’) in /home/rusty/public_html/wp-settings.php on line 34
[15-Jan-2026 08:02:49 UTC] PHP Fatal error: Uncaught Error: Undefined constant “ABSPATH” in /home/rusty/public_html/wp-settings.php:34
Stack trace:
Thread Starter
rustyg
(@rustyg)
specifically line 34 says:
“require ABSPATH . WPINC . ‘/version.php’;”
but the entire section says:
global $wp_version, $wp_db_version, $tinymce_version, $required_php_version, $required_php_extensions, $required_mysql_version, $wp_local_package;
require ABSPATH . WPINC . ‘/version.php’;
require ABSPATH . WPINC . ‘/compat-utf8.php’;
require ABSPATH . WPINC . ‘/compat.php’;
require ABSPATH . WPINC . ‘/load.php’;
ABSPATH is an essential constant that WordPress uses in many places. It is initially defined in the wp-config.php file. Take a look at this file via FTP. It should contain a section like this:
/** Absolute path to the WordPress directory. */
if ( ! defined( 'ABSPATH' ) ) {
define( 'ABSPATH', __DIR__ . '/' );
}
If not, add it before
/** Sets up WordPress vars and included files. */
require_once ABSPATH . 'wp-settings.php';
and then save the file again.
