Title: Plugin activation or WordPress DB issue? Last modified: November 17, 2016 --- # Plugin activation or WordPress DB issue? * Resolved [softcodex](https://wordpress.org/support/users/softcodex/) * (@softcodex) * [9 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-activation-or-wordpress-db-issue/) * I’ve this issue on several sites (different WP versions), and also tested on a brand new installation with WP 4.6.1 * I can not activate Wordfence. It blocks the site, like a max execution time issue. * I’ve searched for an answer on this support forum, but did not find a good one. * On the server, I’ve also this log error: “WordPress database error Unknown column‘ wp_’ in ‘field list’ for query SELECT wp_…” * I can not understan if that’s a plugin error or another type of issue. * Is there anyone that can help me? Viewing 6 replies - 1 through 6 (of 6 total) * [wfalaa](https://wordpress.org/support/users/wfalaa/) * (@wfalaa) * [9 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-activation-or-wordpress-db-issue/#post-8450310) * Hi, Could you please elaborate more details about what do you mean with “It blocks the site”, what exactly happens? do you get a white blank screen after activating the plugin? or any error message? * Also, is that the “complete” error message you have in the server error log? * Thanks. * Thread Starter [softcodex](https://wordpress.org/support/users/softcodex/) * (@softcodex) * [9 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-activation-or-wordpress-db-issue/#post-8453307) * [@wfalaa](https://wordpress.org/support/users/wfalaa/) this is the server log error: * [Thu Nov 17 11:49:29.140013 2016] [:error] [pid 4560:tid 2112] [client 62.48.103.185: 52969] WordPress database error Unknown column ‘wp_’ in ‘field list’ for query SELECT wp_, referer: [http://URL/wp-admin/setup-config.php?step=1](http://URL/wp-admin/setup-config.php?step=1) * [Thu Nov 17 11:50:35.533730 2016] [:error] [pid 4560:tid 2064] [client 62.48.103.185: 64352] WordPress database error Unknown column ‘wp_’ in ‘field list’ for query SELECT wp_, referer: [http://URL/wp-admin/setup-config.php?step=1](http://URL/wp-admin/setup-config.php?step=1) * The upload via wp-admin or via FTP of the plugin goes right. Once I try to activate the plugin, the system crashes: WordPress can not activate the plugin and the page in the browser, after the max execution time, stays blank and the site ( public + admin) becomes unaccessible. The only way to restore the site, is to delete the plugin’s folder via FTP. * I have no idea of what’s appening with this plugin. - This reply was modified 9 years, 5 months ago by [softcodex](https://wordpress.org/support/users/softcodex/). * [wfalaa](https://wordpress.org/support/users/wfalaa/) * (@wfalaa) * [9 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-activation-or-wordpress-db-issue/#post-8454822) * Hi, Those two errors in the error log are referring the WordPress configuration script which runs the first time you install WordPress on your website, it’s strange how you managed to get your website set up with these errors. * I suggest editing (wp-config.php) file and replace this line: `define('WP_DEBUG', false);` with: * ``` define('WP_DEBUG', true); define('WP_DEBUG_LOG', true); define('WP_DEBUG_DISPLAY', false); ``` * Now, when you try to activate the plugin and get this blank page again, you can check this file (/wp-content/debug.log) for any error messages. * Also, please let me ask some more questions that would help in resolving this issue: – Do you use WordPress Multisite “Network”? – What is PHP version on your server? – Is that a Windows server? * Thanks. * Thread Starter [softcodex](https://wordpress.org/support/users/softcodex/) * (@softcodex) * [9 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-activation-or-wordpress-db-issue/#post-8463681) * Update: after we did some tests, we found something else. * This is the php Info file on that server: [http://wp.bweb.ch/phpinfo.php](http://wp.bweb.ch/phpinfo.php) ( php and Apache versions up to date) * When I try to activate the plugin, **Apache suddenly crashes**, and this is the only log: * `AH00428: Parent: child process 6112 exited with status 255 -- Restarting` * Do you already experienced this issue? * [wfalaa](https://wordpress.org/support/users/wfalaa/) * (@wfalaa) * [9 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-activation-or-wordpress-db-issue/#post-8465600) * I want to make sure you know that using Wordfence on Windows server is [not officially supported](https://docs.wordfence.com/en/Wordfence_system_requirements#Operating_system), however, I’ve seen this issue before and adding this code to “httpd.conf” file has fixed it: * ``` ThreadStackSize 8888888 ``` * I hope this helps, Thanks. * Thread Starter [softcodex](https://wordpress.org/support/users/softcodex/) * (@softcodex) * [9 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-activation-or-wordpress-db-issue/#post-8467902) * [@wfalaa](https://wordpress.org/support/users/wfalaa/) it works! Thanks for your support. Viewing 6 replies - 1 through 6 (of 6 total) The topic ‘Plugin activation or WordPress DB issue?’ is closed to new replies. * ![](https://ps.w.org/wordfence/assets/icon.svg?rev=2070865) * [Wordfence Security - Firewall, Malware Scan, and Login Security](https://wordpress.org/plugins/wordfence/) * [Frequently Asked Questions](https://wordpress.org/plugins/wordfence/#faq) * [Support Threads](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/wordfence/) * [Active Topics](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/wordfence/active/) * [Unresolved Topics](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/wordfence/unresolved/) * [Reviews](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/wordfence/reviews/) ## Tags * [log](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/log/) * [server](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/server/) * 6 replies * 2 participants * Last reply from: [softcodex](https://wordpress.org/support/users/softcodex/) * Last activity: [9 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-activation-or-wordpress-db-issue/#post-8467902) * Status: resolved