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The “error establishing a database connection” is probably one of the most common errors WordPress users can encounter. It’s closely tied to the white screen of death (WSOD). This error means your website is no longer communicating or has access to your WordPress database; thus, your entire website goes down.

You should resolve this error immediately, as this can directly affect your sales, traffic, and analytics. But don’t worry, today we’ll discuss some common scenarios that cause this error and some easy ways to get your site back up and running in no time.

What Is The “Error Establishing a Database Connection”?

The “error establishing a database connection” happens when a website is unable to make a connection to the WordPress database, which prevents the page from loading. The most common causes for this issue are incorrect login credentials and database corruption.

This is how it works: all the information on your WordPress site, such as post data, page data, meta information, plugin settings, login information, etc. is stored in your MySQL database. The only data not stored there is media content such as images and your theme/plugin/core files such as index.php, wp-login.php, etc.

When someone visits your website, PHP executes the code on the page, queries the information from the database, and then displays it to the visitor in their browser.

If this isn’t working correctly, you are left with the “error establishing a database connection” message, as seen below. The entire page is blank because no data can be retrieved to render the page, as the connection is not working properly. Not only does this break the frontend of your site, but it will also prevent you from accessing your WordPress dashboard.