Activated theme does not show up

Hi, educaaeh, & welcome to the WordPress support forum. Looks like at this point you’re running twentyfifteen (thank you *so much* for the site link, btw).

If you’re trying to activate another theme that isn’t showing, there are a few things you can do to figure out why that’s the case.

First, try opening your wp-config.php, either in your hosting provider’s file manager or via FTP, (preferably secure FTP), & change wp-debug from false to true. This is a serious security risk, so please leave it on only until you’ve obtained the information you need. Any error msgs will be displayed to your dashboard, but also likely to the homepage when you visit it–thus the warning.

Secondly, you may wish to check for files in your WordPress folder called error.log or error_log. These may contain error log entries that will indicate what the problem is. Additionally, some hosting providers also have aplets in their control panels which allow you to view entries in the error log for your site. These can also prove of great benefit, if present.

Lastly, you can try eliminating all plugins by renaming the plugins folder to plugins1 or plugins.old, (anything you like, really), & then see if your theme appears. If so, it would indicate a conflict w/a plugin. The next task is to see which plugin is culpable. To do that, you rename the plugins folder to its original name, but rename all plugin folders beneath it except 1–Akismet & Jetpack are likely good candidates–& then try to visit the site, being sure to clear your browser cache each time. Continue renaming plugins in this manner until the theme breaks, at which point you know which plugin is causing the conflict.

HTH, & please don’t hesitate to paste error log entries here if you have questions about their meaning. You should enclose them in , i.e.,

first entry
2nd entry

Thanks for answer!

I tried the above solutions but unfortunately, the theme will still not display. I could not find error_log or error.log but it means that this does not exist, or what? I have previously used WordPress and never experienced problems like this. What other solutions can, if possible, resolve this problem?

1. What theme do you currently have activated?

2. Where did you get the theme you’re having problems with?

3. What files/folders are in wp-content/themes?

educaaeh, have you tried reuploading the theme?

Yes, I’ve tried that. Same result.

Sterndata:
1. Currently, active theme is Twenty Fifteen.
2. The theme is uploaded from www.ads-software.com but I’ve experienced the same problem when uploading from other resources. Actually, with all other themes I’ve uploaded.
3. Folders: twentyfourteen, twentyfifteen, twentysixteen
Files: index.php

When theme activated, it will not show either in preview or on website. educate.no/freerunning. Why?

Back to your original question

I see a site running twentyfifteen at https://educate.no/freerunning.

1. Exactly what “will not show”?

2. What theme are you trying to upload?

If the theme at the URL above is twentyfifteen, it must be a stripped version of the theme. Twentyfifteen does not look like this when I preview on www.ads-software.com or other websites. Why?

1. It seems like the theme is missing some styling or css. Or shall the theme display like this?

2. Another theme I’ve uploaded is ‘hueman’. Go to https://educate.no/freerunning

Is this how themes displays? As stripped versions of the originals?

oops.. I could have sworn it was twentyfifteen when I looked at it. I must have been confused.

What do you mean by “it won’t show”?

Themes do not necessarily look like the previews in the wp.org or on other repositories, as those previews rely of content that’s probably different that what’s on your site.

If you have questions about a specific theme, the best place to ask is in the the support sub-forum for that theme.

Ok. First, I believed that that the theme would not show but now I realise that what’s display is the theme, although a different theme than expected.

If a purchase a premium WordPress theme chances are that this also is a stripped version? I’m not sure.

Do you have an example of a free WordPress theme you now, to see if this theme shows up as it should?

If a purchase a premium WordPress theme chances are that this also is a stripped version?

Many themes come with demo content so you can make them look like the demos. However, a theme is just a holder for YOUR content.

Hi not sure if I can add on to this discussion but I am having similar issue where my website will not preview a new theme and when I activate it the screen goes blank white and displays HTTP error 500.
Does anyone have any idea why my site won’t accept newly uploaded themes?