What it can't test

Culprit Finder switches regular plugins off for your browser. Some things load no matter which plugins are active, so it can’t test them:

• Your theme. If the problem is in the theme, it stays with every plugin off. Test by switching to a default theme on a staging copy.
• Must-use plugins in wp-content/mu-plugins/. They always load. Your host may have added some.
• Drop-ins such as object-cache.php, advanced-cache.php or db.php in wp-content/. They replace parts of WordPress itself.
• Server settings: the PHP version, memory limits, server rules and firewalls.
• Plugins you kept on. You chose to keep them on, so they’re never suspected.
• Multisite networks aren’t supported yet.

If the problem stays with every tested plugin off, the result is “It’s not one of the plugins tested”. That’s useful too: it tells you to look at the theme, must-use plugins, drop-ins or the server instead.

Problems that come and go

The search assumes the problem shows up reliably when the responsible plugins are on. If it only happens sometimes, or only for some visitors, your answers may contradict each other. Culprit Finder then says the answers didn’t add up instead of naming the wrong plugin.