How can I disable my WordPress plugins? Print

  • wordpress, plugins
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WordPress has thousands of plugins to further enhance features and functionality of your WordPress site. However, sometimes these plugins can cause compatibility issues or worse break down your entire website! This guide will show you how to disable your WordPress plugins from your WordPress Administrator Dashboard or by other means if you are unable to access /wp-admin. 

How to disable WordPress Plugins using the WP Dashboard.

  1. Login to the WordPress Administrator Dashboard (e.g. https://www.yourdomain.com/wp-admin)
  2. From the left side bar menu, click Plugins.
  3. Find the plugin from the list, and click Deactivate to disable the plugin.
To re-activate, simply click "Activate".

Unable to access the WordPress Dashboard? Follow the methods below:

How to disable WordPress Plugins Using FTP or File Manager

If you are unable to access your WordPress dashboard after installing or updating a plugin or theme, you can use the FTP or File Manager method to disable all wordpress plugins.

  1. Log in to your cPanel control panel (e.g. https://yourdomain.com/cpanel )
  2. From the files section, select File Manager.
  3. Browse to your WordPress root directory
    If your WordPress site is installed in the document root of your primary domain then browse to the public_html directory. If you installed wordpress in a sub-directory such as /blog of your primary domain, browse to public_html/blog.
  4. Navigate to wp-content directory.
  5. Right click on the plugins directory and then click Rename.
  6. Rename the plugins directory to plugins.disable and click Rename File.

That's it! All plugins are now disabled. 

You can re-enable all the plugins by simply restoring your plugins directory name back to plugins. You will need to reactivate them from your WordPress administrator dashboard.

How to Disable WordPress Plugins from your Database using phpMyAdmin.

The methods described above are much simpler! We suggest following the above methods, but if you prefer to disable your plugins using phpMyAdmin, follow the instructions below. If you don't know your WordPress site database name, use the cPanel File Manager to check DB_NAME variable from your WordPress configuration file (wp-config.php) . The wp-config.php file is in the root directory of your WordPress site.

  1. Login to cPanel control panel ( e.g. https://yourdomain.com/cpanel )
  2.  Find phpMyAdmin icon under the Databases section.
  3. Select your WordPress database from the menu options on the left.
  4. Browse the wp_options table and find the active_plugins option. 
    Your WordPress database tables prefix maybe different from wp_ 
  5. Click Edit (pencil icon) and change the option_value field to a:0:{} and then click on Go button to save your changes.

That's all! Your WordPress plugins should now be deactivated. If any of the plugins was preventing you from accessing your WordPress dashboard, you should be able to login now. 


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