Deactivate all WordPress plugins

Posted by on October 10, 2011 in Do It Yourself

Sometimes it may be necessary to deactivate all plugins, but you can’t access the administrative menus to do so. One of two methods are available to deactivate all plugins.

  • Use phpMyAdmin
    • In the table wp_options, under the option_name column (field) find the active_plugins row
    • Change the option_value field to: a:0:{}

or via FTP

  • Create an empty plugins folder
    • Via FTP or your host’s control panel, navigate to the wp-contents folder (directory)
    • Via FTP or your host’s control panel, rename the folder “plugins” to “plugins.hold”
    • Via FTP or your host’s control panel, create new folder called “plugins”
    • Login to your WordPress administration menus
    • Via FTP or your host’s control panel, delete the empty “plugins” you previous created
    • Via FTP or your host’s control panel, rename “plugins.hold” back to “plugins”

Source: WordPress.org

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