Troubleshooting 101: Disabling your WordPress Plugins

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To disable all plugins, log in to phpMyAdmin and select your WordPress database from the left-hand menu.

Browse the table wp_options and find the option active_plugins. Click the pencil icon to edit. The table content will vary, depending on the plugins enabled. For example, if you have the Akismet and Hello Dolly plugins enabled, the code there will be:

a:2:{i:0;s:19:”akismet/akismet.php”;i:1;s:9:”hello.php”;}

If you want to disable all plugins, delete the code and click Go to save your changes.

The following query will also disable all WordPress plugins:

UPDATE wp_options SET option_value = ” WHERE option_name = ‘active_plugins’;

Disabling the plugins does not remove them from your WordPress site. They will be deactivated, and you can reactivate them at any time from your admin area.

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October 17, 2022,

Rob Jennings

When he found himself in a business conversation with someone talking about their ‘customer-centric core competencies’ he realised it was time to create a digital agency that was less about self-promoting buzz-words and more about the practical endeavour to assist clients in making effective use of the web.