Disable Plugins From Database

How To Deactivate Plugin From Database In WordPress?

In the previous post, I have discussed the deactivation of the WordPress plugins from the cPanel. Are you thinking about any other method? There is always an another way to solve one problem. You can use the database of your website to disable all the plugins from the website.

Do you know how to deactivate plugin from database in WordPress? You should know the phpMyAdmin plays an important role in handling the database. In this post, I am going to let you know to deactivate all plugins using phpMyAdmin.

Disable Plugins From Database Within One Minute.

As I have mentioned in the previous post that sometimes the WordPress plugins can be the reason for a few errors. You can get an internal error, white screen of death, 404 error, HTTP error etc.

To find the specific plugin, you have to disable all of them and after that activate one by one and find the plugin which is the cause of the error.

Let me show you how to deactivate all plugins using phpMyAdmin:

Step 1:- Login to the cPanel of your web hosting account and search for the “databases” section”. Click on the “phpMyAdmin”.

Step 2:- Select the name of the database of your website from the left-hand side menu. If you are running the multiple websites using the same database then the action would be taken for both the website.

Step 3:- Search for the “wp_options” table row. If you are using any security plugin and have changed the table prefix for the security purpose then instead of “wp” you have to search for that particular table prefix.

Only the prefix would be changed. You would find it like “nwa_options”. Here I have shown you an example, after changing the table prefix with “nwa”. So make sure that you find the “_options”.

Step 4:- In “wp_options, you have to search for “active_plugins”. It is possible that you won’t see it on the first page. To see more input fields, just click on the “>” button shown below the table rows.

Step 5:- Click on the “Edit” button and you will find the code similar to –

a:13:{i:0;s:29:”antispam-bee/antispam_bee.php”;i:1;s:43:”broken-link-checker/broken-link-checker.php”;i:2;s:36:”contact-form-7/wp-contact-form-7.php”;i:3;s:39:”easy-google-fonts/easy-google-fonts.php”;}

Depending upon the plugins you are using, the code would differ. You won’t find the same code in your file. It is just an example.

Step 6:- First, copy that code and keep in somewhere safe in your computer hard drive and then remove it from the database.

Try to login to your WordPress admin panel and after that, you can check each and every plugin by reactivating one by one. When you find the plugin which shows the error, just delete it and use any alternative.

An Another Way To Disable Plugins From Database.

In the above method, you have deleted the code from the “active_plugins” row. In this section, you would put the code to update the status of all the WordPress plugins to get disabled.

You have to use the SQL query of the “wp_options”. After opening this row from the table click on the SQL options shown in the menu bar.

Place the code and save it.

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

It would disable all the plugins. You must know that when you disable plugins from database then you don’t delete them. You can activate the plugins after logging to your WordPress admin panel.

Which method would you choose to disable plugins from database?

You can use any of the above-mentioned methods. You will need the codes only if you are not able to login your WordPress admin panel. If you can login then it would be so easy to deactivate the plugins from the admin area only.

But sometimes, due to memory exhaustion or any other reasons, you would be locked away from the WordPress admin panel and you would need to use the database option. If you still face any problem then feel free to ask.

by Ravi Chahar

A WordPress Professional and the LinkedIn Influencer. A coder by passion and a blogger by choice. WordPress theme development is his forte. He is your WordPress guy who will teach you how to solve WordPress errors, WordPress security issues, design issues and what not.


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2 comments

  1. Hello Ravi,

    Loved the post. I am not an expert of SQL Database but know little bit of things. I really liked these ways of disabling plugins. I will try it on my local server.

    Thanks

    1. Hey Atish,

      We can do a lot with the database of our site. Most of the time when we get locked away from the admin panel then it’s easy to use the database for disabling all the plugins at once.

      Thanks for taking time to be here.

      Enjoy the day.

      ~Ravi

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