How to disable WordPress plugins

WordPress plugins add extra features to your website, such as contact forms, security tools, caching, backups, SEO tools, and page builders.

Sometimes, a plugin can cause a problem with your website. This may happen after a plugin update, a WordPress update, a PHP version change, or a conflict with another plugin or theme.

You may need to disable a plugin if your website is showing an error, loading slowly, displaying a blank page, or if the WordPress admin area is not working correctly.

Disabling plugins from the WordPress admin area

If you can still access the WordPress admin area:

1. Log in to WordPress.
2. Go to Plugins.
3. Select Installed Plugins.
4. Find the plugin you want to disable.
5. Click Deactivate.
6. Check the website to see whether the issue has been resolved.

If you are troubleshooting a fault, it is usually best to disable one plugin at a time and test the website after each change. This can help identify which plugin may be causing the issue.

If you cannot access WordPress admin

If you cannot access the WordPress admin area, plugins can also be disabled from cPanel by renaming the plugin folder.

To do this:

1. Log in to cPanel.
2. Open File Manager.
3. Go to your WordPress installation folder.
4. Open the wp-content folder.
5. Open the plugins folder.
6. Find the folder for the plugin you want to disable.
7. Rename the plugin folder, for example by adding -disabled to the end of the folder name.
8. Check the website again.

Renaming the plugin folder prevents WordPress from loading that plugin.

Disabling all plugins

If you are not sure which plugin is causing the issue, you can disable all plugins by renaming the main plugins folder.

For example, rename:

plugins

to:

plugins-disabled

This will disable all plugins on the website.

If the website starts working again, you can rename the folder back to plugins, then re-enable plugins one at a time from the WordPress admin area to identify which one caused the problem.

Take care when disabling plugins

Some plugins may provide important features for your website, such as contact forms, payment systems, security protection, page layouts, or caching.

Disabling plugins may temporarily affect how the website looks or works.

If you are unsure, or if your website is business-critical, please contact the Fastnet Helpdesk before making changes.

When to contact Fastnet

If your WordPress website is hosted on our cPanel platform and you need help disabling plugins, please contact the Fastnet Helpdesk.

When contacting us, please provide:

• The website address
• The issue you are seeing
• When the issue started
• Whether you can access the WordPress admin area
• Any recent plugin, theme, WordPress, or PHP updates
• Screenshots or error messages, where available