How to Deactivate All Plugins When Not Able to Access WP-Admin
First you need to connect to your website using FTP client, or File Manager in cPanel. Once connected, you need to navigate to the /wp-content/webfolder.
Deactivate All Plugins Using FTP
Connect using FTP client eg : FileZilla
Double click wp-content folder, you will see a folder called plugins. This is where WordPress stores all plugins installed on your website.
Right click on the plugins folder and select Rename. Change the name of the plugins folder to “plugins.old”. Once you do this, all of your plugins will be deactivated.
Usually, this method is used when you are locked out of your admin area. If the issue was with your plugins, then you should be able login to your WordPress admin area.
Once you do that, go back to your /wp-content/ folder and rename “plugins.old” back to plugins.
Now you can activate one plugin at a time until your site breaks again. At which point, you will know exactly which plugin caused the issue.
Deactivate all plugins using phpMyAdmin
You can also deactivate all plugins using phpMyAdmin.
Login to cPanel dashboard then click on phpMyAdmin icon under the ‘Databases’ section.
Select your WordPress database. After that you will be able to see WordPress database tables.
As you can see that all tables in the database have wp_ prefix before table name. Your tables may have a different prefix. You need to click on the wp_options table. Inside wp_options table you will see rows of different options. You will need to find the option ‘active_plugins’ and then click on the ‘Edit’ Link next to it.
On the next screen, you will need to change the option_value field to a:0:{} and then click on Go button to save your changes.
That’s all, you have successfully deactivated all WordPress plugins using phpMyAdmin. If it was a plugin stopping you from accessing WordPress admin area, then you should be able to login now.
Deactivate All Plugins Using FTP
Connect using FTP client eg : FileZilla
Double click wp-content folder, you will see a folder called plugins. This is where WordPress stores all plugins installed on your website.
Right click on the plugins folder and select Rename. Change the name of the plugins folder to “plugins.old”. Once you do this, all of your plugins will be deactivated.
Usually, this method is used when you are locked out of your admin area. If the issue was with your plugins, then you should be able login to your WordPress admin area.
Once you do that, go back to your /wp-content/ folder and rename “plugins.old” back to plugins.
Now you can activate one plugin at a time until your site breaks again. At which point, you will know exactly which plugin caused the issue.
Deactivate all plugins using phpMyAdmin
You can also deactivate all plugins using phpMyAdmin.
Login to cPanel dashboard then click on phpMyAdmin icon under the ‘Databases’ section.
Select your WordPress database. After that you will be able to see WordPress database tables.
As you can see that all tables in the database have wp_ prefix before table name. Your tables may have a different prefix. You need to click on the wp_options table. Inside wp_options table you will see rows of different options. You will need to find the option ‘active_plugins’ and then click on the ‘Edit’ Link next to it.
On the next screen, you will need to change the option_value field to a:0:{} and then click on Go button to save your changes.
That’s all, you have successfully deactivated all WordPress plugins using phpMyAdmin. If it was a plugin stopping you from accessing WordPress admin area, then you should be able to login now.
Updated on: 07/01/2023
Thank you!